BlogPost_102 Questions
What has your experience learning to code been like so far? What would you change about it?
For me personally, coding has been probably one of the most frustrating experiences for me. I think that is because I put so much pressure on myself to get things right the first time and make it look perfect and make sure everything is where I want it to be with little to no room for error. I think that if I gave myself some slack and told myself that not everything has to be perfect right away a lot of the stress and anger that I have for coding would go away. That being said it is also the most satisfying experience I have encountered to date. I love the feeling of relief I get when everything finally snaps into place and everything works, especially when I have spent hours frustrated and working myself to the bone trying to get it to work. The thing I would change about it is probably having like a book on hand that I could flip through that had every possible list of code available that is constantly up to date instead of having to search everything up on different websites and being worried that the code isn’t up to date.
How do you describe the DOM, as you know it so far?
The DOM (document object model) is a mental image that you use to set up your html file. It is the basic structure of all of your documents and allows html to access and manipulate the documents to access certain items you need in your code.
Can you explain the difference between coding a website to be responsive and using a mobile-first strategy?
When we first started coding we were only using code to make a website that you would see on a desktop or laptop. We needed to be able to make sure everything could be seen and used the way it would if we were visiting the website ourselves, and we never took into consideration how it would look on mobile devices. We learned to make a button and when you click it, it would take you another page or another tab. Using a mobile-first strategy, you flip the approach on its head. You style with mobile devices in mind first, making sure it looks good on there before working on the desktop side of things. Once that is done you use a media query to set your parameters and once the screen size exceeds those parameters, it changes the layout of the webpage.
What does coding look like to you in your mind?
When I think of coding, it gets all jumbled in my brain. For me, I think breaking it down in blocks of information helps me work through it best. I first look at the html side of things and get my basic tags down and all the info I need typed in. Once I have that done, I link my CSS file and start working on one thing at a time. After I have all of my styling done in CSS I go live using vs code and look at what is essentially my first draft. From there I tweak things and move things around and the change the font as I see necessary to make it look exactly how I want it.
Where do you see yourself working in 365 days from today? What do you want to be working on?
In a year from now seems like such a long time from now and I really haven’t thought much about what I would be doing after this program. I would love to work for a company that is involved with animation and gaming services. Maybe helping them with their website or possibly more. I think coming out of the gate from this program I would probably take whoever hired me. I need the money to help my family so I don’t really have the luxury of choosing where I want to work right now. Eventually though, I would love to work with an animation company or gaming company.