Flex and grid change everything
My experience learning to code so far is a great one. I’ve tried year after year to learn enough about html, CSS and Javascript on my own without an instructor and it just wasn’t working out. Having an instructor who knows what he’s talking about is amazing. Before on my own I would spend hours on questions that could be answered in seconds by someone more experienced. The class environment in general is much better for me because my learning is more guided. Having a set start and end to each project makes me feel like I’m actually progressing towards something instead of blindly learning things off of the internet.
I would describe the DOM as a way to visually see the “tree” of elements that are on a webpage. The DOM allows you to see what elements are nested where even if they’re 10 layers deep. Having to read through a huge page of html code can be hard with all of the extra content in the way.
Making a website responsive and making a website with mobile devices in mind first are two different things. Making a website responsive is just making sure the website can be viewed on different device sizes starting from a desktop size. Making a website with mobile devices in mind first means you start your website from a small screen size first then work your way up to larger screen sizes. Starting from a large desktop view is great if you know most people who are viewing the website are doing so from a workplace where they are using laptops or desktops. If your website isn’t just business focused then maybe a mobile first approach would be better. Generally more people access websites on their phones and tablets than on desktops or laptops. It’s up to the developer to decide which approach to take but knowing the target audience will definitely help with this decision.
Coding for me right now is trial and error. I’ll make a small to-do list in my head and try things until it works. If thing’s don’t work I’ll do some research try to figure out what’s wrong and try again. If things do work then move on to the next thing on the to-do list. I’ll break problems up into small chunks so I’m not overwhelmed by the total amount of things I have to do.
In a year or so I’d like to be working anywhere that will push me to keep learning. I don’t want to learn some html, CSS and Javascript and say I’ve peaked as a developer, because I know there’s more to it than that. I’d like to be part of a company that is always moving forwards, always coming up with some new ideas. As long as I’m constantly learning and being challenged I’m happy. Maybe after I have more experience as a developer I can decide exactly where I’d like to work.
