Tag: coder

Day 9: First Project Done!

After much sturm und drang, I FINALLY competed my first website assignment! Of course, there’s no data or JavaScript behind the site yet (except for the small amount I did for the “optional” login code), but it’s looking good so far! It took me ages to hunt down and correct all my capitalization errors. I had the presence of mind to check my page on my cell phone, which is how I discovered I STILL had one more picture that wasn’t rendering on the “About Page” due to the jpg file name having ONE capital letter. One damned capital letter…I mean, really, how could I foul up this one???

I finally have a breather for now. We have some work to do to prepare for our upcoming JavaScript training which starts on Monday, but nothing like the insanity of the past two weeks—drinking from a spewing fire hydrant would have been easier. To prepare for Monday, we need to review the w3schools.com JavaScript section, and we have some Pluralsight videos to go through. I really hate to admit it, but the Pluralsight videos do nothing for me. I know they’re supposed to be an easy way to disseminate information to us as a warm-up for training, but I find I get more from the w3schools site. I tried watching the videos in class this afternoon and almost went to sleep—in fact, I’m pretty sure I did black out at one point.

At first I thought it was my age, and the fact that I prefer a live person vs. Memorex instructing me (only people of a certain age will get this), but then I had to remember that I have NO issue watching hours upon hours worth of YouTube footage featuring how-to clips for the Kitchener stitch, continental knitting, short rows, tunisian crocheting, or (God help me) spinning. My one pathetic attempt at a spinning class really needs to be an upcoming blog entry. It’s the one fiber-related craft at which I’m a abject, dismal failure.

But I digress…must go get my beauty sleep before class tomorrow. Perhaps I should watch a JavaScript training video to help me nod off…

Day 7: It’s a surprise…

I even remember this.

I’m a tad TIRED. I did manage to get some of the user interaction page done, although I have no clue how I’m going to add the dropdowns for the quantity and pdf/printout choice. Actually, I do have a clue, as I scoured through Bootstrap documentation until I found something relevant–I just now have to figure out how to incorporate and size these in my chart of patterns.

I beat my head against a wall (and so did our instructor) trying to determine how to get images to show up on a page. Come to find out, my idea of adding three of them to the HTML in different sizes, and then using CSS to pick the right size per media query wasn’t quite right. I had to do a div container with an id in HTML, and then add the correct-size pictures to the media queries in CSS, using url(“…/img/example.jpg”) for each size. I wish I could say it was easy, but for the life of us, we could NOT get images on the page. My instructor figured it out…I was using url(“img/example.jpg”)! He’d used the same thing, but he’d had the <style> section in his HTML example to illustrate, so img/ vs. …/img worked for him. I had to change ALL my pages. This set me back quite a bit, along with needing to change the pages for the correct code for submit/reset buttons AND fixing my CSS, which mysteriously had an epic FAIL after all my changes and fixes…AHHH!!!

This entire day has been the Whac-a-Mole game.

I have only two more days to finish. No pressure…

Day 6: The Big Project

…so far, so good.

I managed to spend some time this weekend on our first class project–so far have three pages of the website completed! It’s looking pretty good, except I’m wondering if I should be resizing the images for media queries by width and height in the HTML or try to resize them in my external CSS sheet. Initially, I did it by swapping out pictures for the same pictures in a smaller size, and then adding code in CSS to display the pictures, depending on the media query; however, it’s looking a bit sloppy, code-wise.

I’m DREADING the “user-interaction” page. That’s going to be my patterns-for-purchase page (all two of them). I have NO CLUE how I’m going to create that page. There is a Bootstrap template for a price page and an order page, so I’m hoping I can make use of those and modify them. I’m also supposed to be thinking up an extra-credit page…AAAHH!!!

Day 4: Pull yourself up by your bootstraps…

Okay, I’m probably going to court controversy and hate mail, but I’m just going to say it: I can’t STAND Bootstrap.

We just spent the last few labs relieving existing code of “div-itis” by replacing the div elements with more meaningful HTML5 elements, as well as fixing other errors. It’s been interesting figuring out how to do this. But NOW…we’re expected to use Bootstrap for our CSS styling. As far as I can make out, this tosses our past efforts out the window, as it seems that Bootstrap uses NOTHING but div elements.

I know. There are all sorts of interesting examples and templates to toss together a site quickly. There are carousels, input forms, and even Jumbotrons. However, I don’t like that Bootstrap is essentially a black box. There’s no way of knowing how these different things work, unless you want to delve into the giant Bootstrap file itself.

Also, I just can’t stand the dreary colors. I know…one can add another stylesheet to tweak the colors and settings, but that’s almost harder than creating the CSS code from scratch! I just spent two hours trying to figure out how to manipulate a form that Bootstrap has solidly set to the point of not being able to budge it. I can’t even get the damn input boxes to be inline with the descriptions!

Okay, time to go breathe into a paper bag…tomorrow is another day… 👢🥾👢

I’m not done yet

“How much longer are you going to be here?”

My coworker’s question startled me out of my typing during our Skype call. We were in the middle of documenting requirements, planning meetings, and discussing our ever-mysterious system.

“Excuse me?” I wasn’t sure if she was referring to when I was leaving work, or when I planned to take my next vacation. She and I are both in our fifties, and have been with our unnamed insurance company for eons apiece, so we collectively have enough vacation time for a 6-month sabbatical.

“When are you retiring?”

This subject has come up frequently lately. Some of my friends have already retired and are dividing their time between here in frigid New England and balmy Florida. Other coworkers have waited until a particularly inane corporate initiative was announced to stand up and declare, “Okay, I’m done! I’m retiring!” Seriously–I witnessed someone do this. Still others are out of the workforce, but still living here and continuously texting me, while I text back, “What part of WildKnitter works for a living do you not GET??? (frowny-face emoji)”

Still another time, I was having dinner with friends one night, where the entire conversation concerned which state or foreign country each one wanted to call home in retirement. I remember saying goodbye to them, watching all their cars drive off, while one resounding thought crowded out all else:

I’M NOT DONE YET.