Alright, well I am coming up on the end of the HTML5/CSS3 section of The Odin Project. This entire time, I've really hated HTML and CSS...because I feel that it is messy, and I never really considered myself an artist which is what I think of when I have to do some CSS positioning and coloring etc.
So, as I've learned...design and art are a bit separate. Design is more centered around what I actually enjoy. UX/UI is about user experience, efficiency, etc. I'm totally okay with getting more familiar with these concepts now after getting introduced to all of it. Also, CSS is quite messy but tools like SASS bring it around more and make it reasonable. Things have changed so much since the days when I had to make ugly as hell tables to position my little pet projects in middle school.
Sure I have a ton of things to learn before I can really be a front end guru with HTML / CSS, but I feel SO MUCH better and more knowledgable after just the past 30-40 hours of learning about it. I have most of the basics down, and I know what to look up or where to find answers when I have to get something done, which is really the main idea with programming IMO.
For a lot of the projects, I didn't go 100% into them (most of them are based around cloning existing pages that look great). Sure, I won't be able to show off my half-done stuff as a proud part of my portfolio, but I really don't mind so much on that. My main concern is to learn the concept, and move on. My goal is to get all of the basics put together, and create a portfolio project of my own choosing.
For tomorrow, I've decided to clone a responsive personal page using Bootstrap and Sass. That should bring everything full circle, and I'll be sure to make it fully presentable of course. Once that is done I will be moving on to the Javascript / Jquery section, which I'm predicting at somewhere around 2-3 weeks.
My VIM productivity is slowly getting better. I have a "tools.md" tab open at all times, and if anything feels like it is slowing me down, I write it down there as something to find a plugin for or a way to improve my workflow. Some things I have done already is an auto-updater for editing html/css, so I don't have to alt tab and refresh for every single page. I also can do copy/paste easily, control+s for save, and a few other small things. I'll be creating a post about getting all set up as one of my first official colbycheeze.com blog posts about the whole process of setting up my Mac environment and the (IMO) must have customizations for VIM / Tmux.
As for my personal website / blog, I am pretty sure I'll go with MiddleMan from Thoughtbot, which is a static site gen. I can use Disquis for comments. Octopress also looked pretty cool, but I'm mostly fanboying over all of the cool Thoughtbot tools these days lol.
Things are really coming full circle now. I have learned so much, and there are so many barriers I have broken down. That said, I have also opened up all of the doors and possibilities for areas I have way too little knowledge of. Nothing I can do about that, because there is no way to know everything. The main trick now, is to show other people that I am the best choice to hire! Until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment