Posted on by

I’ve worked with PHP for 20+ years now, and WordPress for 15+, they have become a comfort area for me. With the life changes I’ve been presented with I am faced with a choice to remain in my comfort zone or to learn something new.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been looking at different online courses available to use to progress my knowledge and start engaging my brain. The one I chose to try out and work with is https://boot.dev . My primary course is going to take me through Python and into TypeScript. There’s lots of stuff in between like Linux and Git management, with a splash of Docker. With the exception of Python, a lot of it will be stuff I’ve already worked with for several years now, I am just hoping to pick up some more tricks for my bag.

I started yesterday and completed 56 lessons. I really like how their lessons are set up, they teach you something small, then give you a coding activity to complete. It helps solidify the knowledge in your brain. It’s completely gamified, as well. As you progress you earn resources that you can then use for things like getting help from from Boots, your AI companion.

Their highest level you can reach is the Archmage, and I’ve made it a goal to reach that level.

Posted on by

Coffee is made and knuckles are cracked, I believe it is time for a update to this design. I probably won’t change much visually, but a lot of the back end needs to change. This theme was one of my first ventures into responsive design and Bootstrap, and now I know a few more tricks up my sleeve…and some down time.

Posted on by

In the world of web development, there’s just too much out there for someone who wants to learn something new, is a self starter, and likes to learn new things. With new languages and tricks for old ones being developed daily, it is steadily hard to keep up.

But why don’t you just learn one at a time, that will make it easier, right?

No, not really. Here is the problem:

  • Client A wants web tech 1, which you kind of know.
  • Client B wants web tech 2 and 3, which you know 2, but not 3.
  • Client C wants web tech 1 and 3.

Well, crap, do you dive more into web tech 1, or start with web tech 3? But wait, they just released a new version of web tech 2. It makes you want to scrap it all and figure out a way to hook up a USB cord to your brain to just be able to download what you need. But that just means you need to pick up two new subjects, brain tech 1 and computer engineering 1.

And your brain goes {boom}.

Posted on by

There are two types of coders in this world, ones that have had the sun rise on them without them realizing, and those that have yet to experience that. Until you experience the sun rising and birds chirping outside after a night of coding up whatever personal project you are working on, you are not in the know. You may be a newbie, you may be in school and learning, but until that moment happens and there is a glow coming from around your blackout curtains, you still have not crossed that threshold.

Why am I writing this? Mainly because I have become a daywalker, if you want to call it that. Rather than sitting and coding, learning, progressing at night, I sleep. Not tonight, though, tonight I kick off routine until I wake up with “QWERTY” imprinted backwards on my forehead.

Posted on by

Hooray for me, got a new design up. Dove into this one head first using SASS, along with an additional framework/mixin called Bourbon.

For those not in the know, SASS is a parallel to CSS. It’s actually a language that allows you to use variables, nesting and function like elements called mixins. Typically the SASS will need to be run through a pre-processor to compile it into plain old CSS. If that doesn’t put a twinkle in your eye, then you need to be shown what happens when the SASS is processed to get it, just like I did.

I wrote in SASS, with a hint of Burbon:

@include font-face(libelsuit, '../fonts/libelsuit');

SASS was then translated to CSS:

@font-face {
font-family: libelsuit;
font-weight: normal;
font-style: normal;
src: url("../fonts/libelsuit.eot");
src: url("../fonts/libelsuit.eot?#iefix") format("embedded-opentype"), url("../fonts/libelsuit.woff") format("woff"), url("../fonts/libelsuit.ttf") format("truetype"), url("../fonts/libelsuit.svg#libelsuit") format("svg");
}

Get it now? That’s just the tip of the iceberg. If you code CSS by hand, I strongly suggest checking out SASS, as it can not only speed up development, but can also make it much easier to use reusable code.