Monday, April 20, 2015

How To Teach Yourself HTML And CSS This Month

How To Teach Yourself HTML And CSS This Month


Based on a talk I gave at Creator's Camp in Tallahassee, FL.

Originally published at http://makerbasededucation.com/2014/07/23/learn-html-css-this-month/
Published in: EngineeringTechnology




Transcript

  • 1. Step WHY? 1 You have to have a
  • 2. Step 1 Or you won’t go till the end.
  • 3. Step WHY? 1 should YOU learn HTML and CSS?
  • 4. Be able to build things online
  • 5. test a business idea Be able to build things online...
  • 6. test a business idea Be able to build things online... start a blog
  • 7. test a business idea Be able to build things online... create websites start a blog
  • 8. You could hire someone, but...
  • 9. You could hire someone, but... You’ll pay TOO MUCH because you don’t know HTML & CSS to measure the estimate
  • 10. You could hire someone, but... You’ll pay TOO MUCH because you don’t know HTML & CSS to measure the estimate It’s HARD to find a good developer
  • 11. You could hire someone, but... You’ll pay TOO MUCH because you don’t know HTML & CSS to measure the estimate It’s HARD to find a good developer You’ll continue to pay TOO MUCH every time you need your site updated
  • 12. And you could use the numerous free website-creation tools which are FREE and EASY TO USE
  • 13. And you could use the numerous free website-creation tools you DON’T KNOW what’s going on behind-the- scenes you are RESTRICTED to their LIMITED templates and features butwhich are FREE and EASY TO USE
  • 14. DON’Tbe LIMITED
  • 15. There are 2 types of people: creators1 - the 1% that creates the internet
  • 16. There are 2 types of people: consumers2 the 99% that simply consumes it
  • 17. creators1 consumers2 Know how to code. They create the technology and shape the world we interact with daily. Don’t know how to code. Their lives are dependent on and their interactions are shaped by the technologies being built.
  • 18. DON’Tbe DEPENDENT
  • 19. CREATOR be a
  • 20. You’ll always have a way to make money FREELANCE CAREER STARTUPS Over 100,000 new websites are created a day. By 2020 there will be a surplus of 1 million jobs in the IT industry to people capable of filling them In a startup coders are valued at $1 million...EACH
  • 21. BUT...I want to make web applications with Ruby, PHP, Javascript, Python, etc.
  • 22. BUT...I want to make web applications with Ruby, PHP, Javascript, Python, etc. ...do I need to know HTML and CSS for that????
  • 23. A web application allows users to interact with it and perform actions.
  • 24. Every web application has a... FRONT-END BACK-END
  • 25. Every web application has a... FRONT-END BACK-END What you see. The look and style of the site. Behind-the-scenes. The way the applications functions and stores data.
  • 26. FRONT-END BACK-END HTML CSS JAVASCRIPT PYTHON RUBY PHP SQL These 2 are REQUIRED These are 4 of multiple choices
  • 27. WHEN DEVELOPING WEB APPLICATIONS YOU MUST KNOW HTML AND CSS. WITHOUT THEM YOU WILL NOT HAVE A SITE.
  • 28. BUT it takes to long to learn it! FOR-EV-ERRRRR
  • 29. I don’t know where to START It looks TOO HARD to learn I TRIED BEFORE and learned nothing so I stopped I’ll NEVER be able to learn it
  • 30. Step 2 trying to learn every little bit before you start to build something.
  • 31. THIS IS THE OLD SCHOOL WAY OF LEARNING
  • 32. THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO LEARN loooooooonnnnnngggggg
  • 33. You’ll end up... learning 80% of stuff you’ll barely use you’ll get burnt out it’ll take you a month before you even get your first site up
  • 34. The traditional education way doesn’ t work (...or you would already know HTML and CSS and you wouldn’t be reading this)
  • 35. A new way... A hybrid skill acquisition model. It’s like learning but add ninja mind tricks + learning = skill acquisition
  • 36. Want to learn more? These are your bibles...
  • 37. OLDway NEWway VS. 1 week 2 weeks 3 weeks 1 month have your first site up your second site up 1 month you are a website building pro finish “learning” (aka studying) and start your first site have your first site up
  • 38. start learning through PROJECT-BASED LEARNING Step 3
  • 39. choose a lovable project You gotta be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there. - Yogi Berra
  • 40. choose a lovable project “You got to be careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.” - Yogi Berra When you’ve finished it you’ve learned it.
  • 41. Get your essential tools
  • 42. Sublime Text Editor This is where you write your code and tell the computer what your site will look like.
  • 43. Google Chrome Web browser This is where you see what your code has created. This is your feedback loop.
  • 44. identify the building blocks The Pareto Principle: for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes
  • 45. identify the building blocks (this holds true for HTML and CSS too) Translation: 20% of a language comprises 80% of its usage (spoken, written, coding, etc)
  • 46. identify the building blocks (search amazon and google for “learn html and css” and see which rank the highest) How I do it: Take three of the most popular guides and courses. Quickly go through them to find the common themes.
  • 47. Other tricks before you start: No Stakes Learning and Fast-Feedback loop Scaffolds Mental models and One-Pagers Quantity over quality Where to find answers Learn in short bursts
  • 48. The one thing that keeps you from learning or trying something new. Fear of Failure
  • 49. The one thing that keeps you from learning or trying something new. Fear of Failure (No Stakes Learning, Fast-Feedback Loops, and “Quantity over Quality” ELIMINATE THIS FEAR.)
  • 50. No Stakes Learning learning without consequence of failure Fast-Feedback Loops instant feedback to know if you did it right
  • 51. Inspect Element Feature (you can type in HTML and CSS changes here and see instant changes in browser without fear of failure. If you messed up or don’t like it just reload the page.) No Stakes Learning and Fast-Feedback Loops
  • 52. There’s a story... of a pottery class where they were split into two groups. The two groups would learn on their own and then come back together for a gallery at the end of the semester and receive a grade. The only difference was that... Paraphrased from “The First 20 Hours” **
  • 53. The Quantity Group1 2 would be graded solely on how many pieces of pottery they created would be graded on the quality of the best piece of pottery they made. The Quality Group
  • 54. When it came to showcase day... the teachers were surprised when they found that the group that was graded on quantity consistently had the better looking pieces of pottery than the group judged on one piece’s quality.
  • 55. When it came to showcase day... the teachers were surprised when they found that the group that was graded on quantity consistently had the better looking pieces of pottery than the group judged on one piece’s quality. ...AND A LOT MORE OF THEM!
  • 56. Quantity over Quality Don’t try to create a perfect site in the beginning. Instead focus on building sites over and over. In time your process is refined. The learning is in the process. The more times you repeat the process of making a site the more the concepts sink in.
  • 57. Scaffolds & Frameworks Improves learning efficiency by allowing you to focus on essentials and unveil more difficult concepts as you go
  • 58. Bootstrap Scaffolds & Frameworks Acts like training wheels. Allows you to get up and running faster. Allows you to learn essentials of HTML and CSS first without worrying about unnecessary advanced concepts. You see how code’s written by the world’s best front-end coders. As you introduce more complex topics and strip away Bootstrap you’ll be surprised at how much you’ve learned so fast.
  • 59. Mental Models and One-Pagers Identify techniques and processes that continue to appear and put them on one- pagers.
  • 60. Mental Models and One-Pagers A CSS rule is something you use constantly when building websites. I made a one-pager of the syntax to refer to when writing rules.
  • 61. Mental Models and One-Pagers A CSS rule is something you use constantly when building websites. I made a one-pager of it’ s syntax to refer to when writing rules. You can even combine a bunch of these into a big one- pager as your cheat sheet when creating sites.
  • 62. Want to try something new or can’t figure out what’s wrong with your code? Google and Stack Overflow are your friends. Where to find answers
  • 63. Learn in short bursts Limit your learning to 1 hour each day. This will keep you excited and keep you from getting burned out. Also promotes optimal attention and retention.
  • 64. During that hour go as fast as you can. Don’t try to remember everything. Again, the learning is in the process and the repetition. Not in the “studying for a test” approach. Learn in short bursts
  • 65. During that hour go as fast as you can. Don’t try to remember everything. Again, the learning is in the process and the repetition. Not in the “studying for a test” approach. Learn in short bursts EXTRA CREDIT: Use e.ggtimer.com to practice in 3 bursts of 20 minutes with a 5 minute break.
  • 66. What I SUGGEST Step 4
  • 67. Learn To Build Beautiful Websites In 1 Month by Ryan Bonhardt (yep that’s me)
  • 68. This is the course I wish I had when I was learning HTML and CSS.
  • 69. ...and people seem to like it! This is the course I wish I had when I was learning HTML and CSS.
  • 70. “Brilliant! This course saved me!!!” ...and people seem to like it! “What a course! This course was absolutely terrific!” “Bonus lectures are simply brilliant” “This is better than Codecademy!” “….it’s obvious Ryan knows what he’s talking about” “Best course ever!” “I would rank this course in the top three of all courses I’ve taken…” This is the course I wish I had when I was learning HTML and CSS. “ ”
  • 71. 1 week 2 weeks have your first site up your second site up 1 month Multiple sites. You are a website building pro You get off the ground and building your first site in less than a week.
  • 72. A 12 year-old student made this as his first website with HTML and CSS in less than 12 hours!
  • 73. A 12 year-old student made this as his first website with HTML and CSS in less than 12 hours! Pretty incredible!
  • 74. In the beginning you might feel the urge to stop and figure out everything going on behind scenes.
  • 75. In the beginning you might feel the urge to stop and figure out everything going on behind scenes. DON’T DO THIS
  • 76. It’s a common feeling in the beginning to be uneasy when you jump in over your head because we’re so used to studying and learning everything before we start. That’s what we’ve always done in school.
  • 77. From the start of the course on, it is obvious that Ryan knows what he's talking about. However, it feels at first like this course, due to it's quick intended time-frame for doing, is going to just be a shotgun blast of random things. It turns out that this isn't true. I really feel like I learned a lot about how to build a responsive web page from a short course here. Take this student for example...
  • 78. use w3schools and CSS-Tricks as added references if you are confused. Along the way...
  • 79. use w3schools and CSS-Tricks as added references if you are confused. That’s fine! Sometimes things just don’t click the first time, or when explained a certain way. Another source is not only ok, but recommended. Along the way...
  • 80. Continue to repeat the process of building sites of your own - quantity over quality. Afterwards... For added practice check out Codecademy’s track where you build AirBnB’s home-page.
  • 81. Continue to repeat the process of building sites of your own - quantity over quality. Afterwards... For added practice check out Codecademy’s track where you build AirBnB’s home-page. You’ll see you already have the knowledge to build awesome websites just like the pros!
  • 82. Step 5 Learn some HTML and CSS
  • 83. What is HTML? HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. The best way to explain it is that, for the most part, it tells the browser what is included in a webpage.
  • 84. Hyper Text Markup Language Tells the browser what is included in pageHTML
  • 85. ...looks complex right?
  • 86. NOT if you break it down
  • 87. What is CSS? Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) describes the look and formatting of a document written in a markup language. In other words, it tells the browser how to style the HTML and ultimately determines what the page will look like.
  • 88. Cascading Style Sheets Determines the look and design of the pageCSS (These two sites have almost the same HTML, but different CSS.)
  • 89. Once again it looks confusing…
  • 90. Once again it looks confusing… but NOT if you break it down and identify the patterns.
  • 91. Step 6 Let’s build our first website together
  • 92. Make sure you have your essential tools Don’t have them? Click on and download them now. Go ahead… I’ll wait
  • 93. Open up Sublime And click File > New File. You should see a blank screen like to the right --->
  • 94. Type this: Let’s give it a title and a header <html> <head> <title>My First Site</title> </head> <body> <h1>Hello! This is my first site.</h1> </body> </html>
  • 95. Now click File > Save and save it as “hello.html” Your document should look like below
  • 96. Now right click in the document and select “Open in Browser” See the same as below? Title Header
  • 97. Congratulations! You have made your first, albeit simple, web page
  • 98. Head over to MASSIVE Academy and keep learning
  • 99. Thanks For Reading Ryan Bonhardt @RyanBonhardt www.massiveacademy.us