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Planned Upcoming Tutorials

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I started off with putting up a Markdown tutorial because I feel that this is the most basic of all the web things that anyone working with the web should (take the time to) know. I began with Markdown with content lovers in general, in particular, writers (like myself), artists and non-web experts (who really don’t want to bother or have the time to learn all the super-basics of HTML tags for styling alone), and procrastinators. 1 I also started off with Markdown because I plan on putting up more (advanced?) tutorials that do require some basic knowledge of Markdown. I also plan to open up tutorials for some others in which you would like to have some Markdown support, but I’m pretty sure that there are plenty of resources out there. 2

My current site projects are powered by WordPress, 3 and all of them also have the Jetpack plugin installed. The Jetpack plugin is packed with so many features you could use to enhance your WordPress-powered site, which also includes an option to add support for Markdown. Three of my sites have Markdown support enabled: my personal blog, my writing blog, and this site. My collective site remains untouched, as I use the new Calypso desktop app, and sometimes the Kindle and Android version of the WordPress apps (when I’m on the go) to write quick updates.

Anyway, moving forward. I do plan on opening more “web things” tutorials in the near future starting with the following below, not in particular order. This is more of a maybe list:

  • Mobile Web (otherwise known as Responsive Web Design) – in a simpler, easier to follow way… if it can be done.
  • WordPress – most especially with creating your own WordPress themes, which is always the hardest to tackle for any web hobbyist and would-be web professional. I am only familiar with building child themes, so I may probably just start from there.
  • CSS Frameworks – In particular, Foundation and (when time permits me) Materialize. There are plenty, mucho tutorials for the very popular Bootstrap 4 all over the place, but I find myself a lot more comfortable with Foundation and starting to like Materialize as well. I may also dabble with others too, like Yahoo’s Pure CSS and Skeleton.
  • Emmet – Another tool for web hobbyist procrastinators who want to build their sites faster without getting repetitive and doing the copying and pasting of HTML and CSS over and over again. The thing is, the syntax looks hard, but it’s actually easy. Does that make sense?

I may or may not make tutorials for the following “web things,” mainly because I am still new to these and still feeling uncomfortable with getting used to these. But good news: there are plenty of free online classes that you can take advantage of, such as CodeAcademy and W3Schools, so be sure to search out for them!

  • PHP – WordPress doesn’t require you to have a good knowledge of PHP, but how can you build an effective WordPress theme if you’re not familiar with the basics of PHP? There are plenty of PHP tutorials out there
  • Javascript – Unfortunately, if you want to get serious about having web design as a career (the more formal name for “web design” nowadays is UI/UX Designer), aside from getting well-versed with graphic design, HTML, and CSS, you’re also required to have some (basic?) knowledge of Javascript. I know the very, very basics, but not enough to apply them to make my sites interactive. And then, there is also jQuery, that should make Javascript a little easier… and then, Javascript can also be used as a backend script like PHP that also goes by the name of node.js… and then there’s this new thing called ECMA Script that’s an extensive update to Javascript… and then, there are those crazy other Javascript frameworks like Angular, React, Meteor, Ember . . .
  • Ruby (on Rails) – LOL, yes, I started taking Ruby classes, but I haven’t finished them, so who knows.
  • Sass – Love CSS, but sometimes you get so frustrated with all the crazy stuff involved like proper nesting of HTML elements and classes and IDs that makes the styling of your precious website looking all wonky? Sass may be the answer for you, but then it’ll take a bit of some advanced methods to install Sass support in your machine and then get used to learning new special characters and other stuff (like mixins) for you to make a habit of. I’ve taken about 3 Sass classes and I still don’t get it. There are alternatives to Sass (Less and Stylus), but it’s also the same idea as Sass. 5
  • Git/GitHub – The thing is, if you’re just a web hobbyist, you wouldn’t really need this. But, if you are one of those ambitious web designers who would like to offer free pre-made site layouts, blog themes, and the likes, or if you like to dabble with some server side scripting and make your own scripts for fellow hobbyists to use (like a fanlisting script, a directory script, link banner rotations, etc.), you may want to store all your lovely scripts (packages) in a GitHub account, so you can share it around with everyone. Having some basic knowledge of Git and having a GitHub account would really save you time and most especially, your web space and bandwidth, which sometimes can be a problem with us hobbyists. What makes having a GitHub account so awesome is that it’s hosted in the cloud, so you won’t have to worry about running out of space. Besides, another cool thing about Git is that when you mess up on something and you want to revert everything back to the previous version of your script/package, you can do that with just one simple Git command instead of rebuilding everything all over again. There are also alternatives too: Mercurial (instead of Git) and Bitbucket (instead of GitHub).
  • SEO – What the heck is S-E-O? It’s an important skill to learn, even if it’s the very basics, to gain popularity with your site in Google search results and other search engines. You want to make sure that when someone types in certain keywords that may relate to your site, yours come out on top when the search engine’s results come out. When someone types in “Card Captor Sakura shrines” 6 on that search form, you want your Card Captor Sakura-related shrine to show up as one of the top 3… or top 5… or top 10… you get the picture. You know you would like that.

What about the whole “art and DIY crafts” thing?

It’ll come soon. It’ll definitely come soon. But keep in mind, art and DIY crafts are a lot more time consuming to make, meaning it will take me awhile to post any type of content related to this field. But it will come. I do plan on opening a gallery of my art and crafts here, but I will be saving the best ones for my portfolio when I can.

A wish for the average web builder

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macbook 606763_1280

One thing that has been bothering me as a web builder 1 hobbyist trying to get into the industry is that most of the online classes that I’ve enrolled and taken all use Apple Macs as their system. In fact, most of the software and apps that I would love to have and put it into good use for my future projects seem to only be available in Mac versions, such as alternatives to the Adobe CC that actually has the same functionalities as Adobe CC and even easier tools for faster web building.

And then, there are really good scripts, like static site generators such as Jekyll, in which they offer no support for Windows. 2 Even though I earned my Udemy certification for Jekyll some months ago, I had to halt my lessons on that course just to follow instructions from an outside source. After the certification, Udemy suggested that I also take the course called Hugo, another static site generator that does support Windows, as well as Mac OS and Linux. I haven’t finished Hugo yet, but I’m loving it so far.

It has nothing to do with my goals in improving my portfolio, but I do plan on adding a hobby website 3 using Hugo (possibly) or just plain HTML using Foundation or Bootstrap. With this, at least, I can add something to my portfolio that’s not always based on WordPress, you know?

To make this drabble (?) short, I really do wish that everyone, regardless if you’re a hobbyist or a professional, would consider catering your sites to a wider audience, niche or not. People have disabilities, outdated devices like old desktops and laptops, people who still use outdated browser software, 4 and those who are always on the go and rely on their mobile phones or tablets. 5

I want to reach out to a wider audience with my projects and creations. If not a wider audience, maybe a wider “niche” audience. If I apply these standard practices to my projects, as much as I can anyway, then the web will be a better place.

Is it ready yet?

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Almost, but I need to add something in here so that the journal wouldn’t get stuck with a modified Hello World entry, so here is another entry.

So, what exactly is the purpose of this journal? I have opened other blogs that chronicle the things I learned from web development classes, but I never really took it seriously. With this one, though, I decided to combine my web dev educational journey with other hobbies that I do, such as art and some crafts. Also, aside from providing sources from around the net to have a head start, I also plan on opening a simple tutorial of these subjects when I can.

These tutorials may possibly come in these subjects:

  • Web development (HTML/CSS, Javascript, WordPress, static site generators, PHP, Ruby, Python, etc.)
  • Digital/traditional art
  • DIY crafts
  • Everyday useful DIY tips

I learned that if I do write tutorials, it would also give me the opportunity to understand further of what I learned and hopefully apply them to my future projects (and yours too, of course). Other than that, nothing much to say at this point.

Just letting you all know that this is still a work-in-progress blog.

こんばんは、みんな！(Good evening, everyone!)

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Actually, it’s past midnight. I have work in some few hours, so I should be heading to bed.

I’m editing this Hello World entry to make it as the first entry of this site. As mentioned in the About section, this is a work-in-progress site. In short, more changes and customizations coming up soon. It’s only fitting, I think.

This is a short entry, therefore I shall go to sleep now. Goodnight!

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