This class was quite a learning experience.  I hit a lot of roadblocks but also solved a lot of problems and realized what I can accomplish within WordPress if I put my mind to it.

The Class Overall:

I think that the class was great for giving us a structured environment to learn some coding basics and safely experiment.  It allowed for a lot of tinkering on our own, but could have definitely benefitted from some more class and one-on-one time.  While the instructional periods were informative, more time to work with Greg on specific issues would have been nice.  I found myself working on some problems the wrong way for hours when Greg could have given me a simple fix or explanation in a few minutes.

What I Learned:

I learned the basics of HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.  I learned that you can find the answer to almost anything with Google and a little (or a lot) of mental elbow grease.  If I want to experiment in the future, I know that I can commit my changes to Github and share my code (and my issues) with a world of other developers.

Why this is important:

Knowing the basics is important because it opens lots of possibilities. Just knowing that I can look up how to write code on Codecademy or crowdsource and issue to Github or utilize Stack Overflow for almost any coding issue makes it way easier for me to solve problems and learn how to make my website capable of almost anything.

What I plan on doing with my knowledge:

I hope to keep up my blog, once I solve a couple more responsiveness and design issues.  I’m also going to be helping out a local logo artist build a portfolio and informational website that will hopefully expand her business.  I will be able to give her advice on what types of templates to use as well as give her ideas of what a good website could be capable of.  I plan on using WordPress to build this site.

Re-readings and initial readings:

Reading the initial readings over again made me realize how much I have learned about the language of coding.  Not just in the terminology, but the concepts are clearer to me as well.  “Don’t repeat yourself” was simple enough the first time I read about it, but until you actually code the same thing four times in a row you don’t realize the value of it or how it might actually require finding a new way to do things.  Designing for the masses makes more sense now, because if my functionality changes are too complicated for my authors to use, they won’t use them.  Actually working with the site makes you realize how these problems from the initial readings can quickly present themselves.

What I want to learn now:

Obviously, I’d love to get my custom meta boxes working, but beyond that, I want to learn how to make my site more responsive and aesthetically pleasing.  I want to keep it simple still, but I want it to impress.  I’m taking a web design class in the fall that I hope will help me with this.  I want to learn how to build or customize more of my plugins, as well, as so I think I’m going to fork some of my favorite code and see if I can improve on it.