Last night I had a nightmare that I could not figure out how to add captions to an existing image gallery using jQuery. Then I woke up and realized that this nightmare was reality. It took me awhile (longer than I’d like to admit) to figure out how to add these dang captions. When I finally managed to make it work, I took a step back and thought to myself, “Wow, that was really easy, why didn’t I initially think of doing that!?”

It’s probably because I tend to over-think everything and get easily frustrated. For example, while I was working on one of the functions exercises in Codcademy, I almost tossed my laptop out the window on multiple occasions. JavaScript is intimidating, confusing and downright annoying at times. But, I’m starting to realize that it doesn’t have to be; you just need to try and understand what the code is actually there to do. And let’s be honest, the image gallery does look better with some nice captions and CSS styling, doesn’t it?

So I have come to the conclusion that JavaScript is a good thing (not the devil), and for someone who works at a digital marketing company, it’s important for me to have some knowledge about these programming languages. Earlier today, I informed one of the colleagues that I was taking a web development class, which consisted of learning JavaScript basics. He was impressed and applauded me for making the effort, knowing it’s not easy and not a requirement of my current job position. He also quickly recommended that I read this book “Eloquent JavaScript – A Modern Introduction to Programming.” I glimpsed the digital version and definitely like how it’s intended for people who do not know a lot about JavaScript or programming in general. The descriptions are simple and use plain language. I think it’s worth another glance when I have the time!

This was my first time using Codecademy, and so far I have found it to be a great site to learn basic programming skills. As far as look and usability, the site was very clean and easy to navigate. One aspect I appreciated the most was that there were no ads, and for a free site, this was surprising. It would have been annoying to try and complete these lessons with flash or pop-up ads!

Going through the Web Fundamentals lesson, I liked how each section had a theme and every exercise was fairly short. This step-by-step method helped me to easily understand the building blocks of HTML and CSS language. When I did perform a task wrong, it would correct me in a nice and encouraging way by saying, “Oops! Did you forget the…?” I liked how the site doesn’t spell out exactly what you need to do, but offers hints in case you get stuck. The projects at the end are also helpful to ensure that you comprehend the lesson.

Additionally, I appreciated the FAQ forum, which allows you view frequently asked questions or submit your own question. I had to go here once during the CSS Classes and IDs exercise because I could not figure something out. In a matter of seconds of going to the forum, I had my answer because a similar question had already been asked. This was really helpful!

Overall, the Web Fundamentals lesson was extremely helpful and something I can immediately use at my job. At work, I often edit HTML templates in Dreamweaver and usually getaway with swapping out new text and images. Rarely am I editing in the actual code. When I run into problems, however, I’m forced to ask our web developers/designers, but now I will feel more comfortable solving minor issues on my own, even with just the small knowledge gained from the first Codecademy lesson.