Category Archives: 2018 Fall class

Moving Forward

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This week was a tough one for me seeing how I even missed this analysis post. It was interesting to start to see all the coding languages come together. PHP was a bit difficult, but it wasn’t the worst.

I’d like to think that I have a good ideas for my portfolio. I’ve seen other people’s portfolios through WordPress and I think that I could make something similar that I would be proud of. It would take a great deal of effort, but I think I can put the effort in.

It would feel a bit self-liberating if I was able to make a functional website that portrayed all my thoughts and ideas. I’m looking forward to finding other modifications that will stand out on my portfolio. At this point though, I do feel a little lacking in my skills, but I’m still confident I can make something work.

It is nice to know that I will be versed in a different aspect. I am so far, happy with the progress I’ve made as a “coder” yet, I know I have more to go. I just hope that I won’t disappoint myself with my final project. More to learn, but still satisfied.

 

Week 10: Still Trying To Understand How the Web Works

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APIs — Application Programming Interfaces — are waiters. What does that mean exactly? Well, MuleSoft explains it like a restaurant. You sit down at your table, persuing the various delicacies available for your choosing. You know the kitchen will be able to make your order, but how do you let the kitchen know what you want? And how does the kitchen get you your food? Surely, you can’t do it yourself so this is waiters (or APIs) come in. An API is a messenger that takes requests and tells a system what you want to do. Then, the API will return the response back to you.

Real API examples are third-party travel sites. When you use services such as Kayak or Priceline, they are interacting with airlines’ and hotels’ APIs. You tell them what you want, they tell the companies, and then they give you the companies’ responses.

In essence, APIs rule the internet. The web (did I use those right??) would be far less connected that what we see today. They connect the web, allowing developers, applications, and sites to tap into databases and services (or, assets)—much like open-source software. APIs do this by acting like a universal converter plug offering a standard set of instructions.

Get it? Got it? Good! Now you have a basic (emphasis on basic) understanding of how APIs work. You can try out our example below to get a better understanding of the mechanics behind APIs or watch our video about getting started with APIs.

Click the button to go to the next lesson!

 

Click Here for "REST APIs & JSON"—>

 

Side note: often on like third-party travel sites, there aren’t Southwest flights. I usually use Google Flights, so I can’t speak for everyone, but does that mean Southwest doesn’t allow third-party access to their APIs? And what would be the motive for doing so?

Collaboration Is Key

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This week’s readings encouraged me to reflect on my time at Apple this summer. I was lucky enough to be a marketing intern on the Apple Music team. My role was focused on retention efforts, with some dips into acquisition efforts as well. I particularly liked the Aigle Manifesto.

“Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.”

It’s probably obvious, but very true. On the business/creative end we tend to get ahead of ourselves — leaping to fantastical updates or new ideas without first consulting our engineering counterparts. I like this part of the job. It’s fun. I got to make recommendations without a care about the thousands of lines of coding it would take to get it done.

Anyway, back to the quote at hand. I remember this summer we were working on a large project with 10 external and international partners. We had a lot of ideas we needed to get engineered for us. Unfortunately, each entity also had to be individualized for each partner. Needless to say, the two engineers leading the back-end of things weren’t very happy with us. But collaboration is key. All we really had to do was explain why all of their labor would be needed and how it would benefit our customers. Oh, and keep our partners happy. Part of the reason I took this class is to be better at these types of conversations. And have a better understanding of what software engineers do.

“Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer
through early and continuous delivery
of valuable software.”

This manifesto is brilliant. From beginning to end all principles should be followed by start-ups and large companies alike. Adding to the brilliance, it’s concise! We’ve all seen lengthy manifesto err to the way of redundancy (*ahem* the racist/misogynistic Google engineer guy that wrote a 10-page manifesto last year). But this manifesto epitomizes the very essence of its subject matter.

“Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount
of work not done — is essential.”

PHP + Design Thinking

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This week, I struggled with PHP. I think it was more of a conceptual struggle. I didn’t know what to add to my homepage with PHP. I thought of it as a background language. I don’t know how to differentiate between languages that have functions that just spit out an answer, and languages that have clear functionality. I don’t understand the functionality of PHP. On web searches, I discovered how to make it spit out a date, and I saw that people used it to create forms but not how they implemented it into a page to do something.

Anyhoo, I added some PHP functions that I saw on the Internet and felt could be useful but didn’t see how they’d incorporate. However, on another web search I found resources like this one  that showed me a couple different uses.

Something that stood out to me in the readings today was the design thinking piece. I thought it was especially interesting because at ONA, one of the workshops we participated in was focused on design thinking. We were brainstorming different disciplines within journalism. We wrote each discipline on a sticky note, and then categorized them. Later, we tried formulating a new way to tell a story incorporating four stories from different categories. That workshop was helpful for me because having the problem and the solutions set out in front of me made them so much easier to conceptualize.

I thought it was interesting that designers have been harboring their way of thinking and the rest of us are just now catching on because some of it gave a new name. The piece and my experiences at ONA both made me want to delve deeper and find more creative ways to tell stories as a journalist.

Thinking Outside the Box

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This week, I had a tough time thinking of what I want my final project to be. I definitely needed a refresher on the languages I’ve learned and what I can do with each. It’s also been an experience learning what I can do with plugins and with PHP.

I felt like I had a lot of ideas, but also no ideas. Creating the portfolio site feels like a metaphor for my life. I have a grand vision, but the details are fuzzy. I want my site to be a revamped version of my current e-portfolio that gives a holistic view of Daja, the person (rather than Daja, the journalist).

I’m interested to see what I can do with plugins. Eventually (can’t promise it’ll be with this portfolio site), I hope to build my own plugin. The functionality is what excites me about web development. I guess if I became a web developer, I’d focus on front-end development (if not full stack). This class has really expanded my thinking.

I was looking back on the course description this week and something that stood out to me was “we do want you to come away with some coding skills and greater technical fluency.” Eight weeks in, I feel that I will definitely walk away with greater technical fluency. I find myself examining everyday processes that I see when I browse the internet and being that annoying friend that tries to explain how everything works.

Cheers to new knowledge.

 

 

Week 8 – Nervous but Trying

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This week we learned about WordPress themes and their importance. Themes are made up of a number of files. The two main files are: a PHP file (as a template) and a CSS file (for styling). While I could find myself easily falling into a rabbit hole of themes, I know that the perfect theme isn’t necessarily just for aesthetic purposes. The ‘perfect’ theme is the one that is the most user-friendly. Throughout the week I’ve e=been looking at examples of theme code. I’ll most likely be customizing a theme for my mom’s website but it has been helpful to see how themes are structured in coding. When we discussed themes and plug-ins during class, I didn’t quite understand the difference. The Theme Handbook helped me understand the distinction. Themes control visuals while plug-ins are for functionality.

In general, I’m pretty nervous about creating this website for my mom. I knew this project was coming up, but now that we’re actually setting it up, I’m a bit overwhelmed. I’ve been reading up on the different aspects of a site in chunks. There are so many different things to think about! Navigation menus, themes, plug-ins, taxonomony. It’s a lot to consider. I thought that reading and researching would help build my confidence. So far, it’s just made me more unsure about whether I am capable of creating a website I am proud of. I’m going to give it my best effort and see where it goes. I am also going to come up with a schedule of when I’ll work on the site to lessen my anxiety. I know for a fact this is not the kind of project that can be done overnight, so I’m going to plan accordingly.

In’s and Out’s of WordPress

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We finally made it to WordPress! It’s unbelievable that during this class we’ve learned the ground basics and now we get to put them all together to finally create a site. I’m a very indecisive person, so seeing all the themes threw my head for a spin because theres so many things I want to create. I noticed that WordPress uses a lot of PHP, so I can already see where my skills will lack.

A Sigh of Relief

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It loomed on the horizon since the beginning of the semester. In the misty fog of deep sea waters, a mysterious indistinct other sat and waited for our ships to arrive. There was no turning back, no leaving the waters, no retreat. Our ships moved incessantly in the waves toward this impending other.

The curious entity sat and waited for us. It watched us as we learned, as we battled smaller enemies, and perfected our crafts. Every Codeacadmey lesson, every three-hour class session, and every analysis post — it just observed. It was if this entity knew it would be the last thing standing in our way before freedom.

And even as we learned, as we won smaller battles, and as we worked toward perfection — it felt as if this inscrutable being would still have us beat. As we inevitably inched closer and closer we could see the monster for what it truly was. Endless lines of code, front-end & back-end capabilities, widgets, modifications, MAMP, and original content — we were toast. All hope felt lost.

Days passed with no word from the mainland. We were all alone. The biggest battle we faced was quickly approaching. Food and water supplies were running low. And then it came. A message from the mainland. A sigh of relief. Aid was being sent, we were going to beat this thing! We could do it! In just the nick of time, we would be equipped with everything we needed.

The message you ask? It read:

“The website final project will consist more of modifying existing themes and code, rather than creating a new theme entirely from scratch.”

The Ultimate Rebrand (Final Pitch)

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What/why: For my final project, I’d like to create my own personal portfolio to capture all that I’ve worked on thus far in my career. I feel that it would make me more marketable because it’d be much more effective if I put my skills to use and have something presentable for what I learned in this class, rather than just slapping it onto my resume.

I currently have an e-portfolio on WordPress. I’ve also created a niche site on WordPress about the Harlem Renaissance.  The challenge of this project will be to find creative ways to spice up the way I present myself. I could put the basic things I already have on this one, but I want to challenge myself to add some bells and whistles that showcase my new skills.

Goals:

My goal is to incorporate functionality into my portfolio. I want to make sure it is interactive, especially through JavaScript. Another goal not directly related to the design of the site is to explore the options for plugins and gain a deeper understanding of the site.

Modifications:

I will be doing mostly front-end modifications.

  • Include a travel page with an interactive map (I found a plugin that will allow me to include JavaScript when I hover/click on a place.
  • On the travel page, I will also create a photo gallery, similar to the one we made in class.
  • I will create a contact/inquiries form.
  • I will add my social media feeds.
  • I will incorporate the Click to Tweet plugin to allow users to share my content.
  • I will incorporate a newsletter plugin to keep my readers updated.

 

Audience: The audience would mostly be recruiters and colleagues, specifically in journalism. I want to show them that I am a versatile journalist with a diverse skillset.

 

URL will be dajaehenry.com.

Final Project Pitch — Update

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What: I am planning to create an online portfolio. It will include elements such as: an about me, my resume, and photos I’ve taken.

Why: I think creating a portfolio is the most practical option. As a graduating senior it doesn’t hurt to be able to create something that could help me professionally.

Audience: The audience ranges from future employers to random people that could happen upon my site. If this comes out successful I will post it on my LinkedIn, so another avenue for future audience persons.

Tentative Theme: Minimal Portfolio

Track: Probably 99% front-end modifications, with back-end tweaks as needed.

Modifications:

  • Gallery of photos on a separate page.
  • Resume embedded on a separate page.
  • Contact form on the bottom of homepage.
  • Social media linked icons in header.
  • About me page with embedded conquer earth widget (https://conquer.earth/jessodonnell23)
  • Change fonts/theme colors