We were talking about the readings about API and although it helped us understand how the web works, we’re not exactly sure how it applies to our projects or if we need to add it to them. However, through the readings I was able to understand the purpose of an API and how websites like Facebook and Google are able to get and provide the information and data that they do. The only real thing that I didn’t understand about API was REST API and the JSON aspect.

I have officially began working on my project. Unfortunately there has been a minor setback in that my database is not hooking up on my local server with my folders. Therefore, I am stuck trying to get things to work and worried about erasing my database as a whole. I’m not exactly sure why because it was working the other day in class, and of course when I get together with Jaclyn and Lucy to work on the project now it won’t work.

Back to the project, I am getting nervous that I will not be able to completely understand everything in order to get things done. I need to do some research tonight into WordPress and how to make changes to it.

A few questions that I have are :

1. If we are adding an HTML element where would we place that code?
2. If I am making changes to a plug-in, which folder within the folder do I make changes? And with that, do I have to make a plug-in child?
3. How do I fix my database problem?

Overall I’m hopeful that I will get everything completed but am getting frustrated that things aren’t working in a way that I can even get started, and that the week before our final is due we won’t be able to have hands on help if we truly need it.

A Life Surfeited

I am super excited to have my website, “A Life Surfeited,” up and running! I must admit, however, that all the steps we took to get there are only slowly beginning to make sense to me. What is GoDaddy.com, what is Google 360, and why do I need them? I get that we bought our domain and hosting privileges through the GoDaddy site, but why do I need login information and a new email address? And now that I have my own live domain and WP account, do we still need the local server and WP site? I’m confused as to which we should be working in. But overall the  process was seamless and to me seemed like magic — a few simple steps and POOF I have my own website!

I have enjoyed playing around with themes and looking through the associated code. It’s given me some ideas of other modules I can manipulate for my final project, like altering the metadata for a comment box to ask commentators to tell me where they live and their favorite place they have traveled to. The “Shh! Don’t Tell Them There’s No Magic In Design Thinking” article was a good piece to read before really jumping in because it gave me pause about trying to “pretty” things up first. The concept of “design thinking” is one I’ve had in my mind before but didn’t know how to verbalize. It makes sense that design should be strategic and part of the brainstorm early on in project development. And I’ve always felt that designing with the user in mind is key. It’s so frustrating to visit a website and nothing is where is intuitively should be, or in fact is hidden. The user experience should be the priority, even if we are talking about a personal blog. I will look to my classmates to give me this type of feedback on my blog and will strive to provide productive and useful commentary about my experience of their site.

This week’s reading on GitHub Features, as well as last week’s in class lessons around project management, really helped me get a better grasp on how the features and tool in GitHub flow together. And how they are there to help guide me and my project to fruition. I’ve already set up my Notes to track my progress and am looking forward in a couple weeks to going in and offering feedback on my classmates work via Commits. Also, with GitHub’s powerful ability to host code, I now better understand why the developer I interviewed, Jamie, said he browses GitHub code repos to stay up-to-date on new and fresh things happening in the programming world.

I am out of town for work this week and haven’t had as much time as I hoped to get my project going. But I plan to spend all weekend next weekend making some real good progress.

Until next week, cheers and laissez les bon temps roulez (as they say here in New Orleans!),

Jane

Balancing work, school and other projects can be challenging and learning web development is no easy feat. It is definitely a full-time job! I’ve installed my WordPress folder and have been playing around with some ideas for my website, but I need get going on it more. Right now, I’m at a slow start since I’m honestly afraid of building it, but I know once I get more familiar with it, it will get easier. Like I said, I’m excited about building a website that is user-friendly and exciting for our clients since I am very passionate about what I do!

I know nothing about project management. During my senior year of college, I had an interview for a project management position that I was scared about. I always thought it was for technical people only (and I do not consider myself that technical), but at the end of the day, project management is just problem-solving, which is a skill we all need.

The principles behind the Agile Manifesto were helpful. Some of the principles that resonated with me were: “Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software,” and “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.”

As a creative person, my favorite article was the Design Thinking article. I enjoyed how they emphasized how design is way more than “making things pretty.” One quote that stuck out to me was: “It’s important to bring design into a project early, before the team settles on a solution, so they can truly explore the needs of the users.” I love that the article emphasizes user-friendliness. The essence of technology is that it makes everything easy for a user. Ultimately, that is what makes a great tool. I strive to create a website that will be engaging and creative for our clients.

Another quote that stuck out to me was: “It changes the conversation. When you add ‘thinking’ to the word ‘design, it’s no longer about color or decoration. It’s now about process. It’s about getting to a more intentional outcome.” Overall, it was great insight.

Now, I will chip away at installing themes for the WMG Podcasters!

When I was contemplating what to create on my site, and choose for my final project I began thinking first of what code I could realistically change in order to change the WordPress platform. I was having a hard time even thinking of how this could be done. Since I missed the week on WordPress, I was a little bit lost. Thankfully after last class, I understand now that you go into WordPress and actually work from their code to in order to change it. I hadn’t fully grasped that concept and still thought we were writing all of the code and creating our own website for some reason.

This week’s reading have been very helpful and insightful. After I figured out which project I wanted to do, and then learning the proper format to do it, I started thinking about where to begin. I felt overwhelmed and wasn’t exactly sure what should come first, second, etc.

Thankfully, this week’s readings were helpful. I still haven’t really understood all of GitHub’s quirks and abilities, but the reading on GitHub’s site on features for collaboration were extremely helpful on how to think about starting. I was able to kind of get the gist of how you can seamlessly review and add to your code. However, once I go to my site I always get very confused. So I might need to come in early (if work allows) and truly go over how to correctly work with and post to my GitHub account. Right now, it shows a very confusing screen when I try to add anything, so I think I do need to go over that again.

I found the article called Shh! Don’t Tell Them There’s No Magic in Design Thinking particularly intriguing when they began talking about how you need to think about design first in order to fully understand what you will need to do in order to create that design and its features.

As far as web development goes, I’ve spent the last week mostly focused on preparing and gathering materials for my final project. I’ve already had to change some of my plans. For instance, instead of being about the process of making mead, it’s now going to be about the process of eighteenth century weaving. It turned out that the day I was in Williamsburg was much too hot to open or really approach my friend’s beehive. (Opening the hive on a dave that’s 95 degrees or above is really really bad for the hive apparently. Something to do with the queen and cooling.)

Of course, this same friend happens to be the weaver’s apprentice at Colonial Williamsburg. She offered to let me come in after the tourists were gone so I could get some photographs. I’m rather pleased with the outcome for the stills, but the videos are just okay. It was insanely hot and humid out, which both made for an impatient photographer and difficulty in effectively capturing good light. I did, however, get one good one of a spinning wheel spinning. It’s pretty cool, and I look forward to you seeing it. There’s some good negative space that I think would be good for a title bar.

Anyway! On to project management. (Thank you very much for recording the class and sending it to me. I greatly appreciate it.) Watching the Agile video really drives home the fact that project management is a delicate balance—especially in coding. I read that Jaclyn wrote that the Agile Manifesto reminded her a lot of the Zen of Python. I felt the exact same way. It had the same clear constructs that attempt to manage and define seemingly abstract ideas.

I also read the article on design thinking—I loved how Jared Spool compared design thinking and designers to the children’s book Stone Soup. It really helped it make sense to me. Also, since my final project is going to be fairly design-heavy, it was a helpful read. (I’m fairly self-conscious about designing things, but I’m also quite picky.) As long as I thoroughly research the issues I face and stay focused on the product, it should be okay.