Learning about how websites are developed and launched from the back end has been — like most things I’ve learned in this class — simultaneously empowering and disappointing. On one hand, I am excited to try setting up my website and developing it on my local server so I can “break” it without affecting what the public sees. On the other hand, the internet seems so much less magical now! Maybe it’s because I haven’t tried navigating the GitHub-MAMP-Cyberduck trifecta yet, but it seems a lot messier and more complicated than I thought it would be. I’ve managed a handful of websites on different CMS platforms and I currently edit another WordPress blog, but I’ve never used a local server before so it’s all been a simple online system. This new local server thing seems more appropriate for a site that I’ll be experimenting on and building independently, so I hope the complexity is worth it.

As far as Codecademy goes, I was pleased to find that PHP was very similar to jQuery and it wasn’t starting all over from scratch with a new language. I still haven’t looked behind the WordPress curtain, so I’m not sure what I’ll find and if I’ll feel comfortable working on it. My goal for the next phase of this course is to try new things and not be afraid to mess up the code. The few moments of true learning and clarity I’ve had with Codecademy have come when the code failed and I’ve had to go back and figure out what I’d messed up.

I think I have down the basics of web development. As long as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and jQuery are the basics, I think I’m finally becoming comfortable with each of them. I’ve been redoing JavaScript and jQuery from the past couple weeks in order to drill the lessons into my memory, and it’s starting to work.

I am looking forward to developing a theme. In part, I’m excited because I finally am feeling comfortable with the “basics.” The Codex readings also increased my excitement. I am looking forward to creating something that looks unique. I know I shouldn’t get too far ahead of myself — I doubt I’ll be able to create something ENTIRELY unique at this point — but I want it to be at least a little different from other blogs. Since I’ll be updating a theme, I’ll still be using part of the skeleton built for me. I feel judgmental when I see peoples’ blogs that look the same, and I cannot wait to ensure that mine will not.

I think that when blogs look the same, it strips it of its creativity, because it does not look like an individual. It looks like it’s just one in the same. If you have something you want people to read, the visual part of it is very important. In our PR firm, we have a whole design team to make sure that when the traditional side creates something — whether it be messaging, branding, crisis work, what-have-you — the design team can ensure that it looks good. People are visual creatures. The way a blog looks is extremely important, and being unique is part of that.

Learning PHP was most relevant to my professional experience as a online marketing consultant. My business model as an online marketing consultant relies heavily upon the ability for the clients website to be in great shape that converts well for its specific industry. My efforts on social media, pay-per-click campaigns, blog writing, email marketing, and display ads only work correctly if a website is functioning properly.

A bad website that is hard to navigate only reduces the effectiveness of my campaigns. When I have to show the client the data behind the campaign and there seems to be huge bounce rates, then it makes me look ineffective and I can’t justify my consultant rates.

What I have started doing is offering website redesigns to companies that have really archaic websites. I’m by no means a web designer or web developer; I am, however, really resourceful. I purchase WordPress themes that match the look and vision of my client’s organization. I offer that service which really just allows me to properly execute my online marketing services. It brings their website to the modern age at a small price and really solidifies the client relationship. The themes often require a little alterations to really fit the needs of my clients depending on the industry. Being able to understand the different file types, formats, and plugins from the WordPress codex entries really helped me comprehend the structure of WordPress and how to effectively run my business. I had not known about child themes until these codex entries, and I can absolutely say that they have changed my process. I had been delaying updating to the new theme version because I didn’t want to lose my edits to the PHP files.

You can say that I’ve learned a great amount over this week. From writing PHP in Codecademy, to the different WordPress Codex entries to better understand the structure. It has literally made an impact on my business. When asked “You down with PHP?” I’ll respond with “Yeah You Know Me!”

I’m not sure if the concepts were simple or if the exercises were just a breeze, but either way I’m feeling invincible after this week’s Codecademy lesson. PHP has by far been the easiest language for me to grasp. I can even go as far as to say that it was the most enjoyable language for me to work with thus far.

I do recognize, however, that we only completed half of the lesson and it still has the potential to get more difficult. Regardless, I see why Greg taught us in the order he did because it seems like a lot of what we learned and struggled through in “code that shall not be named” applies to other code languages. “Conditionals” and “control flows” seemed far less foreign because we had already been repeatedly tortured with them before. A very small part of me even considered going back to JavaScript and finding out if it is still as torturous as I remember; then I woke up. In all seriousness though, transitioning from jQuery to PHP was pretty much as smooth as it could get.

I enjoyed reading the WordPress Codex because I understood a lot of what they meant when referring to a language or a certain code and I felt like I was finally in a special club. Some of the readings I think I’ll have to actually apply before I understand, but it’s nice to know that there are places to refer to when getting started with our own pages.

The concept of child theme reminded me a lot of what we talk about in class with only making changes on our server and not going live until we’re sure about it (I think I said that right). I’m not sure if it is the same idea or not but I’m quickly realizing that the common theme is to avoid making live changes more often than not.

Assignments this week were somewhat challenging, but interesting. What I enjoyed the most about them was my progress towards learning how to think in code; well, PHP. The best lesson of the Codecademy assignment was the arrays. I feel like I actually understand the reasons for arrays, the concepts, and how they may facilitate sustaining a developed site. I may use arrays on my site to develop lists in the backend and only highlight one item on the list to call out a weekly concept and/or special. However, I am not sure if I will use them to build my site and/or incorporate them later on after my site and business mature.

The assignment to outline the site which we want to create was tough, but it forced me to dedicate time to think through the image that I want my company to portray and the services which will be offered. Thinking through these key concepts  has been quite difficult as I have a tendency of wanting to take on the world.  I still have not made all the key decisions, but I was able to create an outline and identify a modo for my web-site development and business to follow: the KISS principle. I definitely feel that the less information which is displayed the more impactful. The key next steps for me are to discipline myself to keep things simple. It is so easy to get carried away with information and/or trying to tackle too much at once.

For the most part, I understood all concepts covered this past week, but I am still not completely comfortable with everything we have learned. Concepts which I am unclear about are:

1.  How do I update a template from WordPress using Sublime?

2. How does the database and WordPress work together? If I stand up a second WordPress site, would I have to create a new database?  As I maintain and further development my site, will I have to go back to Github and do anything to the database? 

3. Is there a way to run spell check from Sublime?

It would seem that I am a little late to the party when it comes to buying stock in WordPress. After all, it has been around for nearly a decade. (Where was I again 10 years ago? Yes, I remember, selling my stock in Google.) Had I known then that WordPress would serve as the foundation for two-thirds of the websites I see today, I probably would have invested in it back then. That is, if it wasn’t free and open to the world. Bummer.

On the other hand, at least I can use it today without a paid subscription or ridiculous price tag. That’s a good thing, because it seems to be the best and easiest platform I could use to create my final project. After browsing through all of WordPress’ options and capabilities, it appears there is no better place for a beginner to, well, begin.

Now if only I could crack the Codecademy lessons. I continue to go through the lessons without retaining much. I think it is because Codecademy doesn’t reinforce much. When is the last time we typed HTML? Of course, I do realize I can go back and do the HTML lessons again, but it would be nice if these were building blocks instead of just checks in the boxes. I find myself also wondering why I am learning how to write these codes. The idea is to understand how the codes are used, and perhaps be able to tinker with them? It really is a question I have, because that part is not entirely clear. I understand the general idea is for us to get a feel for these codes, but I think if that feel includes just knowing they are there and what they’re used for, then we could probably accomplish that by learning about them rather than barely learning how to write them. If I were to spend the time that I spend going through the lessons (a few hours, perhaps) reading or seeing the code in action instead, I think I would walk away from the course having learned a considerable amount more.

I don’t want to get down on the Codecademy guys too much, though. They put a lot of work into creating their site, I’m sure. If I think too hard about the code that is behind each lesson (the actual code that makes the page function), I can almost make myself pass out. It’s intense to say the least. My only real complaint is the bugs that cause the user to question his work. When I find those bugs I wish the site was actually a for-profit site, so I could complain to the developers for creating something that makes me feel as though I’m living the Twilight Zone. I’m extremely thankful for the “nerds” who identify those bugs and post the solutions in the Q&A. Without those nerds, I think I’d truly be lost.

That said, PHP is pretty interesting (especially the fact it came from a guy who was presumably annoyed with everyone else’s code, and decided to make his own). It kind of makes me wonder why everyone doesn’t use it. But then I read about WordPress and realized pretty much everyone does. Thanks for that. I look forward to using it more myself. It has by far been the easiest code yet.

Till next lesson …

Theme that is. I’m happy we had a few reading assignments this week to get more acquainted with WordPress themes and plugins. After reading the Child Themes section, I think it makes sense to create a child theme for my site – primarily because it is the easiest way to modify an existing theme.

This concept of modification reminds me of the “refactoring” term (from our first class), which refers to changing internal code without affecting the external meaning or behavior. For my site, I want to use a lot of images (maybe even a slideshow with captions!). So finding a theme that already supports this seems like the best option. But what if I only want three photos to rotate instead of 5, which the parent theme came with? I could easily make that change to fit my needs by altering the code, but the change is minimal enough that it will maintain the original look.

The “refactoring” term is also very prevalent at my job. We build a lot of custom emails/newsletters for clients. They are sold as “custom,” but let’s be honest, there’s only so many ways you can put together an HTML email template. So, we are frequently reusing templates and making minor changes to fit specific clients’ needs. Why go through all of the steps every time if you can simplify it, right?

Side note about class in general: I feel like I have learned so much in these last five weeks, and it’s very exciting. However, I don’t think I have a solid grasp on everything I’ve learned. I’m particularly concerned about remembering the actual logistics of setting up my self-hosted website. From MAMP to GitHub, and Go Daddy Domains to Cyberduck, I’m still confused about how all of these elements work together. I hope we can go over the process again next class.

After breezing through this weeks Codecademy PHP lessons, I thought I was well on my way to building my own site. Although we didn’t seem to learn anything too complicated, and I’m not quite sure how I will be practically using arrays and loops yet (I’m not going to create all of a 500 word post by typing “This”, “is”, “my”, “post”, and then echoing a loop, and I’m not going to spend too much time counting to 100 by 10s), the concepts and syntax were simple enough to follow.  Much of it had the same JavaScript syntax; always include semicolons, use brackets or curly brackets to tell the computer what to actually do or print out.

Reading through the codex for WordPress, however, I started to come across some foreign concepts and potential problems that I didn’t realize could happen. While child themes make a lot of sense (I always wondered how the site would be able to update and stay compatible with WordPress without breaking completely), as well as plug-ins to save time, and I realized that different post types could be formatted differently, I never thought there could be so many naming conflicts and additional things to worry about like hooks. I’m not sure what hooks are, or what they are supposed to do, but if I’m making a custom post template, WordPress assumes I already know what they are and offers me the best one to use.

It also bothered me that not all themes did not support all post formats, which I thought would be a benefit of using WordPress. I guess this means that some posts are just more complicated than others and that some themes are too simple, but I assumed that this all could be modified to work in some way. I guess I still have a lot to learn about the way WordPress’s templates, themes, infrastructure, and modification coding all work together.