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.

I went into our final assignment, re-reading the documents from the beginning of the semester, knowing exactly what I was supposed to feel. I was supposed to surprise myself with how much more I understood from the documents. Like a child watching an adult movie and not understanding, only to re-watch it years later and finally get all the jokes. To some degree, I did feel these things, probably not as much as I had initially anticipated but if this class has taught me anything it is that learning web development cannot take three months. It is a time consuming process that never really ends.

I may not be an expert at code but I pulled together a pretty decent web site (if I do say so myself) and I did it all on my own. Three months ago I had my doubts about whether that would be possible. I have the basics under my belt so going forward I will continue to use tools like Codecademy to deepen my understanding of html, php, css java script and more. I would love to pick one at a time and really focus on it to get a more full understanding of how it works before moving on to the next. I learn better when I focus my energy and for self-learning I think that will be the best way to proceed.

The WordPress Philosophy call for designing websites for the majority.

Many end users of WordPress are non-technically minded. They don’t know what AJAX is, nor do they care about which version of PHP they are using. The average WordPress user simply wants to be able to write without problems or interruption. These are the users that we design the software for as they are ultimately the ones who are going to spend the most time using it for what it was built for.

Thanks to this class, I’m already way ahead of the majority. We’ve talked about it in class but I think re-reading the WordPress Philosophy really helped it sink in. I don’t need to be a developer to use the skills learnt in class. Some of the lessons learnt from coding can actually be implemented in many aspects of my life, including being able to better communicate with people who are full time web developers. In fact, many of the the points made in The Pragmatic Programmer Quick Reference Guide could have been drawn straight out of a self-help book: Care about your craft, don’t make lame excuses, remember the big picture, finish what you start, don’t think outside the book – find the box, exceed expectations. (I also think my running app may spout a few of these out to me on a weekly basis.)

And with that I leave you all. Self five for a great semester.