Archives for reading

  1. Apr 21 10

    Reading/Exercise: Template Tags

    Dig through the WordPress Codex page on Template Tags, looking for functions that might be useful to implementing your gallery. Use at least three functions you find there in your theme. Write at least three short paragraphs about the functions you chose, one paragraph for each. Describe what the function does and why you chose to use [...]

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  2. Apr 07 10

    Reading: WordPress Themes

    Read:

    Stepping into Template Tags. “Template Tags” are just a fancy WordPress name for function. Template Hierarchy

    These readings will be crucial to your being able to build your portfolio, so read them carefully.

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  3. Mar 31 10

    Reading: Intro to PHP

    Read the first part of PHP Intro: Your first PHP-enabled page and PHP Intro: Something Useful. You don’t have to read the comments.

    Download hello-world.zip. Open it in TextWrangler (or whatever text editor you prefer) and read through it.

    Be ready to answer the following question next class:

    What is the Client? What is the Server? What is a Server-side [...]

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  4. Mar 29 10

    Reading: Forms

    Read Web Standards Solutions, Chapter 5: Forms.

    Download and tinker with the code examples in chapter5.html. Open it in your browser. What effect does the type attribute have on the markup? Can you change the form styling to customize your form?

    Forms are how we send information to the server. What is a server? When you go [...]

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  5. Mar 10 10

    Reading

    Read and review CSS Mastery, Chapter 2.

    Take careful note of the sections Common Selectors, Pseudo-classes, The Cascade and Specificity.

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  6. Mar 08 10

    Reading: Typography

    Your readings for this class are from webtypography.net, an excellent resource that takes suggestions from Binghursts’ classic Elements of Typographic Style and shows you how to accomplish them with CSS.

    Set ragged if ragged setting suits the text and page Choose a comfortable measure Choose a basic leading that suits the typeface, text and measure

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  7. Feb 24 10

    Reading

    CSS Mastery, Chapter 5: Styling Links

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  8. Feb 17 10

    Reading

    The BBC walks through the process of re-designing their website. This is a perfect example of how designing for the web is about creating flexible systems. Expression Engine shares their re-design process. CSS Mastery, Chapter 11, Case study.

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  9. Feb 10 10

    Reading

    CSS Mastery, Chapter 6, Styling Lists and Creating Nav Bars

    Extra street cred

    What would you use as an icon for the action “clear”? Check out the Wikipedia article on Affordance

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  10. Feb 08 10

    Reading

    Web Standards Solutions, Chapter 12, CSS Layouts. Watch this video: http://johnnyholland.org/2009/10/30/johnny-tv-features-drawing-ideas-and-communicating-interaction/. How can sketching be used to improve interactive design for the web? http://stndrd.org/ is a great resource for learning about the design process.

    Download and read: http://stndrd.org/files/Stndrd_Digital_Process.pdf Read this page on digital design process http://stndrd.org/wiki/index.php?title=Digital_Production_Process

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  11. Feb 03 10

    Reading

    CSS Mastery, Chapter 3: Box Model. Questions to think about:

    What is the difference between margin and padding? What does a background-color look like on an inline element vs a block element? What does a box with a background-color and padding look like? What does a box with a background-color and margin look like?

    Walk through this tutorial with examples of [...]

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  12. Feb 01 10

    Reading

    Web Standards Solutions

    Chapter 6: Phrase Elements Chapter 4: Quotes

    If you’re still fuzzy on how HTML tags work, Wikipedia has a great entry on HTML syntax with lots of examples.

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  13. Jan 27 10

    Reading

    CSS Mastery, Chapter 2 (Selectors): will cover the topic of how to target element on your page to style them (Selectors). Web Standards Solutions, Chapter 13 (Fonts): Will cover typography on the web.

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  14. Jan 25 10

    Reading

    A superb blog post on icons in interactive design. Web Standards Solutions

    Chapter 1: Lists Chapter 2: Headings

    Questions to think about:

    What is a list? Ingredients in a recipe? How about a class roster? Remember how to write an essay outline? Perhaps that is a list too. What is a heading? How should one make use of heading hierarchy? When [...]

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  15. Jan 20 10

    Reading

    Read through the HTML Hello World excercise on the wiki. Add questions you have to the discussion page (how to).

    We will be discussing HTML tags and syntax during our next class. Chapter 1, Setting the Foundations of CSS Mastery.

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