Reading Notes

All the answers to some of the questions

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Reading Notes for Day 1 of 201:

Assigned reading:

  • How the Web Works
  • Website Design and Process
  • selections from Java Script basics.

Questions from these readings:

  1. Compose a short poem describing how HTTP sends data between computers.

I am a protocol.
Floating in the spaces between,
On electrons of TCP/IP I travel,
creating understanding out of chaos.

  1. Describe how HTML, CSS, and JS files are “parsed” in the browser.

The browser parses HTML first. While doing that it looks for any link files that indicate CSS or Javascript instructions. If it finds some, it reads those and adds them into the mix. If everything is well written and there are no conflicts you get a beautifully rendered and functional page. If not, various levels of confusion and and possibly lawsuits.

  1. How can you find images to add to a Website?

There are lots of ways to find images, but the text of the reading suggests Google images. One thing to note is that you should always understand the copyright restrictions of any image you publish to a website. Some images require licensing payments, some are free to use if you are not engaging in commercial activity, some some are just free for any use. Make sure you understand the limitations of any image you use. (They could all be all free if you don’t get caught, but that’s a highly unethical approach to web development. I don’t recommend it.)

  1. How do you create a String vs a Number in JavaScript?

A string is created by putting characters in quotation marks. Numbers are created by just typing a standard arabic number.

  1. What is a Variable and why are they important in JavaScript?

Variable are containers that hold information. They’re important because most of programming is manipulating information with commands, and you need a place to hold the information. Without the variable to act upon, your programming commands are just shouting into the void. And you won’t get a return, so you won’t even know what they said.

More reading:

  • HTML Document Structure
  • Metadata in HTML

Questions from these readings:

  • What is an HTML attribute?

An HTML attribute is the information assigning a change to an element, so for an element like background-color, the attribute would be the actual color assigned.

  • Describe the Anatomy of an HTML element.

Elements all kind of have their own anatomy depending on what they’re for.

  • What is the Difference between <article> and <section> element tags?

An article tag is for a block of content that makes sense on it’s own, a section is for a group of elements that are related (i.e. a set of daily headlines).

  • What Elements does a “typical” website include?

-Header -Navigation bar -Main content -Sidebar (maybe) -Footer

  • How does metadata influence Search Engine Optimization?

Metadata helps search engines decide if a site is relevent and should be shown in a search, and in what order. It also gives a brief description of the site in search results, if you add one.

  • How is the HTML tag used when specifying metadata?

The meta tag assigns properties and information about the website.

And some more reading:

-How to start to design a website

Questions:

  1. What is the first step to designing a Website? - Figure out what you’re trying to do with the website.

  2. What is the most important question to answer when designing a Website? - Who is this website supposed to be for, how should it look? and what functionality does it need? That’s three questions, but they’re all related.

And more reading:

-Semantics

Questions:

  1. Why should you use an <h1> element over a element to display a top level heading? - Because the <h1> tag is the correct semantic element, and it is most likely to behave the way your heading to behave.

  2. What are the benefits of using semantic tags in our HTML? - We ensure a certain amount of predictibility in our page renderings.

Last reading:

  • What is JavaScript?

  1. Describe 2 things that require JavaScript in the Browser? - Dynamically updating content and animating images.

  2. How can you add JavaScript to an HTML document? - You can code it directly into the html document or you can include a separate file, link it, and then reference it in your html document.

Things I want to know more about:

I probably need to brush up on including Javascript in a website as I’m always forgetting the specifics of doing that.

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