How to Learn CSS talks about the fast evolving world of code. Rachel Andrew stresses the fundamentals of CSS and how a good knowledge of these will create a good basis for any other future CSS code. I used to have some trouble with CSS when I started learning it, but as I started to understand it better, I found myself searching up all the commands. As I read through this article, I thought that the article served as a good reminder for the things that they mentioned that I’ve already known, as well as a good resource for what they considered fundamental that I learned from reading this article.
When she mentioned that you did not need to know properties and values by heart, it comforted me a little knowing that. I thought that to be good at code, you needed to be able to code many things from scratch without much reference, and I am glad to be assured that it is not that way. I think the most important thing I got from this article is the reassurance that I am not doing something wrong, but also that it is the understanding and the ability to apply code that you have found that is the most important. The fundamentals that she brought up were there to help you get to that point.
Before reading this article, I did not know about selectors for classes. (Or at least not by name.) I remember using these for css codes relating to links, but not necessarily anything else. I didn’t know that layout and alignment were a thing as well. Before, I’ve just put in numbers and eyeballed it on my screen, but it will obviously change depending on the screen size and browser. I’d like to be able to learn more and practice the layout, as I think it will be very helpful in the design process in the future. I think responsive design is extremely important as we enter the design technology age. Many things are viewed over a computer or phone, and many of the browser windows will vary in size. I think it is an extremely tedious task to make something look good and well formatted for every screen size as of right now, but I hope to be able to learn more about this and implement it in my work.
CSS is an ever changing world of code. In a way it is exciting to me as I am able to experiment with many new things while old ones fall out of existence. I will probably be referring back to this article over the course of this semester to make sure I have not neglected any of these fundamentals. I would love to, hopefully by the end of this semester, be able to code my own portfolio and be happy about it. Knowing about these fundamentals also allow me to understand the thought process behind code and its styling sheets, which in turn allow me to brainstorm the direction of each of my projects better.
The Web’s Grain was a very entertaining read for me. It talked about the way we design a website and the limits, and lack thereof, that we tend to reach. He started out by playing a clip, in which John Provencher played for us in our first Studio Interaction class, of sounds in which a computer would make in the 90s as it connects to the modem then to the internet. He then goes on to talk about the technology advancements we’ve made. He brings up a quote by Gaston Bachelard: “We begin in admiration and end by organizing our disappointment.” He applies this to his experience with technology as he became more lost as he understood more of coding. He also talked about responsive design, and how it is better to utilize the way in which web works instead of working against it. He then brings up David Hockney and his work of tiled polaroids. He managed to create an illusion of space through the presence of time by tiling his polaroids to make a big picture together. Frank Chimero compares his work to the development of a website, in that a website consists of many pieces that come together to form a bigger picture. He finally describes web design as “an edgeless surface of unknown proportions, comprised of small individual, and variable elements from multiple vantage assembled into a readable whole that documents a moment.”
One of the largest things that stuck out to me is the way in which he described the initial brainstorming of a website. Most people would start out by drawing a box and putting elements within it, but the size of the website has not yet been defined. He debunks this method of brainstorming and instead suggests to piece the elements together prior to drawing the borders of a web page. This allows the edgelessness of the website to be utilized, instead of assuming a border around a medium that has none. I quite like the way he introduced this type of brainstorming and I think I’ll try to illustrate my web projects in that way in the future. As he talks about the design of a web page, its history, and artists that he referenced, I found that the website in which this article is created on itself also represented the ideas and thoughts in which he projected through his text. He was able to create a website in which did not fight against the medium, but also utilized the edgelessness though some of his extended graphics between sections of his talks. I thought it was very smart that his website was an example itself of what he talks about, along with all the graphics that serve as examples of each point he makes as well.
After reading this document, I feel as though using the Flexbox gives you much more options compared to using the css grid. I love the variety that is available with the formatting of the Flexbox. I think it's cool to have a column of flexbox containers and have them as a inline property, and allow text next to it. I think that would be very useful in a text heavy site that needs grids to explain certain concepts or ideas. However, I think there can be a lot of problems that come with this as well. I believe the grid is much more readily available to be used in responsive design, while it seems like the flexbox would mess up the information it contains. I think the flex box also can have problems with the margins within each block, which can be problematic depending on how it's used. However, the verticle row looks very interesting to me and i can see that being used as a menu bar of sorts for a website. I think this gives a lot of opportunity to experiment.
The word "responsive" has been used over and over in design. Almost like the word "Loft" in the renting industry, the true meaning of the word "responsive" got lost in consumerism. I think that word is an extremely broad word. In the reading, she mentioned an interview that Guy Podjarny did, concluding that about "12 percent of the top 10,000 ites are responsively designed". I found this very interesting and kinda shows that "responsive" design has been overused to market towards people who want website designs. I think it's a little unfortunate that this outlet for creation has been so consumerized, but at the same time I think there is still alot of room for experimentation. Designers should try to not get sucked in to the capitalist world and get stuck within the bounderies that have been socially defined. We should constantly look for ways to redefine what has already been defined.
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