The purpose of your first assignment is to expose you to basic web design work flows. Building a website is a useful skill and effectively supports a variety of documentation for your work. A few key things you will be introduced to include GitHub, HTML, and Visual Studio Code. This will be very difficult if you've never done it before so try to be patient. I typically would say you should budget seven hours a week for this course but this week will be the hardest and you should budget ten to fifteen hours. To be totally transparent, this is NOT meant to be a weeding out week or course. If you are struggling, I am here to help and want to help you.
PRO TIP: Remember you need to document your work this week. You will get used to this, but you may forget this week. Try not to! Take screenshots of each step! Check out Dalton's website to see an example of what an A looks like.
Monday - Friday I will be around the Fiber Lab as much as possible. Any time the lab is open, you can come in and see if the team member working can help you. Your TA's (Whitney and Tuna) will be available in the lab on Sunday from 1PM - 7PM. I am reachable via email and am very willing to set up one on one's if you are interested in that.
Time to download a few things.
This video is intended for Mac users. If you do not have a Mac, reach out to Madison ASAP.
Follow this very carefully. I realize it's hard to see but try your best!
Before we start the next step, now is a good time to imagine what layout and style you'd like your website to have. The site you are on right now was created from scratch using HTML and CSS, but I strongly suggest using a W3 School template and making it your own. I have worked with students who did their site from scratch but it can be significantly more work. Up to you! This is David Frey's site from scratch and this is Brandon Witter's site using a template that he personalized.
Know that you need the components below for full marks this week:
I've included some examples of websites similar to the one you will make. These were created by Wheaton students in either FabAcademy or Intro to Digi Fab. here. A few that stand out include Amanda's, Brandon's, and Kevin's.
Now you need to learn some HTML. While I have some strong suggestions, there are so many existing free resources on learning HTML that I will leave it up to you.
So, here are some options:
If you have never used HTML, WATCH THIS!
Go at your own pace...great resource!
Let's learn about Visual Studio Code.
Start off with this video which is a basic intro about VSC.
Then I recommend you google "text editors". Do a little but of research on what VSC is. Here are a few helpful pages:
Your photos shouldn't be bigger than 300 KB. You can learn to resize photos on Adobe or for this week you could just use an online compressor. I don't recommend using an online compressor but I do undrestand if it's too much to pick up another skill this week!
