Tag: web development

Animated Navigation Bar: 50 Projects in 50 Days

Carl Setzer2 Comments
person encoding in laptop

Today we created an animated navigation bar with (mostly) CSS. I easily see a use case for this one, which makes it that much more fun.

You click on the “x” or the double line (depending on the view you’re in) to change the animation.

Besides growing my developer skills, I’m considering what work I should/could do in the near term. It’s going to be a bit before I feel ready to do coding interviews, much feel ready to jump into a production environment. But that’s not the only thing I can do with all that I’ve learned over the past few years.

My studies have covered a pretty broad swath of technology. Besides the keys to web development (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), we also looked at JQuery and PHP. Stretching beyond the rudiments, we went pretty deep into databases (theory as well as design), system analysis and design, and project management (amongst other things). Also, I added some courses in Cisco Networking (the internet is a network, right?), desktop support (one more class then I will have a certificate in desktop support), and system architecture. Combining this with my pre-ATA career, I think this sets me up to be a great system analyst. I understand the technical side of things, and what business leaders want/need. I will do an excellent job bridging the gap between “business” and IT. Thus, I’m leaning that way in my job search.

What do you think? Any guidance you have to offer me as I transition? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

My next project in the 50 Projects in 50 Days course

Carl Setzer
ethnic father and kid relaxing in bedroom

Though I’m working on my Google Project Management certificate, I’m also continuing on with my 50 Projects in 50 Days Udemy course.

With today’s project, I got to fetch from an API. This API, perhaps dangerously perfect for me, is from the I Can Haz Dad Joke site. As I’m rather famous for Dad Jokes, this one seemed perfect.

So, I enjoyed diving into API calls deeper. This is something that I want to know better, so diving in deeper made me happy.

Here’s the link to the project, and here’s the link to my developer site. Let me know what you think.

Today’s Project: Input Form Wave

Carl Setzer

In today’s project, I created some animated text for a faux login form. I really enjoy the effect of this one when you click on the input fields.

Though I am really tired (it’s been a long few weeks), I’m pleased that I was able to fit this project into my evening. I really want to become a better coder, and coding is the only way to get there.

I want to fit in some review of project management and systems analysis. I’m quite confident that these will be important parts of my career’s next steps.

Finished another code project

Carl Setzer

Today I completed the “Split Landing Page” project from my 50 Projects in 50 Days Udemy class. This one was pretty fun (yes, I’m a nerd).

Built a (mostly) CSS based animation effect onto the webpage. When you hover over half a page, it expands out to 75% of the page.

Check it out here. And you can check out all my web dev work on my developer page.

Day 7 of 50 Projects In 50 Days

Carl Setzer
Scroll Animation

So, I’ve not been great at perfectly sequential days (my current project has expanded out a bit), but I’m still at it.

Today’s project, “Scroll Animation“, is another simple project where we take some boxes of content and fly them in from the side. To add a bit more complexity, we have some coming from the left, and some from the right.

Another fun one. Check out my other work on this course here. Also, check out my developer site.

Update on 50 projects in 50 days

Carl Setzer
data codes through eyeglasses

So, I took the past couple of days off. I was exhausted after work Thursday, then had long work days Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So, I did two today! Fortunately, they weren’t too complicated. That brings me to day 5.

Today’s first project is titled “Hidden Search Widget“. A very simple project, where we make a search box that expands or contacts (no search functionality yet).

My second project today is “Blurry Loading“, where an image loads blurry, and comes into focus while a countdown timer counts.

Fun projects which are helping refine my HTML, CSS and JavaScript knowledge. I am working towards bettering my coding skills. Slowly but surely growing. Check out my developer site for more details.

50 Projects in 50 Days: Day 3

Carl Setzer5 Comments

Completed day 3 of the 50Projects in 50Days course, “rotating navigation”. This one rotates the whole page if you click on the hamburger icon in the upper left. Hard to imagine a use case, but it’s really fun.

I’ve been posting these to my recently re-done Github site. Again, I’ve done three of these:

With Expanding Cards, when you click on individual cards, they expand out, and the other ones shrink. For Process Steps, it’s like a progress indicator. Each time you press the “next” button, the line advances one over. And for Rotating Navigation, when you click on the hamburger icon, the web page rotates, showing the navigation buttons. For me, this is fun stuff. Which is good since it’s now 9:30 at night and I still haven’t eaten dinner yet.

Anyway, it feels good to refresh my knowledge and build out these skills. I feel it’s a critical part of my march into a tech career. Plus, the internet and web development are the future of tech. I intend to do one project per day every day, but we’ll see. I have a few things coming up that may cause a day or two to be lost. But I should have not problem keeping this moving forward.

Wish me luck!

Winter Quarter Recap

Carl Setzer
crop female freelancer using laptop at table at home

As spring break is nearly done, I thought this would be a good time to recap my prior quarter. It was interesting and challenging.

Courses

My class load consisted of:

Career Planning

Career planning was mostly about creating resumes and completing >=1 MTA exam. I did Windows Operating Systems Fundamentals. I wanted to do a couple, but my workload was so full that I couldn’t fit another one one in. Of course, Microsoft is retiring the MTA certs in June of this year, so I won’t be renewing it.

CSS

Introduction to Cascading Style Sheets was fun, and core to my studies. Hindsight being 20:20, I think it would’ve been better to take that before JavaScript. So, if you’re thinking of pursuing the same program, I highly recommend taking HTML first, then CSS, then JavaScript. HIGHLY recommend that order!

Anyway, it’s amazing what can be done with CSS. Besides simply configuring colors and fonts, the ability to create vector graphics within CSS blows my mind. This course covered a lot, and I still have so much more I want to learn.

Cisco Networking II

Lastly, Cisco Networking II. I survived the class fine. Ok, I more than survived, but I didn’t do as well as I would’ve like. The causality? A tactical miscalculation. I took the first quarter (CIS 171) LAST fall. Not as in fall of 2021, but, rather, fall of 2020. So, over a year between I & II. DO NOT DO THIS! I forgot so much. Also Cisco, bless them, added stuff to quarter 1. I had to do a TON of re-learning and, well, new learning. Fortunately, I have the internet and great Google skills. Also, I have a an amazing group of fellow students. And this course is in-addition-to my main coursework, which helped me keep things in check. The main lesson: if I decide to I want to get my CCNA certification, I need to review. It won’t truly be learning from scratch. I just need to refresh things like subnetting. But that’s in the nebulous future. So, we’ll see….

All-in-all, a fine quarter. I had to work hard, and take a mind-boggling number of notes. But it worked out well in the end. Now I start the last quarter towards this ATA program. And, more specifically, my last required class. But that’s another post.

Almost Done

Carl Setzer5 Comments
text on shelf

This next quarter is the last one before I finish my degree in Web Application and Cloud Development. Additionally, I only need one class to finish. Currently, I’m enrolled for another full-time quarter, but I am not sure that will materialize. I’ve had several recruiters reach out to me, and I’ve actually had a few interviews. At this point, I expect I’ll end up taking the one required class (which can be done fully online) and working full/part-time.

My interviews have excited me, and I really like the people I’ve met with. This feels like the best time to get back into the workforce. It’s exciting, and a bit scary. But it mostly feels fun.

Really, the next week will be crucial in determining my next steps. So, I’m excited to see what comes.

Why I decided to study web development

Carl Setzer
information sign on shelf

I came to study web development a bit differently than most (more on that journey here). Much of my background has been in some variant of communications. Lots of writing (I’ve loved writing for years…it’s what got me started in blogging), but also photography, newsletter creation/editing/management, web content, public affairs and policy…my list goes on a bit here. Over the years, I started exploring website creation. Mostly just exploring on personal projects. In 2000, I created one for the church I worked at. I then worked specifically in communications roles in a few companies. The past 10 years or so, I’ve focused on digital marketing. This includes pay-per-click, SEO, content marketing, blogging and social media campaigns. Websites have been crucial elements of that. I created and managed several sites, mostly WordPress sites, but several others as well.

I was struggling to choose between web development and graphic design. Web development won since I’ve long seen the web as the future of communications. Now, though, it’s really, well, the “now” of communications. And I really want to grab hold of the now, and what’s coming. With web development, I guess I need to explore Web 3.0.