December 22, 2019

 

What I've Learned This Year, and What I Want to Learn Next

This year I feel pretty good about what I’ve learned in web design/development, and as always I am excited about what I can look forward to learning next.

This year I’ve learned a good bit about:

  • SASS and CSS Variables
  • CSS Animations
  • CSS layout with Grid and Flexbox

CSS is my favorite part of web design/development. My CSS skills feel like they are improving a lot in the last year. I like using CSS variables to create art. Here is an example of the American flag created with a base unit defined as a CSS variable. All other measurements are based on that root variable using the calc property. I also spent some time exploring CSS Animations as in this example of a CSS dog I created named Codee (pronounced “Cody”).

Probably the most exciting thing I learned this year was how to layout a page using CSS Grid. Here is an example of a world made with CSS Grid.

Next I want to learn:

  • Development Frameworks: React, Angular, but especially Vue

I like that Vue is independent from a big tech company. In the same way that I prefer Firefox over browsers provided by large corporations (Chrome, Edge, Safari), I also like the idea that Vue is not from a large tech corporation (React is from Facebook, Angular is from Google). Diversity in browsers, frameworks, software is a good thing. The independence of Vue is a big pro. But I know that knowing all of these frameworks is indispensable, so while I will start with Vue, I will progress to trying all of them. From what I’ve read they are often used in conjunction.

I’m also interested in trying out some Static Site Generators, and 11ty is at the top of my list.

Labels: ,


link to this post - posted by Jonathan @ 1:45 AM -