reading-notes

Class 4: Reading Notes & Assignment Summary

Assignments

Learn HTML

• To create a basic link, we wrap text or other content inside what element?
  • <a> tags
• The href attribute contains what information?
  • The link URL
• What are some ways we can ensure links on our pages are accessible to all readers?
  • Use clear link wording
    • Search engines use link text to index target files, so include keywords in your link text to effectively describe to the search engine what is being linked to
    • Make links standout so visual readers can scan and find them easily
    • Don’t use the URL as part of the text, they are ugly
    • Keep the text short and descriptive of where the link goes

CSS Layout

• What is meant by “normal flow”?
  • Normal Flow is the layout of elements on a webpage before CSS is applied
• What are a few differences between block-level and inline elements?
  • Block Level Elements
  • By default, content fills the available inline space of the parent element containing it and grows along the block dimension to accommodate its content
• Inline Elements
  • By default, inline elements are only as large as their content
    • You can’t set the width or height of inline elements, they just sit inside block-level elements
  • To control the size of an inline element, you need to set it to behave like a block-level element via display: block; or display: inline-block;
• ___ positioning is the default for every html element.
  • Static positioning is the default for every html element
• Name a few advantages to using absolute positioning on an element.
  • Removes it completely from the normal flow and places it on its own unique layer
  • Allows you to isolate UI features that don’t interfere with the layout of other elements
• What is a key difference between fixed positioning and absolute positioning?
  • Fixed positioning locks an element in place within the viewport and it does not move
    • Text, images, etc. will move around the element and the element will interact with other elements on the webpage
  • Absolute positioning places the element on its own unique plane and it will no longer interact with elements on the webpage

JavaScript

• Describe the difference between a function declaration and a function invocation.
  • Declare = make a function
  • Invoke = run the function
• What is the difference between a parameter and an argument?
  • They are the same thing
  • They are values needed by the function inside the function parenthesis in order for the function to run properly

Miscellaneous

• Pick 2 benefits to pair programming and reflect on how these benefits could help you on your coding journey.
  • Greater Efficiency
    • The more time you can spend coding, the more you are going to learn
    • Having a partner allows you to divide up work when you encounter issues with your code and keep moving forward
    • Additionally, your partner may immediately know the solution to the problem and can keep the process moving forward
  • Engaged Collaboration
    • I do admit that it is easy to get distracted when programming alone
    • Having another person working on the same project with me would likely keep me on task to a higher degree and result in earlier completion times

In Class Notes

• CSS
  • position: relative;
    • Element will move relative to its original position
  • position: absolute;
    • Element will move within the viewport on the screen
• Pair Programming
  1. Fork your partner’s code
  2. Clone your forked repo to your computer
  3. Wrap Question 1 in a function
  4. ACP the change
     • Repeat 3 & 4 for each question
  5. On GitHub, create a pull request (PR)
  6. Partner approves the changes and “merges” the code
  7. Partner pulls the changes down to their computer