reading-notes

How the Web Works

Some of the below subjects form the foundation for how we use the internet and programming languages to create and run websites.

Getting Started

Compose a short poem describing how HTTP sends data between computers.

Data packets, please. What language is this you speak? Ah, HTML.

Describe how HTML, CSS, and JS files are “parsed” in the browser.

The HTML is parsed first, which let’s the browser know to be on the lookout for any linked CSS and then JavaScript files.

How can you find images to add to a Website?

All over the internet… but if it’s copyrighted, you need to receive permission from the copyright owner. Mozilla’s Web Development Guide suggests using Google’s license filter when conducting an image search with their search engine. With this filter, you can screen for Creative Commons licenses to avoid any copyright issues

How do you create a String vs a Number in JavaScript?

Any expression inside of '' or "" is a string. Numbers are represented by numerals without quotation marks.

Introduction to HTML

What is an HTML attribute?

An HTML attribute is like an additional feature or that particular HTML element

Describe the Anatomy of an HTMl element.

An HTML element is typically comprised of an opening tag, context, and a closing tag. Arguments, if included, are nested inside the opening tag.

What is the Difference between article and section element tags?

They are pretty similar, but the main difference is that an article can stand alone and still make sense apart from the rest of the web page, whereas a section is used to organize functionally-related elements into a cohesive … well, I guess section, of a web page.

What Elements does a “typical” website include?

A bare bones html document will have the <html>, <head>, <meta>, <title>, and <body> elements.

How does metadata influence Search Engine Optimization?

The metadata is used to identify relevant websites when performing a search. A description that matches closely with a user query may land higher on the results page.

How is the meta HTML tag used when specifying metadata?

The metadata is most commonly provided via one or more name and content attribute pairings. The name attribute describes the type of metadata being provided whereas the content attribute includes the information the webpage author wishes to convey.

Miscellaneous

What is the first step to designing a Website?

Coming up with an idea, and determining what you want the website to accomplish.

What is the most important question to answer when designing a Website?

Per the Mozilla Developer Course, the most important question is “What exactly do I want to accomplish?”

Why should you use an h1 element over a span element to display a top level heading?

The h1 element is a semantic element with default features and a universally understod purpose. Even if a span element was made to look like a header, it would not be treated similarly by search engines or screen readers and would fail serve as an obvious roadmarker for other developers

What are the benefits of using semantic tags in our HTML?

Besides the benefits mentioned above, it’s also good coding standard practice as it makes navigating within the code easier for others.

Describe 2 things that require JavaScript in the Browser?

JavaScript is required to obtain user input and perform a dynamic response on your webpage. It is also needed to utilize APIs

How can you add JavaScript to an HTML document?

<script> tags

Things I want to know more about

I’m pretty stoked to learn about APIs.