What have you accomplished during 2014/2015 as far as web goals go?
My biggest accomplishment this year has been finally understanding WordPress. This happened after I completed the Themeshaper tutorial followed by Mortesen’s WordPress Underscores course on Lynda.com. I now understand what all the files in a WordPress theme mean and what their function is.
I was able to what I learned and expand on it to design a theme for the company where I work. In the process of designing the theme, I pushed my CSS and HTML5 skills beyond anything I had tried before, including using advanced pseudo selectors nth-of-type and nth-of-child.
I even went so far as to try so javascript and PHP. My PHP skills are still very beginner but I understand it a lot more and know enough to troubleshoot.
I recently finished a second site for work which I involved a UX design, front and backend development. The original site was poorly designed with no regard for user experience. So I began looking at the original site through the eyes of the user. I came up with a concept that I hard coded in HTML5 and then converted to PHP. Using myPHPadmin and with the help of another Lynda tutorial, I successfully created and connected a database to the site.
Lastly, I finally feel as if I’ve mastered “mobile-first”! Both sites referenced above are fully responsive and don’t break.
What are some personal goals you have for yourself this summer? I plan to update my personal website. I also plan to convert a website I designed last summer into WordPress and finally, I plan to dive into PHP a lot more. There are some tutorials that I would like to review and/or do again. I think this time they will make more sense.
What are some professional goals you have for yourself this summer? I’d like to continue to study UX and perhaps join a users group to learn best practices as well a do some networking be it virtual or in person.