What is web development?

The process of building websites

How to get started?

A clear mind

Code is numbers, letters and symbols

Regardless of what programming language you use, all code can be read in any text editor.

close: function () {
  this.ul.setAttribute("hidden", "");
  this.index = -1;

  $.fire(this.input, "awesomplete-close");
},

#include "8cc.h"
static int count_leading_ones(char c) {
  for (int i = 7; i >= 0; i--)
      if ((c & (1 << i)) == 0)
          return 7 - i;
  return 8;
}

ctable	 segment para public 'DATA
  db	9 dup(' ')
  db	9,10,' ',12,13
  db	13 dup(' ')
  db	27
  db	4 dup(' ')
  db	' !"#$%&',39,'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@'
  db	'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`'

HTML and CSS are the foundation of the web

Basic technology stack

Tools we'll be using

• Text editor: Atom (open-source software)
• Browser: Chrome (excellent Dev Tools)

Note that these tools are just that, tools. You can choose to use other text editors and browsers as well. These were chosen because of some conveniences they afford.

What is the internet?

The entire network of networks that connect all the world's devices to each other

Global Submarine Cable Map

Global Internet Exchange Map

Big Bang Data exhibition @ ArtScience

Big Bang Data takes you on a journey of exploration though the intricate relationship that we share with data, as well as the meaning and implications of datafication for our future.

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)

• Set up in 1958 for R&D to expand the frontiers of technology and science
• Computers used to be monoliths which couldn't communicate with each other
• Best and brightest minds in the country came up with the concept of computer networking

Packet switching technology

• Traditional communication networks used analog, circuit switching
• Circuit switching is like an MRT train running on tracks, while packet switching is like cars on the Expressways

Protocols

• Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) handles breaking up data into packets to be sent and reassembling them at their destination
• Internet Protocol (IP) handles the formatting and addressing of the data packets
• Every device connected to the internet needs a unique IP address

TCP/IP

Transmission of data makes use of 4 layers

World Wide Web

• Invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989
• Created the 3 essential technologies that power the World Wide Web:
  1. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) for retrieving text from other documents via hypertext links
  2. Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) which is the unique identifier for every resource on the web
  3. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) for structuring and presenting content on the web

Robustness Principle

Be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others. - Jon Postel, RFC: 761

If you like reading books...

Clients and Servers

From server to your browser

Enter a URL in the address bar

Browser sends request to server and server locates the requested file

Server returns the file to the browser which displays it

Everything is connected by links

A link on a web page is a pre-entered URL. Clicking the link sends a request to the server.

The server sends the requested file back to the browser, which replaces the current page with the new file.

Absolute vs. Relative links

Absolute paths ask for a file from a specific location, which includes the protocol and server.

<a href="http://www.unicorn.com/gallery.html">Gallery<a>

Relative paths ask for a file without specifying a server.

<a href="gallery.html">Gallery<a>

The browser will hence assume you're referring to the same server as the page you're on.

Basic folder structure

1. Create a new folder, name it whatever you want
2. Create a file called index.html and another file called styles.css

Content-first design

To build the right design for any project, you have to know what the content is before you start designing.

Content encompasses a range of media, from images to video, and most importantly, well-written copy.

Form should follow function, and for most websites, function is driven by content.

Why is content so important?

Content-first design helps you to:

• Build out a sensible information architecture.
• Design to optimise your content.
• Create consistency across the site.
• Avoid endless rounds of re-work.

Hypertext Mark-up Language (HTML)

• Structures the document and tells browsers what a certain element's function is
• Content is "marked-up" using tags
• Tags usually (but not always) come in pairs,

  <p>This is an example of a paragraph element</p>

• The opening tag, closing tag and everything in between is a HTML element

Structure of HTML document

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Example page</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>Hello world</h1>
  </body>
</html>

Document type element

<!DOCTYPE html>

• Appears just above the <html> tag
• Tells the browser to render the HTML in standards mode
• Let's validation software know which version of HTML to validate against
• Advised to use the HTML5 doctype

<html> element

<html lang="en">
// HTML code for web page
</html>

• Represents the root of an HTML document
• Encouraged to specify a language attribute
• Language attribute aids speech synthesis (screen readers), translation tools and other language-related functionality

<head> element

<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>Your site title</title>
  <meta name="description" content="A short description of your website">
  <meta name="author" content="Your name">
  
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="css/styles.css?v=1.0">
</head>

• Contains instructions for the browser and meta data for the website
• Title and description are what shows up on search engine results
• Stylesheets are also declared here

<body> element

<body>
  <header>
    <img src="img/logo.png" alt="Site logo">
    <nav>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="#">Home</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">About</a></li>
        <li><a href="#">Contact</a></li>
      </ul>
    </nav>
  </header>
  <main>
    <h1>Page header</h1>
    <p>Some content in a paragraph. Brownie tiramisu toffee sweet roll sesame snaps halvah. Fruitcake donut pie ice cream jujubes danish dragée. Bear claw jelly dessert lemon drops bonbon donut. Sugar plum sugar plum candy canes ice cream powder tootsie roll sweet. Sugar plum biscuit macaroon fruitcake cookie cupcake jelly-o cupcake. </p>
  <main>
</body>

• Represents the main content of the document
• Should only be one <body> element on a web page

Formatting your web page

• <address>
• <article>
• <footer>
• <header>
• <h1>
• <h2>
• <h3>
• <h4>
• <h5>
• <h6>
• <hgroup>
• <nav>
• <section>
• <dd>
• <div>
• <dl>
• <dt>
• <figcaption>
• <figure>
• <hr>
• <li>
• <main>
• <ol>
• <p>
• <pre>
• <ul>
• <caption>
• <col>
• <colgroup>
• <table>
• <tbody>
• <td>
• <tfoot>
• <th>
• <thead>
• <tr>
• <button>
• <datalist>
• <fieldset>
• <form>
• <input>
• <keygen>
• <label>
• <legend>
• <meter>
• <optgroup>
• <option>
• <output>
• <progress>
• <select>
• <details>
• <dialog>
• <menu>
• <menuitem>
• <summary>
• <abbr>
• <b>
• <bdi>
• <bdo>
• <br>
• <cite>
• <code>
• <data>
• <dfn>
• <em>
• <i>
• <kbd>
• <mark>
• <q>
• <rp>
• <rt>
• <rtc>
• <ruby>
• <s>
• <samp>
• <small>
• <span>
• <strong>
• <sub>
• <sup>
• <time>
• <u>
• <var>
• <wbr>
• <area>
• <audio>
• <map>
• <track>
• <video>
• <embed>
• <object>
• <param>
• <source>
• <canvas>
• <noscript>
• <script>
• <del>
• <ins>

Basic HTML5 template

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <meta charset="utf-8">
    <title>title</title>
    <meta name="description" content="A short description of your website">
    <meta name="author" content="Your name">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="styles.css">
  </head>
  <body>
    <!-- page content -->
    <script src="script.js"></script>
  </body>
</html>

Top to bottom, left to right

• Web pages are made up of rectangular boxes
• These boxes are placed from top to bottom, left to right

Block-level elements

Block-level elements take up the entire width of the container.

Inline-level elements

If an element is NOT block-level, it is inline.

Accordingly, the Munsell colour system (a 20th-century system for numerically describing colours, based on equal steps for human visual perception) distinguishes 100 hues.

<p class="ga-example-4">Accordingly, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsell_color_system">the Munsell colour system</a> (a 20th-century system for numerically describing colours, based on equal steps for human visual perception) distinguishes 100 hues.</p>

Commonly used inline-level tags include a, input, label, img and so on.

Full list of inline-level elements available here.

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

• Tells the browser how to display a certain element
• Follows the general ruleset:
1. Select the HTML element to be styled
2. Specify the properties of the element to be styled
3. Give the values we want each property to have

Structure of a CSS rule

selector {
  property1: value;
  property2: value;
  property3: value;
}

• The selector identifies which HTML elements the rule will be applied to
• The curly braces contain the property-value pairs, separated with semi-colons
• The properties define the style of the selected element
• The values are dependent on the property, and indicate the value of the properties to be set

Types of CSS selectors

• Element: matches all the elements of that name on the page

  p {}

• Class: matches all the elements with the specified class attribute, e.g. <div class="example">

  .example {}

• ID: matches the element with the specified id attribute, e.g. <div id="example">

  #example {}

Descendent selectors

Used to select tags that are children of other tags

<ul>
  <li>4 large eggs</li>
  <li>1/4 cup milk</li>
  <li>2 tsp. butter</li>
</ul>
<ol>
  <li>BEAT eggs, milk, salt and pepper in medium bowl until blended.</li>
  <li>HEAT butter in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. POUR IN egg mixture. As eggs begin to set, GENTLY PULL the eggs across the pan with a spatula, forming large soft curds.</li>
  <li>CONTINUE cooking – pulling, lifting and folding eggs – until thickened and no visible liquid egg remains. Do not stir constantly. REMOVE from heat. SERVE immediately.</li>
</ol>

ul li {
  color: green;
}

Pseudo-selectors

Applies to selectors when certain conditions occur

a {
  /* removes underlines from 
     all text links */
  text-decoration: none;
}
a:hover {
 /* adds an underline and makes
    the font green when hovered */
  text-decoration: underline;
  color: green;
}

The box model

The model is made up of four boxes, from inside to outside:

When to use margin

Margin controls the space between elements.

h2 {
  margin: 5px 0 5px 0;
}

h2 {
  margin: 20px 0 20px 0;
}

When to use padding

Padding controls the size of the box without adjusting the size of the content within it.

h2 {
  padding: 0;
}

h2 {
  padding: 20px 0 20px 0;
}

Where to write your styles

Browsers will pick up your CSS if they are between a <style> tags which is a child of the <head> tag.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <style type="text/css">
      h1 {
        font-size: 2rem;
      }
      a {
        text-decoration: none;
      }
      a:hover {
        text-decoration: underline;
        color: darkred;
      }
    </style>
  </head>

Use a separate CSS file

As your site grows, you'll have many more styles, so it's better to move them all into a separate file.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="main.css">
  </head>

In this example, we are using main.css but you can name the file anything. This file will hold all your CSS and be linked in the <head> of every page.

CSS Specificity

ul {
  // CSS properties
}

.class-1 .class-2 p {
  // CSS properties
}

#id-1 .class-3 div {
  // CSS properties
}

General guidelines for writing CSS

• Declare your styles from lowest specificity then move up
• Keep your specificity as low as possible
• Name your classes sensibly
• Never style IDs
• Don't write inline styles

Types of images

• Content images
  • contain relevant information
  • help the user understand the content
• Background images
  • decorative in nature
  • contribute to the overall look and feel of the site

Content images

Content images are created using the <img> tag

<img src="path/to/image" alt="Description of the image">

• Doesn't need a closing tag.
• Requires a <src> attribute to tell the browser where to find the image file
• Requires an <alt> attribute which describes the image or its purpose

Background images

Background images are set via CSS

There are several properties related to backgrounds:

background-image: none
background-position: 0% 0%
background-size: auto auto
background-repeat: repeat
background-origin: padding-box
background-clip: border-box
background-attachment: scroll
background-color: transparent

background is one of many CSS properties that can be written in shorthand.

Setting background images

background-image can use relative or absolute paths

div {
  background-color: #170104;
  background-image: url('img/background.jpg');
}

background-position

This is used to set the position of the image

div {
  background-color: #170104;
  background-image: url('img/background.jpg');
  background-position: center center;
}

div {
  background-color: #170104;
  background-image: url('img/background.jpg');
  background-position: left bottom;
}

Background-repeat

Used for tiling patterned backgrounds

div {
  background-color: #EBEBEB;
  background-image: url('img/sativa.jpg');
  background-repeat: repeat;
}

What are devtools?

Every modern browser has a powerful suite of developer tools.

• Inspect currently loaded HTML, CSS and Javascript
• Check which assets were loaded
• See how long it took for your assets to load
• Provides details for each HTTP request/response
• And a lot more...

How to use devtools?

• Keyboard shortcut
  • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + I
  • Mac: Option + Command + I
• Menu bar
  • Firefox: Tools > Web Developer > Toggle Tools
  • Chrome: View > Developer > Developer Tools
  • Safari: Develop > Show Web Inspector
  • Opera: Developer > Web Inspector
• Context menu
  • Right-click on an element in the browser and select Inspect

The web is fluid

Browsers are responsive by default

Our problems with websites are self-created

"The control which designers know in the print medium, and often desire in the web medium, is simply a function of the limitation of the printed page."
- John Allsop, A Dao of Web Design (2000)

Media queries

Tell the browser to display the site’s content in a particular way when certain conditions are true.

Basic syntax as follows:

@media <media-type> (<media-feature>);

• media-type: e.g. screen, print
• media-feature: e.g. width, height

Mobile-first media queries

.o-flex3__item {
  flex: 0 0 100%
}

@media all and (min-width: 30em) and (max-width: 47.9375em) {
  .o-flex3__item {
    flex: 0 0 49.15254%
  }
}

@media all and (min-width: 48em) {
  .o-flex3__item {
    flex: 0 0 32.20339%
  }
}

• Default styles are for small screen sizes
• Add styles as the screen size gets bigger
• Can chain additional media features

Semantics and accessibility

• To make the web easier to use and access, and available to everyone
• Encompasses all disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive and neurological disabilities
• Benefits people without disabilities as well
• Accessible websites benefit from search engine optimisation (SEO)

Basic accessibility checklist (1/2)

• Page title: To adequately and briefly describe the content of the page
• Image text alternatives: To make visual information accessible
• Headings: To provide meaningful hierarchy for facilitation of navigation
• Contrast ratio: To have sufficient luminance contrast ratio, for people with different requirements
• Resize text: To ensure visibility and usability as text size increases

Basic accessibility checklist (2/2)

• Keyboard access & visual focus: To provide full functionality through a keyboard, and visible focus with logical order
• Forms, labels & errors: To have proper labels, keyboard access, clear instructions, and effective error handling
• Multimedia alternatives: To have alternative formats for audio and visual impaired

Visit Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to understand more about this important aspect of the web

Web hosting

Domain name registration

Domain names map to your server's IP address

Provides a human-readable name for ypur site

Top-level domains, e.g. .com, .io, .org, .edu

Register domain names with a domain name registrar

Getting your site online

Upload the files onto your server, Git or FTP

Servers usually run on Linux

Type of hosting determines level of control

Must be running a HTTP server, Apache or Nginx

Free options for static sites

BitBalloon, Pancake, Forge

GitLab Pages, GitHub Pages

Surge, Netlify

To find out more...

• Dash (online course)
• Codeacademy (online course)
• Bento (online resources)
• Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) (website)
• HTML & CSS: Design and Build Web Sites by Jon Duckett (book)
• Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman (book)

Sign up for GA courses

• Web Development Immersive (full-time)
• Front-end development (part-time)
• Javascript development (part-time)
• Back-end development (part-time)
• Various classes and workshops