Day 22: Arcana Intereticulati

Today marked the beginning of my latest endeavor, which is a thorough re-immersion into HTML and CSS. As I've mentioned in a previous post, my plan is to work my way through the standing W3C documentation on the specs. This is arguably the most daunting way to go about it, giving how positively massive those documents are, but my reasoning behind it is that it allows me access to all the raw information without an intermediary deciding what is or is not worth learning or emphasizing for me. One, however, must be willing to curate for one's self if intending to learn HTML in any practically applicable form; the ordering of the HTML spec is somewhat problematic, front-loaded as it is with foundational concepts (including extensive discussion of the DOM) which are largely hidden from the developer's eyes in most basic usage cases. One might feel hopelessly overwhelmed if they felt they were expected to understand this content before getting to the fourth section of the document, where actually usable HTML code is introduced for the first time.

Now, certainly, I make no claims to be any master of HTML, CSS or Javascript--if I were, why would I be undertaking this project?--but I happen to believe that one of the best ways to learn a concept and solidify it in one's mind is to teach it; to that end, instead of giving daily showcases of my studies, I will instead film educational videos on my learning process weekly. I had initially considered doing daily or thrice-weekly videos, but after thinking about the time required to do one well, and given my desire to take my time with it and learn some things about video editing and recording this way, weekly is far more practical, and also puts me in a position to have significantly more content for each.

So: the curriculum. Trying to teach without a sound and logically progressive curriculum is an absolute nightmare for both teacher and student, and runs the risk of putting people off. With that in mind, I've come up with an order which I feel promotes quick learning as much for my benefit as anyone else's.

1. HTML Syntax and Structure
2. HTML Elements
3. HTML Attributes
4. Implementing CSS & Basic CSS Selectors
5. CSS Declarations
6. CSS Pseudo-Elements, Pseudo-Selectors & Other Advanced Selectors
7. CSS Units of Measurement
8. Javascript & HTML DOM
9. AJAX, jQuery & JSON

Now, how long this will take to get through? I cannot say for sure. Given the things I have in mind for my main website, I'll want to have the big three web design fundamentals well in-hand, and likely pull Python (specifically Django) into the mix. But I also have other endeavors that are more important to me, and if faced with a conflict, I will throttle this process and use other outlets for promoting myself in favor of the other demands. Anyway, this should be an interesting undertaking, and I hope to learn a lot along the way.

Goals:
Weekly Income From Creative Endeavors - $5/$500
Adhere to Daily Schedule - Yes
Write 5,000 Words/Day - 0/5,000
No Artificial Ingredients in Diet - No
115 to 135 g of Protein - Yes, 115g
Weight of 77 kg, 8% Body Fat - 70.7 kg, 12% Body Fat
Practice Singing - Yes
HTML/CSS/Javascript - Overview of Documentation, Curriculum Determined

Still learning,
~L