This is a great use of an animated GIF to demonstrate a principle.
-
-
Reasons You Should Know a Little HTML and CSS
From MakeUseOf, stored for class
IMAGE: COLIN/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
You’ve heard over and over that everyone should learn to code. Alright already! But as a student going into a not tech field, why in the world should you get into coding?
Even a little knowledge of HTML and CSS can make a big difference in your career. And learning tech isn‘t just for the production assistants and print designers of the world — whether you‘re a small business owner, a sales manager, an event coordinator or even a magician, you can benefit from some HTML and CSS chops.
Sound too good to be true? It‘s not, and I‘ll give you nine examples to prove it.
But, first, let‘s review what exactly HTML and CSS are. The short and sweet version is: HTML and CSS are the foundations of the web. HTML — HyperText Markup Language — is the language used to tell your web browser what each part of a website is. So, using HTML, you can define headers, paragraphs, links, images, and more, so your browser knows how to structure the web page you‘re looking at.
CSS — Cascading Style Sheets — is the language that gives those web pages their look and formatting. In other words, CSS is what you use to make sites look nice with fancy fonts, rich colors, gorgeous backgrounds, and even slick animations and 3D effects.
Easy, right? But you‘re probably still wondering: How am I supposed to use these coding languages in my job? Well, here are just a few of the amazing things you can achieve with just a few lines of these easy-to-learn languages. Trust me — your boss or potential employer will be impressed, your colleagues will be happy and you may be well on your way to a more fulfilling and lucrative career.
Here are nine things you will be able to do with your HTML and CSS skills:
1. Design an awesome email for your customers
Email is turning out to be one of the best online marketing tools out there. And you can make an email that your customers will actually look forward to getting by organizing and styling it using the HTML and CSS editors available with most email marketing services.
2. Create a stunning corporate newsletter
Now that you‘ve impressed with those gorgeous emails, take it to the next level with a newsletter template. HTML and CSS will be your secret weapons once again as you lay out and customize the template to fit right in with your corporate brand and style.
3. Tweak your company‘s WordPress site
A surprisingly high percentage of corporate websites are built on WordPress. And this is good news for you when you know some HTML and CSS, because you can use them to add content and make changes to your company‘s site. That means no more waiting around for your overworked web team to update the office calendar!
4. Teach your colleague (or boss!) some code
Speaking of overworked co-workers, how about sharing the HTML and CSS love with your colleagues (or even your supervisor)? Then everyone on your team will be able to update and improve the website, emails and newsletters. Ahh, the joy of delegation!
5. Make your technical team adore you
The developers in your working life will thank you if you understand even a hint of HTML and CSS. You‘ll know how to tell them what needs to be changed on the company site (instead of referring to everything as a "whatchamacallit“ or "thingamajig“ as well as be more aware of the limits and possibilities they face every day.
6. Show off your skills with a perfectly-tuned Tumblr blog
Want to leave that adoring team behind and turn your passion into your profession? It‘s easy enough to set up a Tumblr blog to show off that side hustle you‘ve been working on. If you want to send a dazzling display of your freelance photography or graphic design work to that agency that‘s hiring, you can! Just a bit of HTML and CSS can take a Tumblr template from so-so to stunning.
7. Build a professional resume site — from scratch!
Go beyond just a Tumblr blog and really show some initiative by coding your own online presence from start to finish. It might sound daunting, but it‘s actually surprisingly easy to create a simple but great-looking site with basic HTML and CSS. And, boy, will you knock the socks off potential employers when you tell them you did it all on your own!
8. Take your design skills to the next level
So you‘re already a Photoshop wizard, and you can even create some impressive website mockups. Well, get some HTML and CSS under your belt, and you‘ll be able to turn those mockups into actual sites. You can become the “unicorn“ (a designer who can code) every company is looking for right now.
9. Start learning more — and earning more!
Like I said at the start, HTML and CSS are the foundation of the web. So, they‘re also the foundation for taking your tech skills to the next level. Having a handle on the fundamentals will make learning another programming language (like JavaScript, Ruby or PHP) a whole lot easier. And the more you know, the more job opportunities will open up for you.
-
50 Fictional Destinations You Can Actually Visit
The setting and location of a hit movie or a favorite novel can be integral to the story and why it’s easy to get wrapped up in a world created by the author or director. Some of these places are so thoroughly imagined by their creators, you forget they aren’t real. Some leave spaces and pose questions that only your imagination can fill in. Whether the inspiration behind these fictional destinations is based on a real town, on the creator’s life experiences, or just their vivid imagination, the idea of actually visiting locations like Frank Miller’s brooding Basin City or Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park appeals to many. Thanks to our infographic below, your wish is now our command!
-
Google Software Removal Tool for Windows released
From ghacks.net
While it is difficult to come by statistics to find out how many Internet users are affected by software that is manipulating browser settings or installing add-ons and other potentially unwanted tools in browsers, it is clear that this poses a threat to many users.
These modifications can be divided into two different types. First modifications that modify browser settings such as the homepage or search provider, and second modifications that add toolbars or other unwanted features to the browser such as popup ads or other browser extensions.
While most browsers support a reset feature, it is often not enough to run it to get rid of these additions.
Google has released the Software Removal Tool for Windows today which has been designed to aid users of the operating system in getting rid of these modifications.
The tool is offered as a beta currently and while it did work fine during tests, it is highly suggested to backup the browser and create a System Restore point before you run it.
According to Google, it will factory reset Chrome and remove programs on the system that affect the browser’s behavior.
Here is how it works:
- Download the program from the official download page.
- After you have downloaded it and created backups of your data, run it.
- The program does not require installation and can be run right away after the download completes.
- It will either display that it did not found anything suspicious, or list the programs that it found to be suspicious.
- Click on remove suspicious programs and wait for the removal complete message.
- Note that some programs may be closed by the process.
- The program submits data to Google unless you uncheck the box on the results page.
- Click on continue to exit the program. The button may also state restart to reboot the system if that is necessary.
- When you open Chrome the next time, it will display the reset dialog which you can follow.
Google does not list the programs that the Software Removal Tool considers suspicious. The only information it provides is that its program does not scan for all types of computer viruses and that the programs that it detects are typical malware so that security software may not pick them up.
Google’s tool works only with Chrome and not with Chromium or other Chromium-based browsers.
Conclusion
The Software Removal Tool can be useful as a last resort if you have tried to fix the issue by yourself or don’t know what to do to resolve it.
It is likely that it won’t be used by experienced users as they know how to remove these types of programs from systems or even better, know how to block them from getting there in first place.
Good news is that the program will display its findings so that you can decide on the course of action to take.
-
The Periodic Table of Web Design
From The WebDesignerDepot
Smart web development agencies follow a standard process when designing new websites, starting from the client’s brief and moving smoothly and logically through a variety of steps to website launch and maintenance. The way to achieve this is all down to being able to visualize and verbalize the web design process effectively.
Of course all web developers know what they need to do — but imagine how much easier it would be if there was a generic “Master Plan” to follow, one that could be shared with the team and the client to allow everyone to monitor progress and see what comes next.
And so we share with you a can’t-live-without infographic that details every step that must be taken to get a new website live and in front of an appreciative audience: from the project brief, to planning, design, development, launch and right through to the all-important maintenance phase.
Periodic Table of Web Design Process – created by New Design Group
