Welcome! This week you will have fun while learning how to create websites, mobile apps, and games!
Getting started:
– We will meet everyday this week 9 am – 12 pm.
– You will have a laptop to use everyday this week. You will use the same one. You are responsible for keeping the laptop in good condition!
– Feel free to bring in a thumb drive to save your work. You can also email yourself the files.
– Feel free to bring in snacks and cold drinks.
– Dress cool each day- it can get warm in here! We do have access to cold water.
– At the end of every class you will write down at least one thing you learned.
Let’s begin!
Today: explore websites we like, look at their code, and add content to our class webpage
0. Name tags
1. Create a folder on your Desktop and call it your name. This is the place where you will save all of your files for the week. To create the folder, right click with your mouse anywhere on the desktop and go to New, then Folder. Then type your name in the white space and click out of it on the Desktop and your folder is created.
2. How about sending an email to your “future self” on the last day of summer? What would you say? What do you want to learn this week?
3. What sites do you like? Why? Let’s make a list.
4. Fun (maybe useless) sites for inspiration this week!
Find the invisible cow (the louder it is, the closer you are, keep moving your mouse around and clicking!)
Also try:
http://www.distancetomars.com/
http://www.koalastothemax.com/
http://www.ismycomputeron.com/
http://www.staggeringbeauty.com/
Wait- let’s look at the code behind some of these sites to see what’s going on
5. Like those sites? How about you try cloning one? Let’s see who can be the most creative!
6. Let’s have a party, a one-page party! When you finish, click publish, and then click publish again (you don’t need an account). Keep this link and post it on your page (#6 below).
7. WordPress and the Class Website
Today you will update and add content to your very own web page on our class website.
I have created a page for everyone. You will get a username and password to log in.
Your page is located here (Summer Students) at the top of our website.
Things to add to your page:
a. A couple of sentences about yourself. ou can include: where you’re from, languages you speak, food you like, interests, hobbies, activities, sports, talents, life philosophy, family, pets, etc.!
b. Links to websites you like
c. Your goals for the class this week. What do you really want to learn? Why?
d. Experiment with the items in the menu- add bullets, add media, quotes, etc. See what they look like and then look at the code by clicking “Text” in the top right corner.
You are using WordPress, a free content management system that is used by about one in every seven websites in the world! You can enter text and images and WordPress adds the code for you. If you know HTML and CSS (which you will learn this week), you are able to do the code yourself.
What else do you notice about WordPress?