Style Class, Session #1: Class Intro

[foxfirefey]

Welcome to the DW Styles Class! From the number of people answering the poll, this is going to be a fairly large class, even if a lot of you can't make it. Lurking is, of course, okay! I do want to encourage lurkers to ask questions if they have them, however--you don't have to stay out of sight.

This class is geared around learning by doing. The main project of the class is to create a style of your own! The lessons are tools to help you along the way, so the syllabus is subject to change if I feel we're going over a subject too fast and people need more time to adjust. At the end, I'll have treats for people who share layouts with others at dreamwidthlayouts.

Your mentors are, in no particular order: afuna, ninetydegrees, liv, seleneheart, monarchist, exor674, and, well, me. Mentors are here to help me review lesson plans before they go live and help answer student questions--some are CSS only, others know S2. But! If you know the answer to another student's question, please feel free to help them. We all can work together to learn things.

This class is split up into three "tracks" for different experience levels and goals.

Simplified CSS

Designed for people who want an easier introduction in CSS. It involves making style changes to an existing layout with the base CSS included.

CSS only

Designed for people who want to make a layout from scratch based on existing layout HTML--you can do a lot with just CSS. People might need help with an S2 override or two in order to achieve the effect they really want, but overall the goal is to work with CSS.

S2/CSS

Designed for people who want to be experts in changing both the HTML and CSS of their layout, or building in interesting behaviors. S2 is a programming language and once you know it you'll have few limitations (no JS, some CSS cleaning) in making a style exactly the way you want.

Poll #6596 Original Student Desires and Experience Levels

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 151

View Respondents

My class track will be:

View Answers

Simplified CSS
20 (13.4%)

CSS only
17 (11.4%)

S2/CSS
94 (63.1%)

Observation only
18 (12.1%)

I'm interested in this class because:

View Answers

I want to customize my own style
114 (79.2%)

I want to make styles I can share with others
76 (52.8%)

I want to be able to help others with their styles
56 (38.9%)

It's a good way to learn skills I'm interested in, like HTML/CSS or basic programming concepts.
108 (75.0%)

If you have another interest in this class, what is it?

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CSS Experience

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None or very little
47 (31.1%)

Beginner
51 (33.8%)

Experienced
44 (29.1%)

Advanced
9 (6.0%)

HTML Experience

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None or very little
13 (8.6%)

Beginner
51 (33.8%)

Experienced
69 (45.7%)

Advanced
18 (11.9%)

S2 experience:

View Answers

None or very little
107 (70.9%)

Beginner
35 (23.2%)

Experienced
7 (4.6%)

Advanced
2 (1.3%)

Browsers I use or have access to:

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Chrome
91 (60.3%)

Firefox 3.x
90 (59.6%)

Firefox 4.x
80 (53.0%)

IE6
10 (6.6%)

IE7
12 (7.9%)

IE8
40 (26.5%)

IE9
38 (25.2%)

Opera
54 (35.8%)

Safari
62 (41.1%)

Mobile browsers/devices
66 (43.7%)

Other
13 (8.6%)

My main browser is:

View Answers

Chrome
26 (17.2%)

Firefox 3.x
56 (37.1%)

Firefox 4.x
44 (29.1%)

IE6
0 (0.0%)

IE7
0 (0.0%)

IE8
1 (0.7%)

IE9
1 (0.7%)

Opera
9 (6.0%)

Safari
9 (6.0%)

Mobile browsers/devices
2 (1.3%)

Other
3 (2.0%)

If you answered "Other" for any of the browser questions, what browser(s)?

View Answers

Alright students, as your first exercise I would like you to:

• Say hi, and greet others! Also ask any questions you would like to know before Friday's class on "S2 Background and the Customization Wizard".
• Fill out this poll--it will help me know who has what experience level, and the different reasons people are taking the course for.
• Think about what you want your style to look like, if you'll be making a style for the course!

And now, I'm going through and checking to make sure that all people who answered the original interest poll and don't already subscribe get a reminder to watch this community (unless they have different methods of keeping track)! Hope to hear from you all!

---

Previous: Syllabus

Comments

[lilmoka]

Hi, I'm Mok!

I am quite a clueless n00b and I'm really excited about these classes :D :D

[lapillus]

Given how flexible existing styles are there's a lot less desire on my part for new styles as compared with lj, since historically what has driven my style choice has been what is displayed. However I do have a lingering curiosity about what one can do.

Could one do something like a milder version of http://www.helpthehoneybees.com/ using permitted tools? If so, it might prompt me to try something like a haunted house for Halloween or the like, just for fun.

[foxfirefey]

Oh hey, pippin has studied Latin!

Unfortunately there might be a limitation keeping you from what you want to do--I don't think the YearPage gets access to all of the posts within it. It might be possible using some kind of hacks, but the system really isn't designed for it. While your journal may not have enough entries to be a problem, an archive page like Daring Fireball's is way to much to want to emulate for a service. But at the VERY least what you could do is put a link at the top of the YearPage to a post where you list out all your entries maybe? Aw man, I feel like I'm being all disappointy in the first lesson.

[foxfirefey]

If by a mild version of it you mean one that isn't based on Flash and full of Flash animation, yes, you can!

[foxfirefey]

Hopefully the resources post will give you some inspiration!

[veronicasleeps]

Hey!

I'm Veronica and awfully excited. XD

I'm more or less experienced at tweaking LJ layouts so this will be a challenge... But yeah... Excitement! <3

[kuangning]

Hey, that describes the first iteration (and second, and I think the third...) of my website perfectly. *shudder.* Thankfully, I discovered server-side includes between the second and third, and began to clue into this CSS thing some time around the third. By the fourth iteration, I was definitely adapting someone else's CSS-based style. I still don't update the non-blog area as much as I need to, but when I do, it's much less of a chore than it was a decade ago ... even if I can't include the "hand-coded in Notepad" image anymore. ;)

p.s.:

[illariy]

A belated, but friendly Hi to all! *waves*

[lapillus]

Definitely non-flash and preferably non-gif. Possibly HTML5, which is something that looks interesting but which I don't really have any particular need for. And if I don't have a project, I'm probably not going to make time to learn it.

Mostly I was thinking of things like an occasional falling leaf or blossom, or a shooting star in a night starscape, or a fish swimming by in the header. Things that are simple and doable for my minimal art skills.

[altairtherook]

Salutations, I'm Altair!
I have the most basic knowledge of html, meaning only a few tags, and just about none on CSS. I really appreciate you guys creating this set of courses, and I'm excited to begin!

[foxfirefey]

Sounds like you have a very good foundation! Hopefully you'll also help out a programming newb or two in the class along the way.

[foxfirefey]

Sharing is caring!

[av8rmike]

I heard about this project through the IRC grapevine and figured I would check in here. I'm not very active as a poster or volunteer on DW anymore because I still spend most of my time on LJ. I'm the LJ Support Administrator for Style Systems, I maintain the s2expressive community and have written most of the tutorials there, and occasionally answer questions in the other S2 comms. I mostly look at the programming side (see icon), but I'm not great with design-type stuff. I probably haven't kept up to date enough with the DW-specific stuff to act as a "mentor" but I can answer a lot of the general questions.

This seems like an ambitious project, and I want to thank you for taking it on, Fey!

[foxfirefey]

Of course! Have you figured out which track you want to take?

[kitters]

Hello!~ My name is Vanessa, but I answer to Kitters, too. I took a web design class about a year ago where we learned some HTML, but focused more on CSS and used it more, so I'm a lot better with it (I'm kind of in between beginner and advanced with HTML). Funny thing is, I can make a fully-functional informational website from scratch, but can't make an LJ/DW layout. XD But I guess that's because I know nothing about the backend language. So, I mostly just tore apart other people's Flexible Squares and Smooth Sailing-based customized layouts on LJ until I liked the result. I'm really excited about learning S2 so that I can make DW layouts from scratch.

I don't know if the version of IE that comes with Windows 7 is version 7 or 8, so I checked both options. >_>;

Also, I suppose I could volunteer myself to be a mentor in cases of strictly XHTML-based issues since I didn't even know what S2 was. If that's alright, that is.

By the way, it doesn't seem like the "expand" function for threads has been implemented into the new beta yet since it takes me to a completely new page in my fussy Opera. *Slaps it* /off-topic

[foxfirefey]

If you know any people on LJ who might want to take the class, OpenID users are also welcome--even though the course will focus on DW styles, my guess is that LJ users could apply a lot of it to an LJ style instead. I thought about posting to s2styles about it but was really hesitant because it could be seen as evangelizing and I don't want to annoy people.

I don't think you should classify as a mentor just because of the time stuff--BUT I think plenty of the questions will be pretty easy for you, so if you ever want to answer one you see, feel free.

This project DOES feel pretty ambitious because of the sheer amount of people who seem to want to take it, and the scope, but I'm looking forward to it anyway! I figure I can spend a couple hours a week writing lessons and hopefully having fellow mentors will help out with how much time I have to spend fielding questions.

[foxfirefey]

Yeah, CSS can be so finicky that I hesitate to call myself advanced. I rely too much on things I pick up from others.

[foxfirefey]

Well, hey, if you need somebody to nag you, let me know. I'm not going to pressure people overall, but I can be annoying and persistant if that's what somebody wants.

[foxfirefey]

If you have any good resources for good background patterns and stuff in the style you like, let me know and I can include it in the resources lesson.

[foxfirefey]

Well, the thing about making a style is that it should probably degrade gracefully.

If you want whiz-bang, browsers outside of IE are recommended. Latest Safari/Chrome/Firefox versions are probably best. But you should make sure things don't become unusable in the other browsers even if it is not as pretty.

[foxfirefey]

I always think rusty is easier to get back up to speed with than inexperienced, though, so I think that's okay. I have to write to the point where the beginners can understand it, so I think you'll sail through.

[foxfirefey]

This is a very good excuse!

[foxfirefey]

It's very relevant, especially as we often send people in Support with more advanced styles questions here, because it's easier to answer with comments.

[foxfirefey]

Simplified CSS is a very good way to start!

[tyger]

Yeah, I figured it'd be something like that! ^^ Thanks~