to class -- to about -- to syllabus -- to people -- to the library

hello lab!

My favorite aspect of websites is their duality: they’re both subject and object at once. In other words, a website creator becomes both author and architect simultaneously. There are endless possibilities as to what a website could be. What kind of room is a website? Or is a website more like a house? A boat? A cloud? A garden? A puddle? Whatever it is, there’s potential for a self-reflexive feedback loop: when you put energy into a website, in turn the website helps form your own identity.

– Laurel Schwulst

This class will introduce the lab format this semester, and get you set up with the tools we’re going to use. Please come to this class with the computer you plan to use for the rest of the semester.

introduction

plan for the class:

lecture: the tools of the trade

what is a website
  glossary
  file structure how to
  HTML CSS Javascript
  Doctype

publishing to the web
  client side vs server side
  your friend localhost
  github pages
  what is a URL?

domain names
  DNS
  Namecheap Google Domains
  linking domain names

text editors
  CLI
    vim nano
  GUI
    emacs atom sublime visual studio code   programming fonts user settings

IDEs
  visual studio
  XCode

version control
  git how to write a git commit message
  github gitlab
  version control poetry example

approaches to writing code
  pair programming

asking for help
  stack overflow
  github issue guidelines

giving help
  stack overflow good answer guide
  code review guide

inspiration
  are.na brutalist websites
  rhizome net art anthology

resources
  this is a really nice guide!
  Lynda.com
  Mozilla Developer Notes
  W3 schools

Tutorial: git

in-class exercise

In pairs, use github pages or netlify to publish a minimal site. Once you both have sites up and running, start to add some content either on your own, or together.

assignment

Step 1:
use are.na to find a personal homepage* that you’ve not seen before, and that you find interesting. write a short (100-200 word) response:

— what role does this website perform (or try to perform)? — how does this website make you feel — what does this website tell you about this person? — why did you pick this site?

*a personal homepage is a website dedicated to and managed by a single person, rather than a group, or a company. It should be a page that could conceivably be made by them (e.g. not a celebrity). The homepage shouldn’t be by someone you already know!

Step 2: After reading Laurel’s piece, and having set up your GitHub pages site in class, come to the next class having thought about your personal site for this semester. This site will be where you record all of your work, including assignments, reading responses and notes. Think about:

— what requirements does your site need to satisfy? — what ideas would you like it to get across?

If you’re feeling confident, you could try and implement your ideas on the GitHub Pages site we set up in class — if not, just add some text, and some sketches to your GitHub folder, and we’ll talk about them at the start of next class.