Category Archives: twitter

Day 18 of 100 Days of Code

I’m on day 18 of 100 Days of Code. I thought it might be a good idea to document it here for anyone that might want to follow along or take the 100Days challenge with me.

If you’re not familiar with the 100DaysOfCode it’s a Twitter challenge to code each day for 100 days. This is my second attempt. Last time I did it, I made it to around 70 days then summer happened 🙂

I will say this, in those 70 days I updated all my CSS and HTML5 skills. Honestly, being 50 and doing web design since the 90s… My coding style was dated to say the least. I couldn’t believe how much CSS and HTML have changed over the years. I’m really happy I took that challenge and updated those skill sets.

During this 100 Days of Code I’ve decided on focusing on all things JavaScript. This is something I’ve put off for a really long time. I can fumble around JavaScript, but I really don’t know or have a thorough understanding of the code. That’s now going to change.

18 Days into the challenge and I’ve been coding  daily between 4 to 8 hours per day. I’ve been working on HTML and CSS projects and spending at least 2 hours a day on JS (JavaScript) related projects.

Today I installed NodeJS on my local machine. I plan on setting up a local web server this evening following this tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8XF6AFGqlc

I’ve used PHP for awhile now, but never took the time to fully understand it either. I think learning NodeJS is a good idea because it can do a lot of what PHP can do, but I can do the backend development in JavaScript now instead of PHP. It just makes sense to kill two birds with one stone.

I also did another chapter of JavaScript for Dummies. I read Chapter 4 – Controlling the Flow of JavaScript

It covered a lot! Topics included while, if, if/else, for()loops, and much more. I plan on going through this chapter again and youtubing a tutorial for each expression or term. I have a better understanding of all these now, but I’d like to spend the next week getting a visual representation of each feature from Youtube before continuing on to the Functions chapter of JavaScript for Dummies.

On a final note I learned a little about functions yesterday and made a simple tip calculator web app. I still need to style the page and make a couple final adjustments, but the basics of the app are completed now. You can find it here. http://new-aeon-design.com/apps/tip_calculator.html

Well, that’s pretty much my last 24 hours of day 18 of my 100 Days Of Code. I’ll be posting a daily about this for anyone that’s interested. You can find out more about the 100 Days of Code challenge on Twitter by using the #100DaysOfCode hashtag or go to the website to learn more. https://www.100daysofcode.com

 

 

 

Finished the Responsive Web Design Course at freeCodeCamp.

I finished the Responsive Web Design course on freeCodeCamp. I really learned a lot! I didn’t realize how dated my HTML and CSS skills were. So much so, I’ll be working on a site redesign for new-aeon-design.com. Can’t wait to incorporate all the new stuff I learned.

certificate of course completion html5 and css3

freeCodeCamp course completion certificate.

I started working on redesign for another personal project too. I’ll post a link to that when I think it’s upload-able 🙂

I’m on a roll now. I’ve really been cracking away at the keyboard. I’m on day 27 of the 100DaysOfCode twitter challenge. I keep looking for fun projects to get involved with and to also help keep it fresh. Right now, I’m trying to decide whether to start a JavaScript course or start a WordPress course I bought a couple weeks back on Udemy. I’d like to keep the momentum going. I’ve got a bunch of site upgrades to practice my CSS and H5, and also a client project I’m working on. That’s actually what inspired me to take the refresher course. I’m thinking about going full on front end developer!

I’ve currently been working on code related projects at least 3 – 4 hours a day. Sometimes longer.

Get More Twitter Followers Now !

Found this infographic from WhoIsHostingThis and thought it was spot on. By following these simple tips, and spending a little time at it each day, those Twitter followers should start rolling in.

You wouldn’t think there was a lot to social networking and services like Twitter but there is. I’ve learned a lot and made a lot of mistakes with social networking. It takes time, but with a little effort success can be yours.  The more you read and follow tips that are found in inforgraphics like this, the more you start seeing those followers rolling in.

twitter infographic

Great tips for building a strong twitter account and gaining followers.

The info graphic states that you can do this in 5 minutes a day, maybe I’m slow. I spend a little more… A lot more time than that on twitter. I need to start incorporating services like hootsuite, but I tweet randomly throughout the day. As I find good stuff or have some clever comment worth tweeting, I send them out at random. Sometimes from the computer, sometimes from my phone. I try to tweet daily, and spread my tweets out so my followers don’t get what I call a twitter bomb, of 10 – 20 tweets blasted out from my account all at once. Outside of that I completely agree with everything in this info graphic.

P.S, Now on a final note. For all those spam comments asking where I host my blog. You can use the WhoIsHostingThis  service to find out. They are the creator of the infographic, and I’m sure they would love if you stopped by their site and tried out the service.

New Twitter Header Dimensions

Twitter now gives you a 1500 x 500 px header image for your profile page. The new look of twitter is great and that’s a lot of real estate to fill. I decided to play around with it a bit and here’s what I discovered.

Going to the twitter help page https://support.twitter.com/articles/127871-customizing-your-profile# They give you the suggested dimensions for the new header of 1500 x 500 px. I used Gimp 2.8 and opened up a new image, 1500 width by 500 height. I added my spacey background, and then opened up some of my old header xcf files from Facebook and G+ and copied and pasted together a quick header image. I added the alien from some clipart, and copied and pasted the rest of the design from some other headers I created for the New Aeon Design. The whole project took about a half an hour.

twit_head1

The new header 1500 X 500 px shown in open browser. This was just a quick experiment. I would suggest adding some business keywords, url, and company logo. Keep it simple.

Once the file was completed I saved it as a png file and uploaded it to twitter. The first thing I discovered about the suggested 1500 x 500 px is that there is about a 50 px border from the top edge and along the bottom edge that will cut out on you. So I had to move the url found on the upper left hand corner of the image down about 50 px. I also moved all the images and graphics along the bottom edge up 50 px. This took care of the problem and when the browser window is resized it still shows all the graphics. However, when I redo this I will probably add another 10 px border for browser resizing. When the browser is resized I noticed that a very tiny amount of the lettering got cut off. Nothing major, and everything was still readable.

Now I tried to get creative and put a little u.f.o. with a light shining over my twitter avatar. I really liked the way this looked when the browser is set to full screen, however when the browser is resized the avatar doesn’t scale with the header image and off sets the u.f.o. I’m leaving it for now, but this has to be changed down the road.

twit_head2

Notice that when the browser window is resized the twitter avatar doesn’t scale with header image. This offset the U.F.O just enough to be annoying and unprofessional. When I update this header, that will have to be changed.

Outside of the avatar issue, the new header dimensions are great. That’s a lot of real estate to fill with information about your company, brand, or product. When creating your header I would suggest adding your url to the design, a couple keywords about what your company does, like “Web Design”, or “Wholesaler of World Class Widgets”, your logo and business name. Keep it clean and simple. In the world of headers less is sometimes more ! If anyone wants a header designed for their business message me on twitter with what you want, and I’ll shoot you a quick price. Most designs start around $40.00 bucks.

new-aeon-twit_sm

The header as it was designed. Notice the 50 px border along the sides. If you don’t move everything in about 50px you will have parts of the image cut out when you upload the final product.

Hope these tips help, and happy tweeting everyone ! If you have any further suggestions please comment, and if you’re on twitter folllow me and I’ll probably follow back .

Twitter Lists Public vs Private

O.K. I think this is going to be the last post on Twitter for a little while. However, I think a few words are in order about creating Public vs Private lists. If you want to learn more about creating lists see my last post here.

So we’re creating some lists and now we have to decide are the lists going to be public or private. Here are some things to consider when making your choice.

Public list.

  • Most people appreciate being added to a public list.
  • Great for exposure as other people can subscribe to the list.
  • As others subscribe it’s a great way to network and make new contacts with your fellow industry peers.

Private list.

  • Good way to keep an eye on competitors and check in on them once in awhile.
  • Maybe you want to protect your content source from others. Ie: vendors, sub contractors, content creators you use, etc., etc.,
  • It may be sensitive information you don’t want to share. Ie: Political or religious groups you follow, material of an adult nature, people who post off color jokes, etc., etc.,

These are just a few things to think about when deciding whether a list should be public or private. Another consideration to private lists is maybe setting up a second account for things you may not want to share with your followers, potential sales leads, and clients.

What ever you decide, I’m sure you can agree that lists are a great way to organize your content, add value to your twitter account, create additional exposure for you, and give prospects another good reason to follow you.