Labs are hands-on coding projects that you build along with Tonya as she explains the code, concepts, and thought processes behind it. You can use the labs to further your code knowledge or to use right in your projects. Each lab ties into the Docx to ensure you have the information you need.
Each lab is designed to further your understanding and mastery of code. You learn more about how to think about its construction, quality, maintainability, programmatic and logical thought, and problem-solving. While you may be building a specific thing, Tonya presents the why of it to make it adaptable far beyond that specific implementation, thereby giving you the means to make it your own, in any context.
Let’s look at the components which make the Comments Module by looking at Tonya’s personal blog. You’ll notice that there are multiple components and sub-components. Therefore, in this lab, we will look at various alternatives for breaking up the styles and determining the architecture. Then you’ll finalize this module as you’ve done with the others.
Let’s go through the .gitignore that I use, which you can copy from the GitHub repository. Then you will start filling out your repository’s README.md file. Then the last step is to commit your changes and then push them to GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. Here is where you can find the last version of the entire lab in the Know the Code’s GitHub repository: Get on Github. We also talk about shortcuts in PhpStorm’s console to help you be more efficient.
Alright, now you have all the styles broken out into the proper partials based upon the components. Now it’s time to return to refactoring by pulling over the media queries, identifying variables, and getting rid of redundancies.
Looking at the stylesheet, there are styles for the entry title which are in the common classes module. Let’s discuss what to do with these styles.
Let’s rethink our current module architecture and how we have the partials laid out. In the entry, is has multiple components. Right? It has the following components: entry header which has the entry title, post meta, and featured image entry content entry footer which has the post meta, typically for categories and tags It seems easier if you have a partial for each of these components. Why? Remember that this is your codebase. Therefore, it is your starting point on all jobs and theme builds. Having a partial for all the components gives you flexibility for all of the needs […]
In this lab, you and I are going to finish the entry content module by bringing in the media queries, refactoring, and assigning new variables. Why don’t you try to finish this module on your own using the strategies that you learned so far? Then watch these videos to see how Tonya thinks about refactoring.
Then the last step is to commit your changes and then push them to GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket. Here is where you can find the last version of the entire lab in the Know the Code’s GitHub repository: Get on Github. We also talk about shortcuts in PhpStorm’s console to help you be more efficient.
As you’ve been doing, you will first migrate over the media queries into the footer widget partial. Then we’ll discuss different variable naming for media query device widths. You’ll look at two different examples, including WebDevStudio’s wd_s theme and Tonya’s personal blog theme. You want the variables to be general enough to be relevant for each project that you build while still being purposeful and declarative.
Let’s start by migrating the media queries for the site footer. Then you will walk through the thought process and exercise of refactoring these styles.
Stylesheets by their very nature do not comply with clean, quality principles as everything is one gigantic file that is filled with redundancies. It’s inefficient and error-prone to work with a stylesheet. But just like what you learned in Part 1, the stylesheets can be broken up into modules and partials using Sass. In this lab, you will take your first steps to working with Sass by splitting up the Genesis starter theme’s stylesheet and converting it to Sass.
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