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 do a big picture overview of programming. What is programming? Why does syntax have to be so exact? Programming is about logical thought, that step-by-step details of how to do a task. You are capturing those details in a sequence such that the computer can then understand and execute it.
It’s time to pull all of the above episodes together and give you an overview of how the web page is rendered, meaning it is built and sent out to the browser. You will learn about the full round-trip including how PHP immediately renders out as the HTML is being built. You’ll also learn about how the browser requests the resources from the web server. Remember, these files are stored on the web server’s hard drive(s). The browser can cache these resources to save page loading on subsequent visits. But on the first visit, the browser has to ask the […]
A web server is just a computer. It has hard drives, RAM, and processor. It runs software. The website you developed is stored on its hard drive(s) along with WordPress. In this episode, let’s talk about how the files are copied from your computer to the web server. The intent is to help you visualize where the website files are so that you are able to follow along and grasp what the web server does and how it serves up files to the browser.
In this episode, you will learn about how the web address is converted into a query for WordPress to know what data to pull from the database and what files to call. Let’s talk about how rewrite patterns are stored in the database. WordPress will compare the web address to these stored patterns in order to determine what request it is.
In this episode, let’s talk about how the web page request is handling at a macro level. The web address is sent by the browser. This is the request the web server will receive. Okay, how does this web address get handled and processed? The web address is unique just like your address or cell phone number. That web address is then mapped to a nameserver and the nameservers then map to the physical server(s) where the website is being hosted, meaning where the files are stored. Let’s talk about this request and help you to visualize it. This Lab […]
In this episode, you will get a big picture overview of the web page. You’ll learn some terminology including web address, URI, URL, and web page. Then we’ll talk about the web request from the web address and an overview of the process. Next, you’ll look at the back-end as we discuss how the content that is entered into the WordPress editor is stored in the database. This episode provides you with a baseline overview to prepare you for the remainder of this lab. This Lab is unlocked and FREE thanks to SiteGround. Partner Partner SiteGround offers managed WordPress hosting […]
In this episode, you will explore the when and why of WordPress. When do you use select WordPress for the client? How about a static site instead? Why would you use a Content Management System (CMS)? You will look at the website and its intent from the perspective of the site owner. Our job, besides delivering a website that meets our client’s wants and needs, is to make it super easy for the site owner to add, change, and manage content. Far too often we add complexity into the backend to help us do our jobs; however, that complexity is […]
In web development, there are a lot of moving parts, different hardware, and different technologies that you need to know in order to deliver custom websites to your clients. There is WordPress, of course, PHP, HTML, CSS, SQL, JavaScript, and jQuery to name a few. There is also the web server, database, and browsers. Whew, there are a lot of components and technologies for you to know. Whether you are implementing websites, meaning setting them up by putting together the theme and plugins, or writing custom services from scratch, you still have much to master. This lab introduces you to […]
In this Problem Solving lab, your website is broken, as the first post in the loop is exhibiting unexpected behavior. You want to reposition the post info (i.e. date and author’s name) above the title. It works on all of the posts except the first one. Why? In this active, hands-on lab, you and I will walk through how to find the root cause, why it’s happening, and then how to resolve it.
In this episode, I explain why the previous solution is not as performant (as fast) as it could be. I show you why it’s not as fast. Then you will refactor the code to make it faster. You will see the results for yourself. Once you refactor, then bam, you completed this lab! WooHoo! Excellent
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