Otter Factory

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Wordpress - essentials

I know we get taught that to be able to link our stylesheets and scripts we need to link them in our headers which is completely awesome in most cases. When using wordpress though it has it’s own functionality and needs to be linked through its php function class.

I maintain a site made by someone who I don’t know and they should’ve been more experienced than me. As I started to learn WordPress and learn the different aspects to it I found out that one has to enque the scripts through the function.php file. 

Why is this so amazing ?

Because this php file allows for one to be selective in which pages or posts get what javascript file or css file. If you have a big site some of these files often times end up clashing with one another. If you need to keep JQuery as a older version in one page because it has older functionality but need the newer improvements in another you can just specify in your function which goes where.

It’s also more clean the code just looks better. No offense to non-wordpress sites that have to link their stylesheets and scripts in their header.

Well this post is just to remind people that if they’re using wordpress to use the proper functionality because now I have to switch all the links from being in the header to the function.php file. 

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Validation and why it’s needed

I developed a wedding website for a friend, when developing it I was too lazy to make any validation. I mean what’s so hard about filling this form:

Later on I was told by the bride that if you removed the amount of people RSVPing that the form would send her a blank email.

This is because this form is a dynamic form it starts off with :

There one inputs how many are attending the form dynamically displays the amount afterwards (this is done through a for-loop in the client side). Because my form is dynamic I can’t hard code the amount of people it should expect when sending the information so there’s a for loop on the PHP end. The for loop, loops until the number of the people RSVPing. 

Now if someone were to by purpose or by accident delete the number of people RSVPing. It would never start the for loop and thus that piece of code is like as if it was never there.

My thoughts initially were that to be able to see any of the form you would need to input a number I didn’t think of the option of a user later on deleting the number on purpose or by accident.

After receiving feedback that this form was sending blank emails I realized the value in validation since the user will definitely always do what they shouldn’t.

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Web Design I did for a client

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List of things I’m learning that they don’t teach and college but totally should

- Git (one of the most popular repository’s out there) -Xamarin (cross platform development software based off of C#) -noSql database’s (mangoDB) -better knowledge about Graphic Design (as a web developer some smaller companies really expect you to do it all and that includes not only developing a site but developing a clean design too)

I’ll be adding more to this list but to be honest there are way too many things that get slipped under the rug because with technology there’s just a constant need to continuously learn more. If you want to be a student for life I would definitely recommend becoming a programmer if not well I hope you make enough your first maybe 5 years as a programmer cause I’ve only been out of school for a year and I am already behind.

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The Journey of a Part Time Developer

When I was in highschool I decided to take computer programming in college because I truly enjoy programming. I like solving puzzles and I was good at it so I was motivated to continue. I went to a local community college and continued on my route. When I was there I learned various skills that I thought would help me out in the real world. I couldn’t wait to get out so I could finally start my life. As soon as I got out I couldn’t be more wrong. You see as someone who values work/life balance and doesn’t think my job should be my life as I’ve got other priorities, I wanted a job that was part time. The industry out there is mean and they don’t seem to appreciate someone who wants to keep their values and morals. Having been to so many interviews and having been out of school for so long I started to lose my confidence in programming. Which was sad because I really enjoy it and I do know a lot and I’m willing to learn a lot. I’ve decided to start a blog on my journey as a part time developer as I try to regain my confidence and grow in different ways as a programmer I would like to show each step and voice out my opinions whenever I feel necessary.