Web Development Fundamentals @ helixml/live-coding

Web Development Fundamentals

This outline covers the core web technologies used in the live-coding demos within the live-coding repository on GitHub. It provides a detailed view of the fundamental building blocks used for interactive, dynamic web experiences.

HTML (HyperText Markup Language)

HTML acts as the foundation for web pages. It provides a structured representation of content using tags and attributes.

Elements: HTML uses elements to define content types, such as headings, paragraphs, images, and lists.

<h1>This is a Heading</h1>
          <p>This is a paragraph.</p>
          <img src="path/to/image.jpg" alt="Description of image">
          <ul>
              <li>Item 1</li>
              <li>Item 2</li>
          </ul>

Attributes: Attributes are used to provide additional information about HTML elements. For instance, the src attribute of the <img> element specifies the source of the image.

Structure: HTML uses a hierarchical structure to organize content. The <head> section contains metadata, while the <body> section holds the visible content.

<!DOCTYPE html>
          <html>
              <head>
                  <title>Page Title</title>
              </head>
              <body>
                  <h1>Welcome</h1>
                  <p>This is the content of the page.</p>
              </body>
          </html>

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

CSS controls the visual presentation of HTML elements. It allows you to define styles for fonts, colors, layout, and more.

Selectors: CSS uses selectors to target specific elements based on their tags, classes, or IDs.

/* Select all elements with the class "container" */
          .container {
              width: 80%;
              margin: 0 auto;
          }
          
          /* Select the element with the ID "myHeading" */
          #myHeading {
              font-size: 3em;
              color: #ff0000;
          }

Properties and Values: CSS properties define specific visual attributes, and values set their desired appearance.

/* Example styles for a paragraph */
          p {
              font-family: Arial, sans-serif;
              font-size: 16px;
              line-height: 1.5;
              color: #333;
          }

Layout: CSS provides various layout methods to arrange content on the page, such as using floats, flexbox, or grid.

/* Example flexbox layout */
          .container {
              display: flex;
              justify-content: space-between;
          }

JavaScript

JavaScript brings interactivity to web pages. It allows you to manipulate elements, respond to user events, and create dynamic content.

DOM (Document Object Model): JavaScript interacts with the HTML document through the DOM, a tree-like representation of the page’s structure.

Events: JavaScript can handle events, such as mouse clicks, form submissions, and key presses.

// Event listener for a button click
          const button = document.querySelector('button');
          button.addEventListener('click', () => {
              alert('Button clicked!');
          });

Variables and Data Types: JavaScript uses variables to store data of various types, such as strings, numbers, and objects.

// Declare a variable and assign a string value
          let message = "Hello, world!"; 
          
          // Access an object property
          const user = { name: "John", age: 30 };
          console.log(user.name);

Front-End Frameworks

Front-end frameworks provide a structured approach to building interactive user interfaces, often offering pre-built components and utilities to streamline development. Popular frameworks include:

React: A declarative, component-based library for building user interfaces.
Angular: A comprehensive framework for building large-scale web applications.
Vue.js: A progressive framework that can be scaled from small to complex projects.

Server-Side Technologies

Server-side technologies handle requests and responses from clients, often providing data and logic to power dynamic web applications. Some common choices include:

Node.js: A JavaScript runtime environment used for building server-side applications.
Python (Django or Flask): A popular language for web development, offering frameworks like Django and Flask.
PHP: A widely used server-side language for building web applications.
Ruby on Rails: A framework known for its “convention over configuration” approach to building web applications.