---
tags: mstu5003, tinker, html, css
---

# Tinker: HTML/CSS - Meow Mix
> Members: Izzy Carpenter Zehe, Coco Wang, Thao Vu
See demonstration: https://codepen.io/jmk2142/pen/dVMRRq

**TINKER** - _attempt to repair or improve something in a casual or desultory way, often to no useful effect._

It's funny that the problem is called a "tinker" problem in that tinkering is usually messing around with stuff without a very planned way. I think, when we use the word tinker, it's really to emphasize the _spirit_ of the activity; that is to not feel too pressured into treating it like a test of your ability. It's really meant to be an opportunity for you to explore and have fun messing with stuff while using the guided questions to challenge your understanding.

So in some ways - while the spirit is about tinkering - I actually do want you to explore this in a directed way. That is:

1. Manipulate things to understand the causal effect and relationships it has on the results.
2. Think about the multiple manipulations you make to generalize certain key patterns that manifest across different episodes.
3. To generate hypotheses about how stuff works, and to test those hypotheses (through manipulation) to confirm or reject your ideas and refine.

As such, for each tinker problem which will be a "full" example - I will be providing you with certain guiding questions to help you direct your attention and activities to the _hidden_ things that are present. Think about it as if you just discovered a strange and fascinating new bug crawling across your table. You just want to poke it to see what it does. And I encourage you to do so.

## Tinker Tasks

As a general flow:

- First, take the base codepen and **fork** it.
- This will branch the original code so you have your own copy that you can edit and manipulate.
- Next, **compare** what you see in the code and **map** the relationships between the code and output.
- Then, use the guiding prompts and questions to **manipulate** the actual code **one thing at a time** and _see_ what happens.
- Be able to **articulate** your understanding and share your findings and insights with your weekly group and/or the class.

Note that I use Markdown as the format for these things as it is pretty `programming friendly`. You can get a basic understanding of Markdown in a few minutes using the following interactive tutorial: http://www.markdowntutorial.com

---

## Tinker GUIDES and QUESTIONS

I've divided this up into parts. Basically - as you explore the example and manipulate it in various ways there are a few themes that you should keep in the back of your mind:
1. SEQUENCE
2. HIERARCHY
3. ORGANIZATION (Semantics)
4. PATTERNS (Generalizable syntax patterns)

### HTML things

- Mess around with the sequence of different tags.
- How does _SEQUENCE_ affect the visual display of HTML elements?
> Could effect the styling (color, padding, margin) of the page
- Change the hierarchy, the parent-child relationships between different tags.
- What are some ways that the _hierarchy_ of your tags will affect the end result / visual output?
>The children elements lose the styling rules assigned to their parents if the hierarchy changes
- Add/remove/manipulate various `elements`, `ids`, `classes`, `attributes`
- What did you do and what did you discover in terms of the GENERALIZABLE patterns?
>The container structure sets the size for the block of content nested within it. The ID doesn't effect the visual style but it effects how the computer catagorizes the webpage content because it wasnt given properties in the css. Removing the elements effects the styling and removing a attribute tag breaks the link or removes the alt text, etc.
- Try to add an embedded Youtube video in the `section#videos` tag.
- Before you do, take a guess as to what you expect to see as the visual result. Were your guesses correct?
>Yes the video was playable on the webpage, however it was outside of the main container meaning we probably have to adjust the css to get it into the main block of content.
- Create some notes as _comments_ in this code.
- What are some ways that you can use comments to help you understand your code better?
>Used to help the coder seperate out the content into different sections. Like a sign post to help you figure out whats going on in the code. It doesnt have any effect on the actually webpage.
- Take a look at the following:
- What is the generalizable syntax **_pattern_** between all these tags?
>"div" and "span" are non-semantic tags. They don't tell us what is in the content. They can wrap around content however to markup semantic commons to a group.
>"p", "img" and "input" have specific attributes and values to their structures
>For the img and input elements you do not need a closing tag.

<div id="mainStory">...</div>
<p class="important">Lorem ipsum...</p>
<span class="incorrect">Your answer</span>
<img src="https://placehold.it/50x50/4CAF50" alt="greenbox">
<input type="text" name="fullName" value="anonymous">

- Take a look at the following cheetsheets: [HTML5 Cheatsheet]
- Muck around with the page and try to add a new content feature using some _new_ elements you haven't directly worked with in FCC.
- How did you go about learning how to utilize a new element (process)?
>We tested the address element and noticed that it automatically styles the text as italic. We tried to embedd a link into the address element but it linked to the table instead.
- How can different `elements`, `classes`, and `id`s help to _organize_ our html content?
>Classes' and ids' help to group different content together by a hierarchical system and they all create the basic layout of the webpage.

### CSS things
- Take a look at the following _almanac_ of CSS selectors and properties: [30 CSS Selectors], [CSS Tricks Almanac] and use some new selectors and css properties to change the visual look of the page.
- Why do we have so many different kinds of CSS selectors available?
>Different kinds of CSS selectors target different elements of the DOM for different stylized, interactive purposes.
>Special selectors like pseudo selectors can even target special states of the elements. e.g: button:hover
- Take a look at the following:
- What is the generalizable syntax **_pattern_** between all these css rules?

>The general syntax is
selector {
property: value;
}

div {
	font-size: 10px;
}
div, span {
	color: dodgerblue;
}
div#myFavorites {
	text-decoration: underline;
}
div.incorrect {
	text-decoration:line-through;
}
div span {
	color: green;
}
div > span {
	color: lime;
}
div:only-child {
	font-family: cursive;
}

- Probably, no programmer knows every CSS rule and/or property by memory. I certainly don't, but I know a lot.
- How then, should you go about studying resources like [30 CSS Selectors] and [CSS Tricks Almanac] to help you become a more capable and efficient programmer?
>You can try to remember the most basic and common selectors and patterns. The rest you can consult pages like [30 CSS Selectors] and [CSS Tricks Almanac].
>Practice helps you remember the codes better too.
### COMBINED and META things

- How might HTML sequence and hierarchy of tags affect your CSS rules?
>The relationship and hierarchy of tags will affect the web layout and how you define CSS rules.
>It also affects the way you define the selectors. e.g: selector: first-child vs selector: nth-type(2).
- There are many things that can go wrong when you code an HTML/CSS page. Your HTML might be wrong. Your CSS might be wrong. It's pretty difficult to debug/fix when you have more than one thing wrong at the same time.
- Based on your understanding of how _sequence, hierarchy, syntax_ affects the page; What do you think are best practices to systematically fix errors in your code?
> Have clear hierarchy in your HTML code by indenting elements properly
> Clean up your code using "Format HTML" if you are using code pen
> Double check closing tags and commas
- Based on said understanding, what are some best practices to reduce errors _as you code?_
> Format as you are writing your code
> Indent the elements by their hierarchy
> Make sure the naming conventions are consistent: Capitalization, the use of hyphen, etc.
> Check closing tags and commas, always!

- What is the _STRENGTH_ of FCC exercises and what is the _LIMITATION_ with respect to learning and understanding?
>Strengths:
The project-based learning experience is engaging and you can see the kind of product you would get in the end
The instructions are broken down into small, achieveable steps

>Limitations:
It is hard to understand what precisely they are asking for.
There is just formulaic explanation but the errors are not specified.
Novice coder may not have a hollistic understanding of the whole coding process.

- What is the _STRENGTH_ of tinkering and what is the _LIMITATION_ with respect to your learning and understanding?
>Strengths:
Allows collaborative problem solving
Allows guided-discovery, which engages learners and encourages curiosity, critical thinking and creativity.
>Limitations:
It is hard to generalize the experience into knowledge, especially for learners without prior knowledge. So the experience can end up becoming confusing and intimidating.

- What kinds of things did your group members learn, notice, experience that you did not and **why** do you think that is with respect to **HOW** you each respectively studied the materials?
> Thao: We came in with different levels of coding experience as well, so it really helped revising and reinforching some of the knowledge that I know when I explain them to others while learning new things from them. My group also help me points out details I have neglected, such as how CSS patterns can be generalized
> Izzy: It was helpful to discuss some of the more semantic parts of HTML and CSS with a group, as I sometimes got stuck on that
> Coco: When I'm not sure about some of the answers to the questions, my group members would give their own perspective and help expand my understanding on HTLM and CSS.
### Tinker experience to Collaboration

This is your tinker activity. Play with this page and manipulate things to make it "yours" in terms of the understanding. The purpose is to give you a sandbox to try things in the guide, as well as your OWN ideas and inquiries.

This activity provides the anchor point for your collaborative discussion. As such:

1. Tackle each question _by yourself first_ so you can get a sense of what you understand and what you may not.
- TOTALLY okay to not be able to answer every question yourself at first.
- That's what the social collaboration is for.
2. Write out your responses to the questions to guide your collaborative work. I would like you to use Markdown format for your tinker-problem responses / submissions. (Using Word, Google Docs, is going to be very tricky and messy when it comes to writing CODE as notes.)
3. In your collaborative discussions, share your individual answers and use it as a starting point for your group discussions.
4. Use the collaboration tool like codepen to code together as you discuss and make examples of what you discovered together.
5. Generate a final _group_ response to each of the questions I ask above to come up with your _final answer_ as a team. It's less about what is right or wrong, more about being able to articulate what you learned and how you generated a deeper understanding by sharing what you individually understood into a bigger more comprehensive whole.

Additionally, you might want to also use that time (or times) together to help each other with the mini-problem or project of the week.

**_GOOD LUCK, HAPPY CODING!_**

[30 CSS Selectors]: https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-30-css-selectors-you-must-memorize--net-16048
[CSS Tricks Almanac]: https://css-tricks.com/almanac/
[HTML5 Cheatsheet]: https://websitesetup.org/html5-cheat-sheet/