HTML and CSS

I spent the first half of the day with my girlfriend, then at 7 p.m. I continued with my treehouse education.  In one of the HTML videos, the instructor noted that red highlighting on an HTML tag meant that the workspace was letting me know that a tag was not closed somewhere in that area. When he said that, I noticed that I had a tag that closed a list item, "</li>" highlighted in red. I scanned my html code up and down, but I couldn't find any unclosed tags in the area. I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what. I went over all the html code again, but noticed nothing wrong. Then I looked at the code right below and above the "</li>" tag and noticed "<a/>" above it! That was the issue! I had closed the anchor incorrectly! I then changed the tag to "</a" and the red highlighting was gone.  

Sweet! 

Also, I was wondering what the difference was between an "element" and a "tag," as the two seemed to be used interchangeably, so I ran a search online and ended up at stackoverflow, a forum on the subject of web development. Someone has already asked the question, and the best answer was as follows: 

"HTML tag is just opening or closing entity. For example:

<p> and </p> are called HTML tags

HTML element encompasses opening tag, closing tag, and the content (optional for content-less tags), like so: 
<p>This is the content</p> : This complete thing is called a HTML element"

-- End Quote

So there you have it. Now I know the difference between an element and a tag, and I found and corrected my first mistyped code.

I earned the CSS Cascading Style Sheets badge from treehouse today at 10:30 p.m., so that took 3 and a half hours from 7 p.m., when I started. I didn't just race through the class though, I kept changing the code around to really understand what was happening, and also, I kept rewinding and replaying the videos if I felt I missed any little thing. Treehouse is amazing.

After earning the badge, I took a two hour break to browse the treehouse forum and website, munch on some fruits, and talk to my brother back in the U.S. I'm looking forward to heading back home and spending time with my family. After that long break, I started up again at 12:30 at night and kept it up until 2:30, learning more about CSS. 

Badge Earned Today: CSS Cascading Style Sheets

Hours Spent Coding Today: 5.5

Total Hours Coding: 5.5

The First Steps

This is my first blog post on my journey to becoming a self-taught developer.  I'm starting this blog in order to have an ongoing record of my progress on the way to becoming a developer, and also, as a means to hold myself accountable.  Just so you know where I'm coming from, I'm not a computer science major, but I do have a bachelor's.  I also attended law school, but I withdrew after two years when I decided I didn't want to be an attorney.  After withdrawing from law school, I worked as a stock broker for four years.

I'm writing this from Manila, in the Philippines, where I've been living for the past four months.  I've had some of the best experiences of my life here, but it's time to head back home.  While exploring the Philippines, I've had a lot of time to think about what I want to do when I get back to Austin, TX, and I've decided to become a developer.  The opportunities for personal growth that becoming a developer will open up are just too profound to pass up.  So now it's time to put in the work required to accomplish my goal.

I signed up for treehouse (www.teamtreehouse.com) a week ago and started the Web Design track.  My flight to America doesn't leave until two weeks from now, but I'll squeeze in some studying here and there while I'm still on vacation.  Once I'm back in America, I'll immerse myself fully.

These are the badges I've earned so far:

Newbie
Beginning HTML and CSS
HTML First
Creating HTML Content

They're baby steps, but even the largest mountains are climbed one step at a time.  Feel free to accompany me on this journey in self improvement!  :)