Beware... Enter at your own risk! Geek content within.
I don't discuss my video filming and editing skills, but I am happy to discuss my website skills.
So... what technology do I use to build websites? I love talking about it, so here it is.
Let's start with the basics, HTML5 and CSS3.
I also use Photoshop, Bootstrap, jQuery, PHP, C# and .NET CORE.
HTML5
HTML5 is the latest version of HTML and is the bones of any website. It provides the structure for presenting headings, paragraphs, images and links to other pages. Without HTML5, nothing would work.
HTML5 was released in 2014 as a result of years of research by the W3C HTML Working Group. Yes, there really are people out there who do this stuff.
I have been working with HTML5 since its release.
CSS3
CSS3 is the latest version of CSS, which is the code that makes the site look pretty.
Have you ever seen a website that looks really plain and boring when it's supposed to look really good? If that happens, the CSS files have not loaded properly. What you are looking at is the plain vanilla styling that HTML5 provides... yuck!
CSS3 came out in 1999 from the work done by the W3C CSS Working Group.
I have been working with CSS3 since 2007, when I first started to learn web design and development.
Photoshop
I love Photoshop! I can design anything you can think of with it.
Photoshop is an Adobe product that I use to design logos, infographics and work with images to make them look better.
Another use for Photoshop is making images really small so that they load fast without losing any of the quality.
If you have ever seen an image load really slowly, it has not been optimized for the web. It is far too large and is probably print quality.
I optimize every image I put on any website. This is for your benefit and also professional pride. Fast images mean great user experience and Google loves that.
I have been using Photoshop since 2007 when I first started learning how to design websites.
Bootstrap
Bootstrap was released by Twitter in August, 2011 as a foundation platform for responsive design. Responsive design is the process of making websites look really good across all devices, from cell phones to large desktop monitors.
Bootstrap made responsive design easy and is guaranteed to work. Prior to bootstrap, no-one really cared about making a wesbsite look good on a cell phone because everything was done on a desktop back then. How times have changed with the invention of the smart phone.
I have been working with Bootstrap since early 2012.
jQuery
Thank God for jQuery! It made the ugly language called JavaScript truly beautiful and easy to work with.
jQuery was specifically designed to work with JavaScript to make it much easier. JavaScript is responsible for the cool effects you see on websites such as navigation drop downs and content fading in and out.
In the early days, JavaScript was over used by developers to try and get the attention of people to make them buy something. Remember the flashing banners and annoying pop ups? They were done in JavaScript.
jQuery was released in August 2006 and I have been working with it since 2007. jQuery is still relevant and is the top JavaScript framework today.
PHP
PHP is a back-end programming language responsible for making a website interact with a database, send emails, validate forms and a whole bunch of other stuff.
I don't use PHP much anymore, but it is a valid programming language. I use it for very small sites that don't require a lot of functionality and can be hosted on cheap hosting such as Hostinger, GoDaddy or HostGator.
I have been working with PHP since 2010.
C# and .NET CORE
Hurray for Microsoft! They produced the 2 best programming languages on the planet. The best part is that they work together like hand in glove.
.NET CORE was released in June 2016 as a means to streamline the existing .NET framework and allow cross platform development for Linux and macOS along with the traditional Windows.
.NET CORE is awesome and I use it for any large website or application. I also use it to build apps.
The real strength of .NET CORE is the thousands of Microsoft employees and other developers worldwide who are constantly working on it for new functionality and stability. Whenever they release something new, literally thousands of man hours have gone into testing it.
.NET CORE works. It's that simple.
I have been using .NET CORE and C# since its release in 2016.