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Sharing resources with you: Firefox extensions, shady Google and data breaches

Here are some resources from around the web I thought would be helpful for everyone.

Make your Firefox browser a privacy superpower with these extensions – Blog post from blog.mozilla.org, where they put together a list of Firefox browser extensions for your privacy
Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales – Article from bloomberg.com, this is scary…
Changing Our Approach to Anti-tracking – Blog post from blog.mozilla.org, talking about the Mozilla Firefox web browser is working on ways to “protect users by blocking tracking while also offering a clear set of controls to give our users more choice over what information they share with sites”
haveibeenpwned.com provides a free service to check if your accounts have been included in any of the many data breaches online

Git and GitHub basics video tutorial

I have used GitHub for my job but I never used Git before, so I found the below YouTube video to be helpful to get a sense of it.

Sharing resources with you: get a web dev job, web dev portfolio tips, a lightweight lightbox, and more

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared resources from around the web, so here we go:

How to get a web development job in four steps – Blog post from simplestepscode.com
Web development portfolio tips from an interviewer’s perspective – Another good blog post from simplestepscode.com
Featherlight.js – A very lightweight jQuery lightbox
How to Stop Saying “Um,” “Ah,” and “You Know” – Blog post from hbr.org, definitely a good read for everyone as some of us still say these as adults
The best colour tools for web designers – Blog post from creativebloq.com
How to Make a Simple JavaScript Quiz – Blog post from sitepoint.com

Media query max-width and min-width

I wanted to write a quick blog post explaining in plain English what max-width and min-width mean when setting up media queries in your CSS, so here we go first with an example of media query code in your CSS.

Code examples of min-width and max-width

<style>
@media (min-width: 480px) { /*add your css in here*/ }

@media (max-width: 1280px) { /*add your css in here*/ }
</style>

Using the code example above, “min-width: 480px”, means that when your web browser’s viewport width is equal to or more than 480px, then the web browser will apply the CSS in the brackets that follow.

Again, using the code example above, “max-width: 1280px”, means that when your web browser’s viewport width is equal to or lesser than 1280px, then the web browser will apply the CSS in the brackets that follow.

Standard responsive media query breakpoints

Below are responsive media query breakpoints that are used most often on websites.

Source: w3schools.com

Taking notes from John Morris podcast episode about object-oriented programming

I recently found John Morris’s podcast show on YouTube and have enjoyed the few episodes that I listened to. This blog post though will be focused on notes I took from his episode named: JMS239: Object-Oriented Programming – Class, Object, Property, Method. Check out the full episode if you’re interested in learning about object-oriented programming.

Notes
First, object-oriented programming is a mindset. Let’s take an example, such as a CMS (content management system).

The object would be posts
The posts would have properties such as title, date, url, id
The methods (things that can be done to that object) would be that it can be created, read, updated, and deleted

You can create relationships between two objects.

The post’s author would be its own object, you can then create a relationship between the post and the author.

An application:

Is a set of objects that has properties
Has certain actions that can be performed on it, or it can perform
Has relationships that can exist between those objects

The post is the object, the data about it is the properties, and the actions that can be done by it or to it are the methods.

A class is a blueprint for an object. An example is a house. Blueprints tell you how to build the house but it won’t give you all the specifics, such as wall color, fridge type, etc. You can create five different houses from the same blueprint (class), but all have differences, such as different flooring, colors, etc. The data that goes into the blueprint is what makes them different.

Back to the CMS example, with individual posts, each post is an instance of that object.

Sharing resources with you: Building emails, learn Javascript, HTTP vs HTTPS, and move WordPress to HTTPS

Here’s another “Around the web” blog post where I share some resources I found online that I thought would be helpful to myself and others.

TopoLio – Online email builder, they have a few free templates to use
You Don’t Know JS (book series) by Kyle Simpson – Learn Javascript from one of the most well-known Javascript experts
JavaScript for Cats – Learn Javascript
What do HTTP and HTTPS stand for? – Blog post from lifewire.com
How to Properly Move WordPress from HTTP to HTTPS – Blog post from wpbeginner.com with the steps to move your WordPress site to HTTPS

Parallax scrolling effect, the new web thing to do on your site

As the web changes, new designs and effects become popular and you see them across many sites. One new effect I’ve been seeing more and more is the “parallax scrolling effect” where you have backgrounds stay in place as the user scrolls down the page.

If you somehow haven’t seen this cool effect yet, check out the w3schools.com links below to see the effect and also the code to do this yourself.

WordPress plugins you should use for your WordPress site

This blog post was going to be a post specifically for my wife with suggestions on what WordPress plugins to use for her sites, but the more I thought about it, these plugins should be used on most/if not all WordPress sites (or similar plugins that provide the same features).

Below is a list of suggested WordPress plugins that you should use for your web site (for a small-to-medium sized standard WordPress blog, not including a forum or store). Reminder that this is just my opinion and if you prefer different plugins feel free to leave a comment telling us which ones and why.
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