Amongst the blogs of my classmates, it was fun to see the different styles each one has used. Some people formal and direct, others silly and abstract, no blog was alike. Reading the reflections for this week created by my peers made me feel a million times better about my understanding of the information thus far. Not being in a physical class has many pros but not knowing where you stand amongst your classmates is definitely not one of them. In most cases, if I’m not understanding a topic but other students in the class are, then it indicates to me that I probably need to be paying more attention or performing extra steps to understand the material. When the majority of people are struggling with the material, I feel less alone and frankly less of an idiot. Long story short, it validates my inclination that this information is difficult to process. So, let’s dive right into what the ENGL 460 homies were saying about md and html shall we!
The main idea behind every reflection was something not very surprising. It was that HTML is extremely difficult and Markdown was way simpler and easier to understand. This fact alone made me feel better about my understanding of HTML. I specifically enjoyed Kailey’s reflection because she included an external quote that made so much sense to me.
In the article, the author, Jon Mitchell, describes markdown like so, “Markdown is a text-to-HTML conversion tool for web writers. Markdown allows you to write using an easy-to-read, easy-to-write plain text format, then convert it to structurally valid XHTML (or HTML). Thus, ‘Markdown’ is two things: (1) a plain-text formatting syntax; and (2) a software tool, written in Perl, that converts the plain text formatting to HTML.” I like this definition because it plainly gives you almost all the information you need to understand markdown. —Kailey —
By breaking down HTML and Markdown into components related to one another I was able to visualize the each one a bit easier.
There was a central question that did arise: why even use HTML? I had this thought myself and even mentioned it in my reflection for the week. I believe AR said it best with his weekly takeaway.
I think it boils down to the thought process and personality of the digital author. Individuals who display more “activator” like tendencies (like myself) will want an end product that does not require the tediousness of computer language. HTML users must reflect the opposite. In the end, the same page can be built from HTML and Markdown, but yield the same end result. It comes down to the preference and thought process of the digital author to chose one from the other.
AR decided to structure his refection into a summary of the information learned that week and then his personal takeaway. Not only did I find this insightful about the actual information, but I felt as though I was learning more about this person’s thought process. It made his blog personal in an explicably impersonal way. Yeah, I know, paradox of the century right there… At the end of the day, however, it really is the choice of the coder whether to use HTML or MD.
Some other common elements I saw amongst the blogs of my peers were references to elements outside of this class. This includes real world examples and references to past knowledge through classes previous taken such as CSCE 111 with Robert Lightfoot. I too have referenced outside information in my reflection posts (probably because it is part of the grading criteria) but I haven’t done so in the ways my classmates have. I have referenced news articles with further information about topics I’m looking into, however, I never really tried to apply what we are learning to other websites other then when I’m specifically told to. (Yes, I’m lazy I’m sorry Dr. P). One person referenced a Britannica site and in detail discussed a variety of components she recognized. On the other hand, there was another student who utilized her previous knowledge of coding to her advantage. While reading her reflection I felt jealousy bubble up inside me knowing she probably had a better grasp at what was going on than I do.
Overall, the class reflections this week were very interesting to read. I felt as though I was slowly getting to know my peers through what they were writing. It helped me feel more connected and less lost in this course. It seemed that the general consensus for HTML versus Markdown was that HTML is more difficult than Markdown and everyone likes Markdown better unless you’re a try hard. Just kidding! HTML utilizes more detailed coding and algorithms in order to give the user better control of their site.