Today’s Bootstrap workshop was intentionally slow and methodical, so I hope the concepts of “container,” “row,” and “column” have sunk deep into your brains. This weekend, you should continue to experiment with the Bootstrap framework, assembling various components in several different ways to get a sense of how they work together. I know this stuff is complicated, but there are plenty of resources online to help you. I suggest reading (or re-reading) the “Getting started” and “CSS” sections on the Bootstrap site, then moving on to video tutorials if you’re feeling lost. I recommend watching a video series on YouTube called “Bootstrap 3.0 Grid System” and/or a Lynda.com series called “Up and Running with Bootstrap 3″ (search for it once you log in with your Virginia Tech ID). I cannot stress this enough: you need to keep working with Bootstrap until it feels intuitive.

Next week, you’ll start building your Unit #2 site from the ground up. Here’s how we’ll proceed in class:

• On Tuesday, we will spend most of our time in a wireframing workshop. Before you come to class, please read “Sketching: the Visual Thinking Power Tool,” by Mike Rohde, and “Using Wireframes to Streamline Your Development Process,” by Eric Shafer. (See the “Wireframing” section of the Resources page for more links.) I also recommend reviewing Chapter 3 of Nicely Said, especially the section called “Sketch it out.”
• On Thursday, we will hop in our time machine and visit web design’s former best friend: the table. Today, table-based layouts are widely considered verboten, but you shouldn’t leave this class without understanding why good designers don’t use them anymore and, more importantly, how to use them effectively for displaying tabular data. Please read Chapter 8 in Learning Web Design and “Bring on the Tables,” by Roger Johansson, before you come to class. [Update: When you get to class, download the files for our in-class workshop.]

Week 7 is our last week before Spring Break, so if you need help brainstorming ideas for your Unit #2 site or getting up to speed with Bootstrap, please take advantage of my office hours (T 2–5, W 9–12).