The course covers basic HTML as well as its uglier meaner friend CSS. How logical, friendly HTML ever fell in with a shady character like CSS I will never know but this is the world we live in. The course is primarily videos (I am guessing around 2/3) with Pettit working in the workspace and talking you through it as he goes. They are at their best when you work along with him. This is a really cool feature of TreeHouse - you get to work with the videos in your own identical workspace. This makes following along and learning code that much easier. Generally speaking, Pettit speaks slowly and clearly, stays on message, and does not go on too long. Most videos are around 7 minutes long with the longest being around 11 minutes. I found this just about right. Much longer than this and I think the videos become somewhat tough to bear. If you have some basic computer literacy, you will have some moments of boredom as he explains everything (which I actually like).
The workspace is nicely done and does a much better job than Code Academy of attempting to replicate the kind of environment you might use in actual web design. You can also export your creations outside of their environment which is a nice step toward moving your work beyond the shell world of TreeHouse. That said, it is a shell world and the work you do in TreeHouse is not the same as working on your own in a standard environment.
Apart from videos, there are also code exercises. For the most part they are pretty easy, though they do require you to really think. I think on the whole they are easier than Code Academy but also more doable. I had to ask one question to the forumites (I forgot a label, doh!) and I got a snappy and kindly worded answer. However, for the most part everything was solvable, though some did take some thought on my part.
Finally, there are the big money quizzes! You get big TreeHouse points for doing the quizzes and if you are watching the videos they are basically trivial. I will say though, I love getting the points and the boost you get from dominating the quizzes! Seriously, in this particular course the quizzes are super easy.
As a teacher, Pettit is clear and easy to follow if a little wooden at times. I did, however, get lost later in the CSS section as he spoke on expanding your mobile web design to optimize larger screens. I was particularly perplexed as he explained the mysterious and sinister sounding nth-child command. There are also times when he is speaking about design choices and moving quickly through margins, padding, and floats and you really just need to stop and play with it yourself. I am sure Pettit's quick explanations make sense when you are a pro, but as it gets deeper it feels like he moves faster (perhaps in the interest of keeping the videos length manageable).
Overall though, I loved it. I couldn't wait to move through the lessons, accrue points, and listen to Pettit's explanations. It is an excellently guided course and even includes a section on debugging, double checking, and putting your website on the internet. I would definitely recommend TreeHouse to anyone looking to learn about coding or making a website. My two week trial expires on August 24, and I will be paying for it after that so I definitely believe in the site.
Total hours into Programming: 76 (2 since last time )
Total Weeks Programming/Hours per week: 3/25
Progress on Gaddis' Starting out with Python: Done With Chapter 1, Appendix A,B
Progress on Shaw's Learning Ruby the Hard Way: Finished Exercise 1-9
CSC Class Time: 1 Hour
My Text game: 3 hours, 118 lines
TreeHouse (727 Points, 9 Badges)
TreeHouse Courses Finished: Make a Website
Code Academy Points: 634
Code Academy Badges: 66
Code Academy Skills Finished: 2 (Make a Website, Ruby)
Progress on Hartl's Tutorial Ready to start Chapter 3!
Resources Finished:
Josh Kemp's No Degree, No Problem 8/14/2015
Chris Pine's Learn to Program 8/9/2015
Josh Kemp's No Degree, No Problem 8/14/2015
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