Welcome to the first project. 0:00 I know you're excited to get started but 0:01 let me give you a few tips to make sure you succeed. 0:03 First, make sure you've read and understand all the project instructions 0:07 and the rubric for how the project will be graded. 0:12 This is the same rubric our project reviewers use when grading projects. 0:15 So, it's important to read each item and make sure your project meets or 0:20 exceeds the specified requirement. 0:24 Second, make sure your project files are in order. 0:28 Double check that you're not missing any files, make sure the files and 0:31 folders are named correctly, and that the files are well organized in directories. 0:35 Third, preview your work while you code, and check for any broken or 0:42 missing functionality. 0:46 Look for HTML and CSS validation errors. 0:47 Once you're happy with your project, be sure to commit and push or 0:52 sync your changes. 0:56 Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help. 0:58 You can ask other students in Slack to peer review your project 1:01 before you submit it. 1:04 You can also use resources like the Treehouse community to ask questions, or 1:06 use a search engine like Google to look up the problem that you're having. 1:10 Some of these steps might sound obvious to you, but everyone makes mistakes. 1:14 Before you start working on your personal profile page, let me show you some 1:19 examples of submissions that fall a bit short of a passing grade. 1:23 Three common mistakes we see are failed HTML or 1:28 CSS validation, image files that are too large, and missing content. 1:31 Let me show you an example of each of those. 1:37 First, here is a project that looks great from the browser. 1:40 A custom profile page and 1:44 background image have been included, and they don't exceed the limits, either. 1:46 In addition, the placeholder text has been updated to reflect the student's info and 1:51 not what was originally given in the starter files. 1:57 Links at the bottom point appropriately 2:00 towards the student's social network profiles. 2:04 But while the project looks wonderful on the outside, 2:07 where it needs improvement is in the markup and styling. 2:11 When I use an online validator for the HTML, I get an error, 2:15 and the only error is this one for a missing alt attribute in an image tag. 2:22 Switching to CSS validation, it looks like we get two errors. 2:28 There is one for an invalid RGB function on line 98, 2:33 and we also have a second error for a missing semi-colon on line 123. 2:38 Though HTML and CSS validation errors are some of the most common reasons for 2:44 not receiving a passing grade, they are easily detected before submission. 2:50 You have access to the same tools we use for validating your code, so be sure to 2:54 validate all of your each to HTML and CSS files prior to submitting your project. 2:59 Check the project resources for links to these HTML and CSS validators. 3:04 The next project also looks great and even more, the validation succeeds. 3:11 So why doesn't this project receive a passing grade? 3:15 Well, upon closer inspection, we can see that 3:19 the original profile image size is 999 kilobytes, 3:24 which is much larger then the 400 kilobytes size limit. 3:29 And the background picture is even larger at 1.4 megabytes, 3:34 when the size limit is listed as 1 megabyte. 3:40 Now even though the images display beautifully on the page 3:45 thanks to some well coded CSS, these large images would take 3:49 much longer to load on the page, especially on mobile devices. 3:53 Check the project resources for 3:58 tools you can use to downsize your images to fit within the requirements. 4:00 Finally in this project, none of the previous errors are present. 4:05 HTML and CSS are valid and image sizes fall within the allowable size limits. 4:09 But as you can see, there's some content that's in need of personalization. 4:15 And though it's possible that there are indeed other Janes out there that 4:21 have worked as a professional cook and 4:25 gardener, it's more likely that this text just needs some work. 4:29 So be sure to update your name, background and 4:33 anything else to align with you, not with Jane. 4:37 If you're not comfortable sharing personal information, just make something up. 4:40 We really just want to make sure you're comfortable 4:45 working with text in web pages. 4:47 Now, you're ready to succeed on this first project. 4:50 We're looking forward to seeing your submission. 4:54 And just to remind you, every project can receive an exceeds grade if you've 4:56 pushed yourself and tackled a few more challenging requirements. 5:01 I encourage you to go for an exceeds on every project. 5:05 You'll learn more and your portfolio will turn out even better. 5:09 Good luck and have fun. 5:13