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In this very special, very live Workshop, Nick and Jason decided to try something new for April Fools' Day: taking your phone calls! They answer questions about game development, Ruby vs. PHP, changing careers, and much more.
[MUSIC]
0:00
Hi everybody, I'm Nick Pettit.
0:04
>> And I'm Jason Seifer
0:06
>> And you're watching a very special live
workshop where
0:07
we are going to be answering your
questions by phone.
0:11
So if you call 407-545-swag
>> 7924.
0:15
Yes, so 4 0 7 5 4 5.
0:22
>> 7 9 2 4.
0:26
>> Then you will get us on Skype, and
0:28
we will answer your questions about web
design, web development.
0:31
>> Life.
0:36
>> Hair products and so much more.
0:37
>> Yeah.
0:39
>> So,
>> Personal relationships.
0:40
>> Relationship advice, yeah.
0:43
>> Basically, you know, whatever you want.
0:44
It's kinda like, it's kinda like a little
fireside chat.
0:46
>> Well, hi everybody.
0:48
I'm Nick [UNKNOWN].
0:49
I'm Jason.
0:50
[MUSIC]
0:50
>> Hello, you've got The Tree house Show
with Jason and Nick.
0:55
How can I help you?
0:57
>> hi.
0:59
I was just, dialing [INAUDIBLE], of, the
life, workshop.
1:00
>> Yeah.
1:07
>> Yep.
1:07
>> Yeah.
1:08
What can we help you with?
1:08
>> no.
1:10
I'm just, [INAUDIBLE] to see if I can
[INAUDIBLE]
1:11
get some kind of video live stream
directly, or.
1:14
Yeah, no.
1:18
We're, we're, we're live.
1:19
You're live on the air right now.
1:21
Do you have any questions about anything?
1:23
You know, life, web design, web
development.
1:24
>> Hair products.
1:27
>> Yeah, whatever.
1:28
>> Oh, well, now that you I'm like well
yeah, basically.
1:28
And it's well, I'm just wondering if if
you're
1:34
willing to work on Drupal some time down
the road.
1:38
Or Wordpress
>> Yeah, Google and Wordpress.
1:41
Got it.
1:48
>> Drupal and Wordpress.
1:48
>> Oh, Drupal and Wordpress, sorry about
that.
1:49
You're trying to learn Drupal and
Wordpress.
1:52
>> [INAUDIBLE]
>> Yeah, well we have courses on WordPress
1:54
at teamtreehouse.com which I recommend
going to right now and subscribing.
2:01
>> [LAUGH]
2:06
>> Right, yeah, I have I have done that
before.
2:08
>> Okay, you I mean you are already off to
a great start.
2:12
How how is everything with you?
2:16
>> Well I'm brushing up my skills.
2:21
>> Yeah, you're working on your skills.
2:28
That's a good start.
2:30
Keep working on them.
2:32
Refine them.
2:33
Hone them.
2:34
>> Lag with the video and the conversation
on the phone is lagging.
2:35
>> Oh, no, concentrate on the phone.
2:38
I mean maybe mute your computer's video
and
2:40
audio so that you can concentrate on the
phone.
2:44
Listen to the phone.
2:47
The phone is what gives you you know,
instructions.
2:47
>> That's a good pro tip.
2:50
>> Listen listen to my voice.
2:51
>> Right that's right.
2:53
>> Well basically I have been working on
the HP and design and
2:55
And WordPress I haven't worked before.
3:01
But it's an excellent platform.
3:05
>> WordPress is an excellent platform.
3:08
Lots of themes, lots of plug ins.
3:10
You can make, you know, wonderful
websites.
3:12
>> Mm-hm.
3:14
>> Right.
3:15
Right.
3:16
Yeah, definitely.
3:16
>> In fact, I believe we just recently
launched
3:19
a course on local WordPress development at
at Treehouse.
3:21
>> Yeah, that's right.
3:25
I haven't tried it out.
3:26
But it looks looks very good.
3:28
Just because I've been doing other topics
like HTML, CSS.
3:32
>> Very, very good.
3:39
PHP.
3:40
But yeah, but I, I think it's a, an
excellent platform.
3:42
[UNKNOWN] And I was just wondering if PHP
3:49
has or Treehouse has this Nice
3:55
[INAUDIBLE] layouts on, other platforms,
as far as WordPress.
4:00
Which, I, I haven't worked that much on
Wordpress.
4:05
But I think [INAUDIBLE].
4:07
>> [INAUDIBLE]
>> Yeah.
4:10
We, we ha-, we have wonderful courses on a
variety of topics.
4:11
You can learn HTML, CSS.
4:16
Design, business, mobile from IOS to
Android development and, and so much more.
4:18
So if if you don't have any other
4:26
questions, just wanna thank you very much
for calling.
4:27
>> Oh, [UNKNOWN] thank you for taking my
call.
4:30
[UNKNOWN]
4:34
>> Yeah, you're live, we're all live,
we're all in this together.
4:36
>> We're living this right now.
4:39
>> Living this right now.
4:40
Alright, have a good one.
4:42
Thanks.
4:43
>> Bye.
4:45
>> All right.
4:45
Well, if you're just joining us, we are
doing a
4:47
very special workshop today where we are
taking your calls live.
4:52
>> Live.
4:56
You can message us at
four-oh-seven-five-four-five swag.
4:56
>> Or that's four oh
seven-five-four-five-seven-nine-two-four.
5:00
>> Right.
5:04
>> Right.
5:04
>> That is a skype number I bought today.
5:05
And we will take your calls live and
answer any
5:09
questions that you might have about web
design, web development or
5:12
>> Anything, pretty much anything
5:16
>> Like, hair products, et cetera.
5:18
We had to stop and start the stream there
briefly but I think we're good now.
5:21
>> Ask some questions There in our phone
call.
5:26
>> Oh, we have, we have questions there in
our phone calls.
5:29
Okay, go ahead.
5:31
>> Okay.
5:31
>> Go ahead, caller.
5:32
>> Yeah.
5:32
We're good.
5:33
>> [INAUDIBLE]
>> Okay
5:35
>> [INAUDIBLE]
>> Yeah.
5:38
>> Yes.
5:40
>> Yeah, okay.
5:41
We're getting these questions slightly
delayed, sort of live.
5:41
It's kind of live.
5:46
>> Yeah, kind of live.
5:47
I, I'm, it was it was worth the wait.
5:48
Molluck asks which is good to start app
development, IOS or Android first?
5:52
>> Well I've done a little bit of iOS
development at
5:59
this point and, I really like iOS a lot,
although android
6:02
has gotten to be a much more mature
platform in the
6:06
past couple years and it's Pretty good
now, from what I understand.
6:09
I haven't done any android development
personally, but I hear it's pretty good.
6:12
Ultimately, you're gonna need to support
both platforms, really.
6:17
>> Okay.
6:20
>> I mean, if you're developing an app,
like, let's
6:20
say you have a web app like Treehouse, for
example, and
6:23
you released, you know, An iOS app, you
probably want to
6:27
release an Android app as well, a
companion app, you know?
6:31
So if you're doing an app for mobile,
6:34
you're gonna wanna target both platforms,
so, yeah.
6:37
I'd, I'd just say learn both, really.
6:41
One isn't necessarily better than the
other or
6:44
easier to learn than the other, they're
just Different.
6:46
>> Yeah, and start with whichever one you
want to.
6:49
I mean, you're not gonna make a mistake
6:53
starting with the iOS platform or the
Android platform.
6:55
If your potential target audience has more
customers on one platform.
6:59
You know, maybe Android is the way to go
if they have more customers.
7:03
Or, if you wanna target certain features
That
7:07
may be IOS locks down, start with Android.
7:09
Or you know if you, if you really like IOS
start with that.
7:12
We cant really tell you which ones a
better platform to start because
7:15
kinda need to know more about the project,
the audience and things like that.
7:18
Next up Grace asks what language would you
recommend for a mobile game?
7:24
>> So I've been doing a little bit of game
development on the side and,
7:30
>> He's trying to kick the habit, but,
7:36
>> Yeah.
7:37
Can't stop.
7:38
I played so many video games that I'm just
laying my own train tracks now.
7:39
Basically there's a couple of different
options with building mobile games.
7:44
>> That should be your Twitter bio.
7:47
>> [LAUGH] You could.
7:49
You could go with an HTML 5 game, that's
kind of a A more convoluted
7:50
but interesting route, because it involves
a number of different technologies.
7:57
It's gonna be a lot of JavaScript.
8:02
And you know, you're gonna have some
technical hurdles there.
8:04
If you want to go for maximum performance,
8:07
it's probably best to code directly on
those platforms.
8:11
So you would code in Objective C, on iOS
and you would code in JAVA on Android.
8:15
However, there are some other options, for
example, if you use the Unity Game Engine,
8:21
you can actually compile to, a multitude
of different platforms including iOS
8:27
and Android I think several other game
engines including the Unreal Engine
8:32
supports that as well, so you can go ahead
and launch to those different platforms.
8:39
And it varies in difficulty but the idea
in a lot
8:43
of these crossed platform engines is that
you build the code.
8:48
Once and then you just make small tweaks
for
8:51
each platform to kinda make it work across
different devices.
8:54
If your, if you've never built a mobile
game
9:00
before I would actually recommend starting
with Just one particular
9:03
platform, probably iOS in this case
because they actually just
9:09
released a game engine with iOS 7 called
Sprite Kit.
9:13
And in Sprite Kit, you can make simple 2D
games, and it
9:17
manages a lot of the complexity of the
game engine for you.
9:21
So it's it's pretty good.
9:24
And that way, you'll actually get
experience directly on the platform.
9:26
So if you wanna go to a cross-platform
solution You'll know
9:29
about the nuances of each platform, a
little bit more, so-
9:33
>> So it's, it's really interesting that
so many of those game
9:36
engines were released lately for a
multitude of people to develop on.
9:39
Unity has always had basically a consumer
or indie level version for a relatively
9:44
low subscription fee, and then, we were
9:48
talking recently about how Unreal came
out.
9:51
okay, it looks like we have another,
another live caller.
9:54
We're gonna answer this Hello, you got
the,
9:56
you've got Treehouse live with Nick and
Jason.
9:58
How can we help you?
10:01
>> There, there's no way this is live
right now.
10:03
>> This, this is 100% live, right now.
10:05
What's your name?
10:07
>> It's totally real.
10:07
>> Larry.
10:09
>> Larry.
10:10
Nice to meet you, Larry.
10:10
>> What's up Larry?
10:11
>> I was just wondering what was going
10:12
on with Jason's little hair, hair thing
Right here?
10:14
This?
10:19
>> Yeah, I think I've got a little bit of
a delay, but ah-
10:20
>> Okay.
10:22
Are you talking about the little, little
Jheri curl that's like right in the front?
10:22
>> Yeah, the the Jheri curl.
10:25
>> dude, all the time.
10:27
I, I have no control over this.
10:29
My hair is actually frighteningly wavy.
10:30
it's, it's very supple.
10:33
And I, I require a lot of products.
10:35
To, to get this, even to this managable
state.
10:38
It.
10:42
>> He's, he's very sensitive about it.
10:42
>> Yeah, it's, it's completely
unmanageable, normally.
10:43
However, it does make me feel very
10:46
powerful when I'm wearing my superman
onesie.
10:49
>> [LAUGH] It,
10:50
it's looking much better now.
10:54
>> Thank you.
10:56
Thank you Larry.
10:56
That, right here.
10:57
That's, that's where I feel that.
10:58
>> Well you, you guys are doing a great
job, I just wanted to.
11:00
>> You're, you're doing a great job,
Larry.
11:03
And I hope you look in the mirror every
day
11:05
and tell yourself that at least six times
over and over.
11:07
>> Daily affirmations.
11:10
>> I will.
11:11
>> Okay, thanks for calling Larry.
11:12
>> Thanks Larry.
11:13
>> Thank you.
11:14
>> Bye.
11:15
I like Larry.
11:15
>> Hm, yeah.
11:18
Wonder what Larry's doing right now.
11:19
>> Probably in disbelief that he was able
to get us on the show.
11:22
>> Yep.
11:25
I think that's why nobody had called.
11:26
[LAUGH] I think they don't believe that
we're actually doing this right now.
11:27
In fact we don't either.
11:32
>> Yeah.
11:33
>> Anyway I think we had a couple of more
text questions.
11:34
>> Yeah.
11:37
>> We can answer.
11:37
Till we get another caller.
11:39
>> Andrew well wait we got another caller.
11:40
>> Hey, hey look at this.
11:42
>> You've got the tree house live show
with Jason and Nick.
11:44
What's going on?
11:47
>> Hey guys, how's it going?
11:48
>> Hey.
11:49
It's great.
11:50
How's it going with you?
11:50
>> I'm doing really well.
11:52
Thanks for.
11:53
>> What's your name?
11:53
>> My name's Matt.
11:54
>> Matt.
11:55
What's going on Matt?
11:55
>> So, Thanks for taking my call.
11:57
I got a question for you guys.
11:58
>> Okay.
11:59
>> I've been doing [UNKNOWN] for about a
year and
12:00
I'm feeling, you know, pretty good with
the basic coding stuff.
12:03
I'm working on a website that has a lot of
instructional videos.
12:07
>> Right.
12:10
>> And I've noticed that most the browsers
12:11
will support MP4 video but Mozilla
doesn't, so
12:14
I'm just trying to find a workaround or
12:18
player that might be the same across all
platforms.
12:20
I've noticed that, different, movie
formats from
12:24
Mozilla can be a lot lower quality.
12:28
>> Okay.
12:31
>> I just wondered if you guys had any
input.
12:31
>> Well, there are definitely different
options
12:33
that you have with something like that.
12:35
I know some of them are gonna be more paid
products.
12:37
Something that I know people use a lot is
JW player.
12:42
They're not sponsoring the show but they
do have different versions where you can
12:45
either start with HTML5 up front, which is
gonna use the native browser format.
12:51
And then it will also fall back to
12:56
a Flash movie for older browsers or
unsupported versions.
12:58
>> [INAUDIBLE]
>> Off hands, I don't know of Any, what do
13:02
we use, there's one we use on treehouse, I
think it's mejs, or something like that?
13:08
>> Yeah, that's what I was trying to
13:13
figure out, I can't remember what we
actually use
13:14
>> Yeah, it's, that's a great product
though,
13:16
yeah, media element js, check that one out
too.
13:19
>> Media Element js?
13:22
Yeah, and you can get to that at
mediaelementjs.com.
13:24
>> Or mediaelementjs.com, I think that's
how it's read, Jason.
13:29
>> Yeah, might be.
13:33
So it's got, you know, a lot, it's got
13:35
different plugins and for [UNKNOWN] HTML5
video and audio.
13:37
That's something that at this point in
time, it's
13:42
probably best to let an external library
handle for you.
13:45
Yeah, okay.
13:49
I've noticed, too.
13:50
[INAUDIBLE] ask as another quick follow up
question...
13:51
>> Sure.
13:54
>> Cuz it might be solved in one of those
players.
13:55
But I noticed when a Media Query takes
place.
13:57
If the video is on automatic, like,
autoplay.
14:00
And you wanna not have it display on the
smaller screen.
14:04
That the video keep playing, even though
the, you can't see it.
14:07
And there is no options in the CSS.
14:11
And there's all the options a natural the
media.
14:14
And actual play options, so my guess is
one of
14:18
these will probably have more control over
that type of stuff.
14:21
>> More than likely, yeah.
14:25
I can't say for sure.
14:26
I've never encountered that specific
issue.
14:27
Cool.
14:32
Well thanks for taking my call guys.
14:32
Appreciate it.
14:34
I'll check those out.
14:35
>> Thanks so much for calling.
14:35
>> Yeah.
14:37
Appreciate it.
14:38
Thanks guys.
14:38
>> Cheers.
14:39
Thanks.
14:39
>> That was that was nice.
14:39
>> Uh-huh, yeah.
14:43
>> Okay James asks what jam would you
recommend for multi-level access.
14:44
Now this is gonna be a Ruby and Rails
question
14:50
and the jam that I would recommend is
called pundit.
14:53
You can check that out on Get [INAUDIBLE].
14:56
See if I can pull up a link here.
14:58
That one has recently seen a little bit
more development.
15:03
This is based on I think an older plug
15:06
in, and it gives you a really nice policy
framework.
15:10
I think we can go ahead and cut to This
tab if you want to, okay, so pundit
15:13
cherm is focussed around the idea of
policy classes
15:19
where you can actually write the different
policies and code.
15:22
So, if you look at this class that is a
15:26
post policy right here, You set the user
and the posts.
15:29
And then you can define the abilities and
code right in the class.
15:33
Then you go through and you can check this
in the controller.
15:39
>> [SOUND] Okay, looks like we got another
call.
15:43
Gonna answer that.
15:45
Hello, you've got the Treehouse Show with
Jason and Nick.
15:47
We're live.
15:49
Hey guys.
15:50
>> Hey, how's it going?
15:51
What's your name?
15:52
>> My name's Rick.
15:53
>> Hi, Rick.
15:54
>> Hi, Rick.
15:54
>> So I got a question with regards to
gamifying things.
15:57
What is your biggest lesson about
achievements and gamifying that's come out
16:00
of that whole push that you guys did for
the million points.
16:05
>> Mm-hm.
16:09
I'm wondering, you know, what's, what
lessons did you learn,
16:10
and what did it take to really make it
work?
16:14
>> People will do anything for internet
points.
16:17
[LAUGH]
16:20
>> That's the, the short version,
certainly.
16:22
>> Yeah, well, the long version is that
we've, we've learned
16:25
quite a few things from the whole point
system with Treehouse.
16:29
One of the major things that we learned is
you probably never really want
16:34
to take points away from people because
16:36
that's really discouraging and they earned
them.
16:38
Now this might not seem to bad up front
you know,
16:41
like hey what's, in what sort of situation
would somebody lose points.
16:45
Well at least in the scenario of Treehouse
We have different tracks, right, now
16:49
with a platform that's always evolving
such
16:54
as Ruby on Rails with different versions.
16:57
You know, eventually, we need to update
content on the site.
16:59
So you go through a course, you earn a
certain number of points.
17:02
And then, what happens if we have to
update that, you know?
17:04
We move some videos, move some stages
around.
17:08
>> Right.
17:09
We don't wanna take those points away just
because we updated the material.
17:10
And, another thing that we have where we
17:14
could take points away is our forum, you
know.
17:16
People can up-vote and down-vote,
different answers and if somebody got a
17:18
ton of down-votes, we don't wanna
discourage them by taking away points.
17:22
We kinda just wanna award points for.
17:26
>> Yeah.
17:28
>> The up-votes.
17:28
>> It's not Reddit.
17:29
Yeah, exactly.
17:30
So in terms of gamification though, from a
larger standpoint, I actually wrote
17:31
a a blog about this over on the Treehouse
blog, I'll try to see if I can find that.
17:37
But let's see.
17:44
There we go, yeah it's called Hit the
Reset Button on
17:46
Gamification and I have it up on [UNKNOWN]
Screen right now.
17:49
One of the things to keep in mind about
games in
17:53
general is that it's really just a series
of interesting choices.
17:56
You want your web app, even though it's
not a
18:02
video game, to react to the choices that
somebody makes.
18:05
So if they go for You know, good form
answers, or if they go for
18:09
maybe, you know, some sort of course, you
want the app to react somehow to that.
18:16
But does that kind of answer your
question?
18:21
>> Very much so, thank you guys.
18:24
>> Yeah.
18:25
>> You're welcome.
18:25
>> Thanks so much.
18:26
>> Okay, I'll call again in about ten
minutes.
18:27
>> Alright, we'll ,we'll talk to you then.
18:29
>> We'll be ready.
18:30
>> Yeah.
18:31
[INAUDIBLE]
>> Hey.
18:31
>> Hey.
18:34
>> Alright we we we missed a call due to
call waiting on on that last, on that
18:35
last call we don't have a queue or
anything
18:39
like that this is a pretty bare bones
system.
18:41
>> Just goin' with Skype here.
18:44
>> Yeah, so so go ahead, go ahead and call
back you know, if if you wanna.
18:45
Let's see did we miss any questions in the
meantime?
18:52
Svetlana asks what programming language is
better to start with, Php or Ruby?
18:56
>> Well, obviously, it's gonna be Ruby,
19:04
right, cuz, cuz you're a Ruby programmer,
right?
19:08
Just, I don't wanna upset your feelings.
19:11
>> Yeah, well it's a complicated question,
because Treehouse teaches both.
19:13
>> Right.
19:16
>> but, really, whatever you wanna start
with.
19:17
If there's something that, you wanna build
and you see
19:19
a project in PHP that looks good, start
with that.
19:23
Wanna start with Ruby?
19:26
Start with that.
19:27
I don't have a, a good answer for you.
19:28
They're both great languages and you
should learn both.
19:29
>> I will say that when I was first
19:33
getting started, Ruby on Rails wasn't
really established yet.
19:35
It wasn't a thing.
19:39
It was still, you know, very Small
19:40
community, and just getting its, its
start.
19:41
And I first learned how to do backend web
development using PHP, and I
19:46
thought that was actually a, kinda
wonderful
19:52
experience, because it was very similar to
the.
19:54
Instant gratification that you get with
something like HTML
19:57
or CSS where once you have a php server
running
20:01
you can just type in some php code
directly into
20:04
a php file and see the result on the
screen.
20:07
If you want to print out a variable or
like a
20:10
really classic example is changing the
copyright date at the bottom.
20:13
>> Right.
20:17
>> Of a webpage where you Just print out,
you know, the current year,
20:17
and that way you don't have to update your
html files when the year changes.
20:20
So I thought that was kind of a nice
introduction to back end programming.
20:25
' Cause PHP is very robust and powerful.
20:29
You can take it way further than that,
obviously, there's lots
20:32
of great frameworks, but I then started
using Ruby On Rails.
20:35
I just found it to be a lot a lot cleaner,
it made a lot more sense
20:41
to me personally but, I almost think at
20:45
this point it's kind of a personal
preference thing.
20:47
Both languages are pretty mature and
really good frameworks around them.
20:50
>> Yeah learn both but start with Ruby.
20:54
Alright looks like we got another call
coming in.
20:56
You've got the tree house live with Jason
and Nick, what can we do for you?
20:59
>> Yeah, hi Jason, hi Nick, my name is
21:05
Scott and I'm calling from Scotland from
the UK.
21:07
>> Scott from Scotland
>> That's easy to remember.
21:10
Yeah Scott from Scotland So, how, how are
you doing?
21:12
>> I am doing ok.
21:15
>> Doing well, how are you?
21:16
>> Hanging in there.
21:18
>> Yeah yeah yeah I'm great, great.
21:18
[INAUDIBLE]
21:20
>> Yeah, definitely I agree.
21:27
>> Also [INAUDIBLE]
21:30
[INAUDIBLE]
21:35
>> Well I, I, I recommend uh,checking out
Teentreehouse.com for her.
21:42
>> I mean, Treehouse is a great way to
start.
21:47
Are you on Treehouse with her?
21:49
>> [INAUDIBLE]
21:50
>> Alright I think we're having some
21:55
technical difficulties with this call so
I'm very
21:56
sorry that, sorry that i'm going to appear
rude and click the hang up button.
21:59
>> Oh, nope, nope, nope hold on.
22:02
>> Op
22:03
>> Oh wait and you're back, and you're
back, this things on.
22:03
Hello.
22:06
This is, it's a live show guys.
22:08
>> So did you have a question for us?
22:10
Yeah I was [UNKNOWN] help me just
[UNKNOWN]
22:11
>> Mm-hm.
22:16
>> [UNKNOWN] a bit I can give her a shout
out, her name's Kayla.
22:17
>> Well we'd like to give a shoutout to
Kayla.
22:26
We're gon, we're gonna do that again in a
little bit though.
22:32
[LAUGH] So that, so that you'll see it.
22:34
How about that?
22:37
>> Cool.
22:37
Thanks [UNKNOWN]
22:38
>> All right, thanks so much for calling,
Scott from Scotland.
22:40
>> No problem.
22:43
Thanks, guys, thank you.
22:44
>> See you later.
22:45
>> Bye.
22:46
[SOUND]
>> That was lovely.
22:46
>> That was lovely.
22:48
>> I enjoyed that quite a lot.
22:49
>> Alright, Scott asks, what programming
language was teentreehouse.com written in?
22:51
That was written in an early version of
BASIC,
22:57
and then recently ported over to Ruby on
Rails.
23:01
>> Thank goodness for that.
23:04
>> Yeah.
23:05
>> Yeah it was really tough.
23:06
>> It was a little faster, though, when we
had the BASIC version running.
23:07
>> Yeah, it was pretty optimized.
23:10
We needed so many fewer servers.
23:11
No teamtreehouse.com is written in a
mixture of ruby on
23:15
rails, no JS, basically all the cool
programming languages you hear about.
23:20
They're all integrated in some way or
another into Treehouse.
23:26
>> Our blog runs on WordPress, which of
course
23:30
is built in PHP, so there is yet another
language.
23:32
We, we use a lot of different languages to
create Treehouse.
23:36
Basically we just try to use the best tool
for the job, really.
23:39
>> Right.
23:42
You know, whatever it is that we're trying
to accomplish, we do that.
23:43
We have, we have, an iPad app out.
23:46
Of course, that's written in objective C,
for iOS, so be sure and check that out.
23:51
But that's yet another language that we
use.
23:55
So it's really, a mixture of things.
23:57
>> Yeah.
23:59
Internal projects we have written in
various languages.
23:59
It's pretty much whatever.
24:02
Is the best tool for the job.
24:04
Alright this is a question for Nick.
24:07
Grace asks what do you guys think about
Adobe Dreamweaver for coding websites?
24:09
>> so, I'll be honest.
24:15
I started out making websites when I
24:17
was eleven years old using Microsoft Front
Page.
24:20
>> [LAUGH] I'm so judging you right now.
24:23
>> I dragged out the table tool and just
dragged out a table, and I realized
24:26
That was a really great way for me to lay
out text and images on a web page.
24:31
Of course, that's considered bad practice
now and I
24:37
don't think Microsoft Frontpage even is a
thing anymore.
24:41
Who knows, maybe it is.
24:44
I, I don't know.
24:45
Google it.
24:45
But but then I graduated to Dreamweaver,
so It was like a, a half step up.
24:46
But not really.
24:52
Generally those kinds of wissy wig
applications by,
24:54
are kind of looked down upon by
professional developers.
24:58
A lot of people have very strong
preferences for text editors.
25:01
Like Vim or Sublime.
25:05
Adam, or, of course, work spaces from
Treehouse.
25:07
>> Mm.
25:10
>> so.
25:11
The reason for that, is, a lot of those
[UNKNOWN] or what you see is what you
25:12
get programs will write a lot of code for
you that's, may or may not be good code.
25:19
And sometimes it can be difficult to kind
of modify that for your own purposes.
25:25
So generally I don't see it used
professionally much at all actually.
25:29
>> Me neither.
25:35
I haven't seen Dreamweaver used in, in
quite some time.
25:36
I would say.
25:40
To learn to code websites by hand.
25:42
And then if you like Dreamweaver after
that, continue to use it.
25:44
Or maybe play around with it at first just
to
25:50
get something up and running until you get
more power.
25:52
>> Yeah.
25:54
>> Once again this is a, live, call in
show.
25:55
If you'd like to talk to us, you can call
407-545-SWAG.
25:58
Once again, that's 407 545-7924, if you'd
like to talk to Nick and myself, live.
26:03
>> It is April Fool's day, but we will
really pick up.
26:11
>> At some point.
26:15
>> Mm.
26:16
>> Zachary asks, what factors do you
consider
26:17
when choosing a back end for your web
application?
26:19
Really, I think about what the application
needs
26:25
to do, and I think about you know what
26:28
frameworks are going to allow me to do
26:32
that, so you know that's just something
really simple.
26:34
I might use a very bare bones rubric
framework or maybe just do
26:39
it in straight up PHP or whatever again
cuz it's just that instant gratification.
26:43
But if it's something more robust, yeah,
you might go with Ruby on Rails or
26:48
you might go with no JS, it really depends
on what you need to do.
26:51
>> Yeah, the functionality of the
application is what's really
26:56
gonna drive your decision when choosing a
back end framework.
26:59
No JS example, if you need to do some real
time communications between.
27:03
The client and the server no JS might be
the right choice.
27:08
Regular old crud app.
27:13
You know, create, read, update, destroy.
27:15
That's a great fit for rails application.
27:17
But an even bigger thing to consider is
what
27:21
is right for a team you will be working
with.
27:25
>> That's a good point.
27:28
>> If you have a large application that's
already written in PHP,
27:29
Maybe choosing Ruby on Rails to rewrite it
is not the best idea.
27:34
And the same goes for vice versa.
27:38
So.
27:40
>> In fact, that was the case at Facebook,
they started writing
27:40
Facebook in PHP and they used PHP for a
long time and
27:43
at that point, you know, they had so many
human resources invested
27:48
into PHP that It would be impossible for
them to switch languages.
27:53
So what they did was they actually rewrote
PHP and made their own
27:58
languages, and their own frameworks so
that
28:02
it would work with their existing team.
28:05
Which is a, kind of a crazy endeavor, but
Facebook is
28:08
a big enough company that they could do
something like that.
28:11
>> Yeah, that, So really pick the right
tool for the job.
28:14
>> Mm-hm.
28:17
>> Matt Spill asks, did Nick just say
wussy wig?
28:18
I thought it was pronounced, wizzy wig.
28:21
Matt spill is wrong.
28:24
He also has no forum on which to respond
to that.
28:27
>> Omar asks, how does Javascript server
side rendering work?
28:31
I know it's kind of stupid, but.
28:36
Is there any way that we can use Server
Side with JQuery?
28:39
>> So Java Script server side rendering is
an interesting
28:45
topic there not completely sure what, Omar
means in this context.
28:49
But for server side rendering generally
what that means is,
28:54
the server is going to render the HTML
that it
28:58
is sending back to the browser rtather
than sending back
29:01
an object, such as, JSON data to be
rendered client-side.
29:04
So, you know, let's say you are generating
an
29:09
unordered list, with the host of the
Treehouse show.
29:12
The server responds with Nick and Jason.
29:17
If you're using a client side library,
it's going
29:19
to generate the unordered list and then a
list item.
29:21
Using the json that comes back with our
names, it's
29:25
gonna go through, generate domain elements
in the client web browser.
29:28
If you do this server side, that works
gonna be done on the server.
29:32
Then the rendered HTML will be pushed to
the client.
29:36
Now, you can use jQuery in
29:39
some node.js applications, there's
definitely plugins available,
29:41
pretty sure there are grunt and [UNKNOWN]
libraries for getting all of that working.
29:44
so, yeah, generally, you know, it depends
29:50
on the application, client side
rendering's gonna be.
29:52
Kind of the preferred method these days.
29:55
>> Mmm-hm, yeah it's gonna be pretty
challenging, otherwise.
29:57
>> Yeah, unless you use rails, their doing
a lot of server side stuff these days.
30:00
>> Shameless plug.
30:05
>> Yeah.
30:06
Alex asks, typical college grads would use
an internship to get their.
30:06
"Foot in the door" for a job.
30:11
After using Treehouse, would you recommend
internships, or is it
30:13
better to look for jobs or work on
personal projects?
30:16
<< Ooh, that's a.
30:20
<< Yes.
30:20
<< Yes to all.
30:21
<< All of the above.
30:22
Do all of that.
30:24
<< That's, that's a really good, question.
30:25
So, right now, it's a hotly debated topic,
right?
30:28
Should you go to college?
30:31
Or, should you, just try to educate
yourself, either by, trying to do client
30:33
work using a service like Treehouse,
etcerera
30:40
and just [NOISE] jump into the industry
immediately?
30:43
>> Oh, I missed.
30:47
We just missed a call.
30:47
>> Uh-oh.
30:48
>> I'ma try calling back.
30:49
>> We will, we will get back to that
question.
30:50
>> Thank you for calling the city of
[UNKNOWN].
30:53
Please say the first and last name of
30:56
the person, department, or service you
wish to reach.
30:58
You can also enter an extension number if
known.
31:01
To speak with a customer service
representative, say service.
31:05
This is Nick and Jason from the Treehouse
Live show.
31:10
>> I didn't get that.
31:14
>> Nick and Jason from the Treehouse Live
show.
31:15
>> Sorry.
31:20
I'm not sure I understood what you said.
31:21
>> We're just talking, we're talking
about-
31:23
>> Your call is being transferred to the
operator for assistance.
31:24
>> Okay.
31:27
>> Okay I think that was that was a wrong
number.
31:27
>> Yeah.
31:29
Didn't work out.
31:30
Kinda sad.
31:32
But anyway yeah, it's a highly debated
topic should you go to college or not?
31:32
I would actually err on the side of of not
going to
31:36
college if you want to get a job in web
design development.
31:40
If you just want to do freelance
immediately go ahead and jump right into
31:44
it, especially if you already have some
skills in that area if you've, you know.
31:49
Already built up some experience.
31:53
>> The more experience you have, the
better off you'll be at
31:55
the end of the day when you really do
start applying for jobs.
31:58
>> Exactly.
32:01
A lot of companies do pay attention to
college degrees
32:01
and that's still a value that's very
important to them.
32:05
A lot of other companies, though, don't
really hold that in high esteem.
32:09
At all.
32:14
And, they really look at experience above
all else.
32:15
So, for example, if you're applying to a
design or development position at
32:18
Treehouse, you know we're gonna wanna look
32:23
at your portfolio, code you've written
etc.
32:25
And actually see what you can do right
32:29
now regardless of how you gleaned that
experience.
32:31
Once again, this is a live call in show.
32:35
Oh, here, here we are!
32:38
>> Here we go.
32:39
>> Hi.
32:40
You've got Nick and Jason from, from
Treehouse.
32:40
We're talking to you live.
32:43
>> Hi, guys.
32:43
>> Hey.
32:46
>> How's it going?
32:46
>> It's Rick.
32:46
>> Hey, Rick.
32:47
How are you?
32:47
>> Hey, Rick.
32:48
>> We missed you.
32:48
>> Yeah.
32:49
I missed you too.
32:50
We're do you guys see things developing as
far as mobile platforms and
32:52
Teaching, you know, MOOC kind of things
with videos in third world countries.
32:58
>> Well, as they get more access to
33:05
technology, they will have more access to
Treehouse.
33:06
>> Right.
33:10
I mean, that's, that's an interesting
question.
33:12
I can't really speak to, the latter
portion of your question, about.
33:14
It's spreading to third world countries.
33:19
But what I will say is that, you know, we
want to change the world.
33:22
At Trials, we want to spread Trials as
much as possible.
33:28
And, you know, right now, we're an English
only site but,
33:32
obviously, we'd want to Try to expand that
at some point in the future.
33:37
We don't have anything to announce at this
time.
33:42
But you know, we want to get it in as many
places as we can, so that's something that
33:44
we'll have to address at some point and
it's probably
33:51
something that every Online education
outlet we'll have to address.
33:54
There's gonna be various strategies to do
that.
34:01
Again, I can't speak specifically for
Treehouse.
34:03
But, you know?
34:06
It's gonna spread in a number of different
ways.
34:08
On, you, you mentioned mobile devices.
34:11
I mean, that's probably a really great
route to go.
34:14
Because, Often in a lot of countries
that's a more popular
34:17
consumption device then an actual computer
so paying attention to mobile will be.
34:24
Pretty important as a piece of that, but
does that kind
34:29
of answer your question or is that kind of
a non answer?
34:32
>> Well I, I think you kinda highlighted
34:37
it, but i'm wondering you know, what kind
of
34:39
things are you guys starting to put into
34:42
place to kind of roll over into that
model.
34:44
We're not really allowed to comment
34:48
on future developments for Treehouse,
unfortunately.
34:50
>> There's nothing concrete at this time,
anyway.
34:54
I mean, it's just something that we're
talking about internally and
34:56
eventually, you know, we'd love to make it
happen but Yeah.
35:00
Nothing to say right now.
35:03
>> So you haven't done anything in the
past
35:06
in order to try and, and target the
platform?
35:08
>> Not specifically, no.
35:10
>> We target as many platforms as we can.
35:11
>> That's fair.
35:15
>> Alright, thank so much for calling,
Rick.
35:16
>> Thanks guys.
35:18
>> Bye.
35:19
>> Later.
35:19
Alright, once again we are live and you
can call us at 407-545-7924.
35:21
>> That's 407-5, what was the middle one?
35:28
>> 5, 545.
35:33
>> 407-545-SWAG.
35:34
>> Swag.
35:35
Jinx
35:38
>> [LAUGHS] Rob asks, what's your
preferred
35:38
way of uploading files to a server?
35:41
Through Sublime, doing it manually with
FileZilla, etc.
35:43
?
35:47
>> First of all, I did not know that
35:47
you could do that directly through
Sublime, but That's interesting.
35:49
I assume that there's a plugin or
something, or maybe it's built in?
35:53
>> Sublime Text has just a ton of plugins.
35:55
>> Sure.
35:58
>> I prefer to upload files using some
sort of secure copy mechanism.
35:59
generally, that'll be done through SSH.
36:04
>> Mm-hm.
36:06
>> FTP is pretty insecure because you
36:07
can see anything that's transmitted,
through each server.
36:09
With something that is secure, you know
SFTP, SCP, it's encrypted end to end.
36:14
So if you have any sensitive information
it won't be leaked in transit.
36:20
>> If I'm just doing like a quick static
HTML CSS website.
36:25
All just use SFTP and use some sorta
client, like, FileZilla, or Cyberdock.
36:30
Something that nature.
36:36
>> Yeah, I like Transmit.
36:38
>> Yeah, Transmit is good as well.
36:39
>> Transmit's a good one, and they're not
sponsoring the show, just FYI.
36:41
Grace asks, is Adobe Flash an obsolete
choice for making mobile games these days.
36:45
>> Yes, because I don't know of any mobile
platform that actually runs Flash.
36:51
Maybe Android does, I don't know, I don't
think it does though.
36:56
>> Don't hold me to this but I think Newer
versions of Flash might be able to
36:59
export to the iPhone, but I'm not sure, I
37:04
haven't looked at Flash in a really long
time.
37:07
And when I say Flash, I mean Adobe Flash,
not, the DC superhero, the Flash.
37:09
>> It's good to make that distinction.
37:14
>> Yeah, Barry Allen Flash obviously, not
Wally West.
37:15
>> People could get confused.
37:18
Zachary says, a lot of people say
responsive web design.
37:20
Isn't the end all of multi display
development.
37:24
If not responsive development then what?
37:29
Well this is an ongoing debate on the
internet, You
37:32
could just make a responsive website that
is gonna work.
37:36
On a multitude of different resolutions,
so it will work on,
37:39
you know, a mobile phone, a tablet,
desktop, and so on.
37:45
But, there, there's this other
alternative, which is
37:49
making separate websites for each one of
those platforms.
37:53
So, which should you do?
37:56
Generally, I'm gonna err on the side
37:58
of response web design, just because it's
easier.
38:00
You have one code base to maintain.
38:03
And it's really just simpler, it's less to
worry about.
38:05
It' kind of a little bit complex upfront
to learn some of the nuances, but when
38:09
you break it down, it's actually quite
simple, especially after you learn it.
38:15
It's easy to do it anytime you're building
a new site.
38:19
But-
38:23
>> Also, the, the variance is kinda where
we started With the whole.
38:23
>> Yeah.
38:27
>> Multi display.
38:28
>> Mm-hm.
38:30
>> Output.
38:31
So people would make different versions
for their phones.
38:32
I don't know if you've ever seen any
38:34
websites recently that, when the iPhone
first came
38:36
out, in like 2007, they were designed to
38:38
look like the iPhone interface at the
time.
38:41
You can still see some of 'em these days.
38:45
And that would be an example of making a
site that uses
38:47
a different version for the main Desktop
site and a mobile version.
38:50
>> Yeah.
38:54
It's, I mean, it's an interesting
strategy, but
38:55
you're actually seeing that less and less
these days.
38:59
A lot of big name website that did have
39:01
separate desktop and mobile sites, are
actually just going responsive.
39:05
And just doing away with their, their
mobile sites.
39:08
You have to have A very, very specific
39:11
use case where your mobile site truly has
different
39:15
functionality than your desktop website,
but it's really
39:18
hard to think of any exam, examples of
that.
39:23
I mean, it's it's kind of an unusual case.
39:26
>> Yeah, also I think, you know, what
we're gonna see is
39:30
not something, oh, we're gonna develop
39:32
this way, instead of doing it
responsively.
39:34
I think what we'll see is the techniques
for
39:37
responsive design are going to evolve as
the web evolves.
39:39
>> Mm-hm.
39:43
>> I mean we've already go situations
today where we're
39:43
loading different versions of images
depending on what device you're on.
39:46
You know, different versions of the HTML 5
spec.
39:53
>> Mm-hm.
39:55
>> Are there specifically for that reason.
39:55
So we're getting new elements all the time
for
39:58
responsive development since we are in a
multi-device world.
40:01
Alright, so our next question comes from
Dale, and Dale says I
40:05
am learning css and html and I am cruising
through the WordPress courses.
40:09
Is there a recommendation for a course
that eventually
40:15
links how developers can intertwine
WordPress with html css.
40:18
In PHP.
40:24
There probably already is a course like
that.
40:27
<< I'm sure there is.
40:29
<< On Treehouse, we have a lot of
40:31
WordPress courses, so if you, just go onto
teamtreehouse.com,
40:33
and hit the library, you can look in the
40:38
WordPress category and see all of our
WordPress categories.
40:41
I think Jason is.
40:46
Tempting to pull up right now.
40:48
>> Don't remember my password.
40:50
>> Uh-oh.
40:52
>> Nick, NickPetit12345 isn't working for
me.
40:53
>> Okay, let me try it on mine then.
40:56
>> My usual password.
40:58
Jason so yeah if you just go into our
library here and you click on Wordpress
41:00
you can see all of our Wordpress courses
41:04
we teach Wordpress admin settings, we talk
about Buddypress.
41:06
There's how to build great Wordpress.com
websites.
41:12
So if you don't want to do it you know,
using WordPress.org and their
41:15
open source platform, you can just jump
onto WordPress.com and have it hosted.
41:22
Right here, building a WordPress theme
with foundation five is
41:27
probably, More so, the kinda thing that
you're looking for.
41:32
So, yeah, whether you wanna customize
WordPress
41:36
using PHP or you wanna get into template
41:39
design with the HTML and CSS there's
41:41
certainly a lot of different stuff On
Treehouse.
41:45
Here's how to build a Wordpress theme and
so on.
41:49
A lot of Wordpress courses, wow.
41:52
>> Yeah.
41:53
>> And we're adding more all the time.
41:53
>> Jacob asks, when should I learn sass?
41:56
What CSS slash HTML level should I be at
before taking it on?
41:59
>> Really sass is pretty useful Almost
immediately after you learned CSS.
42:04
I do still recommend learning CSS first,
before jumping straight into sass.
42:09
A lot of people will look at sass, and
say, oh, I"m just going
42:15
to be writing that anyway, I should just
learn SAS, Why bother with CSS?
42:18
Or same with JavaScript and jQuery.
42:22
People oftentimes will think, I should
just learn jQuery.
42:25
We're gonna get back to that question.
42:27
>> Got another call.
42:29
>> Got another call.
42:30
>> This is the Treehouse live.
42:31
Live show with Jason and Nick.
42:33
What's going on?
42:34
>> Hey.
42:35
What collaboration tools do you recommend?
42:36
>> Oh boy, there's tons of collaboration
tools.
42:39
For source control I recommend Git.
42:41
For communication, we use HipChat in the
company, as well as custom software.
42:45
Project management, lots of people use
Basecamp.
42:50
>> Mm-hm.
42:53
>> For sharing code, GitHub, that's a,
that's a pretty popular one.
42:54
>> In the past, we've used things like
Asana and Trello for task management.
42:58
Both were pretty good.
43:04
I, I liked both of 'em a lot.
43:06
They, they had their merits.
43:07
We use all sorts of stuff to collaborate
and really it just
43:10
comes down to whatever it is that we're
trying to collaborate on.
43:14
These days we've gotten kind of such a
specific structure to
43:18
our company that we actually have custom
tools just for that.
43:23
But yeah.
43:28
That's, that's kinda a smattering of
different stuff.
43:30
Does that kinda answer your question?
43:33
>> Yeah, some of it.
43:36
What about for the wire framing, design
revisions kind
43:37
of passing stuff back and forth with
marked up.
43:40
>> So I like to use Balsamic mock ups,
>> Yeah, Balsamic is wonderful.
43:44
>> Only because I've been using it since
like forever.
43:48
I, I really like Balsamic a lot.
43:51
There's also Omnigrapple, I know a lot of
people use that
43:53
to wire frame, there's there's a bunch of
them out there, but
43:57
to pass them back and forth at treehouse,
we started out using drop
44:01
box, to make interactive wire frames We've
been using envision app.
44:07
And I think there's a new one out that
does something
44:13
similar to that I can't think of, of the
name of it.
44:16
But we've been using invasion app and
basically you can take an array of screen
44:18
shots and kinda highlight different
portions of
44:22
the screenshots sot it should be a button.
44:25
Or a drop down menu and so on, and then
you can link to other
44:27
screen shots to kind of make a,
44:31
a pseudo interactive mock-up, and that's
pretty cool.
44:33
But since using Drop Box, we've actually,
I
44:36
think, switched everything over to Google
drive, and I,
44:39
I think we're using that these days to
collaborate,
44:43
and that's another tool that we use a lot.
44:46
We use Google docs, Google spreadsheets,
and all of
44:47
those Google tools to kinda Collaborate in
the company.
44:50
>> And not really a collaboration thing,
but there's a OS Ten app that I
44:54
really like called Monosnap, which let's
you
44:59
take screen shots really easily and
annotate images.
45:02
It's kinda like Skitch, if you remember
that.
45:06
But, that program became pretty useless
after Evernote took it over.
45:08
So, I, I switched to Monosnap.
45:13
>> What about brainstorming?
45:16
>> We tend to not do much of that here.
45:18
We basically just start working
immediately.
45:21
>> We don't think at all.
45:24
>> Yeah.
45:25
>> Yeah.
45:25
>> No.
45:26
Just kidding.
45:26
We, I don't have any good brainstorming
apps.
45:27
>> Yeah, I don't actually have any,
45:30
Apps that I use for brainstorming,
specifically.
45:33
Usually for me that's just pen and paper.
45:35
I mean, we'll chat a lot on Hip Chat, just
because of the immediacy of
45:38
the medium, or if we need to hash out an
idea, we'll kind of talk over
45:41
>> Google hangouts.
45:46
>> Yeah, Google hangouts, we've actually
started using Hip
45:47
Chat's video chat feature which was just
released pretty recently,
45:50
and that's kinda interesting, but Yeah,
for brainstorming, you
45:53
know, it's again, kind of a, a mixture of
things.
45:56
No specific app that we use.
45:59
Does that kind of answer your question?
46:02
>> Absolutely.
46:04
>> Cool.
46:05
>> Alright, cool.
46:05
Thanks a lot Rick.
46:06
[NOISE] Alright, we also wanted to give a
shout out to Kayla.
46:06
>> Mm-hm.
46:10
>> How you doing, Kayla?
46:10
Alright.
46:13
Salvatore says I'm thinking of switching
careers
46:14
into web design, development or user
experience design.
46:16
Any advice on preparing a portfolio?
46:20
>> yeah, I think you know it's important
46:24
to pare down your portfolio as much as
possible.
46:27
There's a big temptation to put everything
you've ever done in your portfolio.
46:30
But that's almost always a mistake, you
wanna really present your best work.
46:34
And you know, that could be maybe like
four or five items or maybe just like
46:40
three really good case studies where you
say,
46:46
you know, for this company They had these
46:49
needs and you know, here's the initial
sketches
46:51
I started out with, here's the final
product
46:54
and you know, here's their testimonial
with it
46:56
and you put together like a nice case
study.
46:58
So if you don't have a whole lot of work
to present, that could be a good way to
47:00
kind of emphasize how much detail and work
you put into each individual project.
47:04
So You know, I, I think, with portfolios
47:12
the, the biggest rule is that less is
more,
47:16
and you want to present your best work
47:19
above all else, so go for quality over
quantity.
47:22
>> That is great advice.
47:26
I don't have anything to add to that.
47:27
Cause Nick you nailed it.
47:29
>> Thank you Jason.
47:31
>> So that is that's the last question
that we have for today.
47:31
Thanks everybody for calling in.
47:35
I'd like you know, if you don't already
watch the tree house show.
47:37
I recommend checking today's episode.
47:41
We have some very fascinating, hard
hitting stories in that episode.
47:43
>> You could check out our YouTube channel
at Youtube.com/gotreehouse.
47:47
And just look for the Treehouse Show.
47:52
We're also on iTunes, again, you can just
search for the Treehouse Show.
47:54
>> Yeah, and leave us, leave us a, a
rating, if you are so inclined.
47:57
Nick, who are you on Twitter?
48:01
>> I am @nickrp
>> And I am @jseifer.
48:02
We wanna thank everybody for tuning in to
this
48:04
live stream, and we will see you next
time.
48:06
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