It is both a reference guide and an introduction to HTML & CSS. This was built (initially) as a compliment to Shay's weekly lecture to the Code Academy.
Most of our students in Code Academy are "fresh beginners" and have been going through Shay's class for the past four weeks, and they have been improving greatly from the first day of class. They are currently learning web development, so they are definitely picking key concepts for Shay's class to help with their front-end learning.
The intended audience is for Code Academy students here in Chicago learning web development and user experience design. Shay uses this as a resource to guide the students through their learning.
"Bonus round would be giving the students a way to actively demonstrate their newly gained knowledge inline with the tutorial."
Nailed it. The site is is the foundation of Shay's weekly lecture, and in class, we have students do exercises where they incorporate what they just learned. We also have students demo what they built to the class.
The pacing is still a work in progress, we do our best to make sure that we aren't flying over the students heads too much, but we know we can do better.
This isn't a standalone resource yet. Shay uses this in class to explain all the key concepts in further detail. After each class, the students can back go back and reference these concepts.
However, everything can be better, so we will make sure to make the language and the flow can work for anyone.
Like Shay mentioned below, this website is a work in progress and still being tested out, but right now the website is a supplement to what Shay teaches in class. Shay uses this in class and we mix in lecture, demoing, and lab work to help the Code Academy students understand the content. The students also use this to reflect back on what Shay has taught in the previous classes.
As of now, this is the best standalone resource, but it is a couple weeks old, so we will definitely improve it.
This site/curriculum was built for our Code Academy (http://codeacademy.org) students currently learning web development and user experience design. Most of our students are beginners, and have already gone through four weeks of Shay's HTML & CSS class. While they are not front-end experts, Shay has done a great job of guiding them through, and now this site will be even more helpful.
The purpose of this curriculum is not the be-all and end-all of all HTML & CSS learning resources, it is focused on created a pathway that students can use to measure their learning. We are definitely focused on improving the curriculum and providing alternative resources for students to the learn from all the other resources.
I wouldn't be where I am in my front-end development without all the free and paid resources online devoted to HTML & CSS, but it would have been really helpful to have something as organized as this to guide my development.
This is a great resource Shay! I wish someone would have built this accessible curriculum 18 months ago when I started learning HTML & CSS. This feedback on HN will only make it better.
I think they are students of the program who just got on Hacker News. They are baby programmers trying to get into the community, let them grow! They can also be a little feisty and protective.
thanks