The Author – Bart Busschots
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Jan
25
PBS 89 of X — Currency Converter Challenge
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on January 25, 2020 | Leave a Comment
This instalment is an experiment in more ways than one. The most obvious being that it is the first to be hosted entirely on GitHub, show notes and all!
Oct
4
PBS 83 of X — Bootstrap Cards
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on October 4, 2019 | 1 Comment
In this instalment we’ll finish our first exploration of Bootstrap 4 with a look at one its most versatile components, the so-called Card. This is one of those components that’s so generic it’s hard to describe, but once you learn about it you’ll start seeing it all over the web. Cards really are ubiquitous!
It’s important to stress that while we’re wrapping up our exploration of Bootstrap 4 with this instalment, that does not mean we’ve come close to covering every feature this impressive library offers. Instead, the aim was to cover the big-picture items, and leave you with enough experience to be able to learn the rest independently by reading Bootstrap’s excellent documentation.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
May
18
PBS 78 of X — is.js & Bootstrap Popovers
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on May 18, 2019 | 2 Comments
For boring real-life reasons this instalment is a bit of an intermission. In the previous instalment we learned about so-called call-back hell, and were all set to learn how Javascript Promises would be our liberation, but that’s going to have to wait until next time. Promises are a very important concept, and I don’t want to rush them.
What we’re going to do in this instalment is focus entirely on my sample solution to the challenge set at the end of the previous instalment, which I’ve used as an opportunity to demonstrate two new tools to add to our programming tool belt — the micro-checking library is.js, and Bootstrap Popovers.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
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Feb
9
PBS 71 of X — Bootstrap Spinners
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on February 9, 2019 | 1 Comment
The challenge set at the end of the previous instalment was to build a simple timer web app. This was a much more substantial challenge than those I’ve been setting in the previous handful of instalments, and in involved re-familiarising yourself with concepts we’ve learned before, but not used for some time. For those reasons this instalment will primarily revolve around my sample solution to the challenge. I’ll go through it in much greater detail than I have been doing recently.
It would be a shame to go through an entire instalment without any new content though, so we also meet one very simple but very useful little Bootstrap component, the Spinner. Learning about the spinner sets us up nicely for a new challenge — two simple but important improvement to the timer web app we just built.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
Jan
27
PBS 70 of X — Bootstrap Modals & Toasts
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on January 27, 2019 | 3 Comments
In this instalment we’ll continue our recent focus on Bootstrap components primarily intended for use in web apps rather than on web pages. We’ll look at a pair of components designed to notify of something — modal dialogue boxes, and so-called toast notifications.
Different notifications require a different UI, hence there being two components, Modal, and Toast. However, both are quite similar in the sense that you will most probably be triggering them via JavaScript. Unlike the other components we’ve seen so far, these will not be visible to the user when the page loads, they’ll make their presence felt at some later time in response to some kind of event.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
Jan
13
PBS 69 of X — Bootstrap Navbars
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on January 13, 2019 | 1 Comment
In the previous instalment we learned how to use Navs for creating navigation bars, and learned how to use Dropdowns to add expandable menus to our Navs. In this instalment we’ll meet Bootstrap’s ultimate navigation component, the Navbar. This is a powerful component designed to act as the menubar at the top of websites or web apps.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here..
Dec
16
PBS 68 of X — Bootstrap Navs
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on December 16, 2018 | 1 Comment
In this instalment we’ll get our first look at Bootstrap’s so-call Nav component, a menu designed to facilitate navigation around a website, within a page, or within a web app. In the previous instalment we met Dropdowns for the first time, and saw how Dropdowns filled with buttons can be used within web app UIs. We ended by noting that Dropdowns come in two flavours, buttons and links. In this instalment we’ll learn how to use the link-flavour of Dropdowns within Navs. Finally, we’ll learn how to use Navs to create tabbed content regions within a web page or web app.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
Dec
2
PBS 67 of X — Introducing Bootstrap Dropdowns
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on December 2, 2018 | 1 Comment
In this instalment we’ll start a two-part look at the Bootstrap Dropdown component. This component can be used to add pretty dropdown menus to both web app UIs and website navigation bars. In this instalment we’ll look at the first of those uses, and then in the next instalment we’ll look at navigation bars in general, which we’ve not seen before, and then Dropdowns within navigation bars.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
Nov
4
PBS 66 of X — Bootstrap Form Validation
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on November 4, 2018 | 2 Comments
Over the past few instalments we’ve been making our way though the various form-related features Bootstrap offers. We’ll round out that tour in this instalment with a look at how Bootstrap can help with form validation.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.
Oct
20
PBS 65 of X — Bootstrap Input Groups
Filed Under Computers & Tech, Software Development on October 20, 2018 | 2 Comments
This will be the penultimate instalment of our introduction to Bootstrap forms. Today we’ll be looking at a really useful Bootstrap component for making form inputs clearer for the user, more powerful, and prettier. In the next instalment we’ll finish off with Bootstraps forms for the moment with a look at Boostrap’s built-in form validation features.
You can download this instalment’s ZIP file here.