Alright, let’s talk about this “july birthday” thing. It was a whole process, lemme tell ya.
So, the idea popped into my head, like, “Hey, July’s coming up, gotta do something special.” I started brainstorming, scribbling down ideas on a notepad – parties, gifts, trips, the whole shebang. But honestly, a big party felt like too much hassle. A trip? Budget said “nope.” So I started thinking smaller, more personal.
I decided I wanted to make something. Something unique, something from the heart. First thought was baking a cake. But I’m no baker, and those Pinterest cakes? Forget about it. So I nixed that pretty quick.
Then I remembered I’d been messing around with some basic coding stuff. I was thinking, “Could I build a little website or something? A digital birthday card?” Seemed doable, so I started there.
First, I fired up my old laptop. It’s a bit of a dinosaur, but it gets the job done. I use VS Code for coding, so I opened that up and created a new folder. “july_birthday_project,” real original, I know. Then I made the basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files.
The HTML was simple: a heading, a spot for a picture, and a little message. The CSS? Mostly just trying to make it look… not terrible. Basic colors, centered the text, you know the drill. The JavaScript was where the “magic” happened. I wanted to add some simple animations, like maybe the image fading in, or the text sliding up. Nothing too crazy, just enough to make it feel a little more interactive.
I spent a solid evening tinkering with the code. Lots of Googling, lots of trial and error. I’m not a pro, so it was definitely a learning experience. Kept breaking things, fixing things, breaking them again. The usual.
The hardest part was getting the image to display correctly. For some reason it kept showing up super huge and distorted. I had to play around with the CSS `width` and `height` properties for way longer than I’d like to admit. Finally got it looking decent though.
Then I added a little “Happy Birthday” animation using JavaScript’s `setTimeout` function. It’s pretty basic, but it adds a little something.
Once the website was “done” (and I use that term loosely), I needed to figure out how to share it. I thought about hosting it online, but that seemed like overkill for a one-off thing. So, I just zipped up the files and sent it as an email attachment. Simple and effective.
Here’s a quick rundown of the files and what they do:
- The main structure of the page. Contains the heading, image placeholder, and birthday message.
- Makes the page look (slightly) less ugly. Sets colors, fonts, and layout.
- Handles the animations and interactivity. Fades in the image and animates the birthday message.
The reaction? They liked it! It wasn’t fancy, but it was personal, and that’s what mattered. Plus, it was way more interesting than just a generic birthday card.
Would I do it again? Yeah, probably. It was a fun little project, and it’s always cool to learn something new. Maybe next year I’ll try something even more ambitious… or maybe I’ll just stick to buying a cake.
Learnings:
- Simple is good. Don’t try to overcomplicate things.
- Google is your friend. Seriously, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without it.
- Don’t be afraid to break things. That’s how you learn.
And that’s the story of my “july birthday” project. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my coding adventure!
