PhD Diary, Week 3: Working with a Horribly Tricky Markup Language
I have no prior experience with HTML. Yet, I wanted to create a (debateably) nice-looking homepage to my site.
I started by creating flip cards, as I have always enjoyed cursor interactivity on websites. I think that it adds something unique to the site’s user interface. To do this, I went straight to Google. There are some great resources on W3 Schools, particularly their guide on how to create flip cards using HTML and CSS. W3 Schools made it super simple to implement into my GitHub pages site.
From there, I wanted to create custom cards. Being a big fan of PowerPoint for graphic design, I used Office 365 to create the cards:
Then, created the back of the cards as you see in the first image. Following the guidance from W3 Schools, CSS was added to ensure that the images fit and that the cursor-interactivity worked.
The rest of the week was filled with studying and induction activities. I also obtained a copy of Statistical Principles for the Design of Experiments by Mead, Gilmour and Mead from the Brunel library. One thing I can confidently say is that it helps to have different perspectives one studying the same topic. It very much helps to being things together clearly in your mind.
I also read Chapters 2 - 5 of Design and Analysis of Experiments by Douglas Montgomery. It has provided an excellent overview of the basics of experimental design in an easy-to-follow way.
Overall, I am really enjoying my time here. If you’re currently doing a PhD or MA / MSc thesis, remember to search for different perspectives on the same topic. It sounds obvious but reading two sources describing the same idea helps to deepen your understanding of a topic.