1. Project management

This week I worked on defining my final project idea, creating my website and started to getting used to the documentation process.

Creating my website

The first thing we needed to create our websites for the fab lab was to copy a GitLab repository in a folder in your device, this way the modifications you do to the website upload automatically to the server of the Fab Academy. In order to clone a repository into a personal file on your device first you need to open the template you want in GitLab, there is an option that lets you copy the code and all the elements that are uploaded in that project.

The way you do this is by copying the URL where it says "Clone with HTTPS". Then you need to create a folder on your device in which you'll clone the repository using Git CMD. Like it shows in the following code.
cd is used to open files and documents in your computer, to cal them you just have to write cd (name of file or document). To clone the repsoitory in your file you just have to use the comand "git clone (URL of the cloned HTTPS)".

Once all that was done, it was time to start the website. I used as a base a template created by Rafael Perez, an instructor at the Fab Academy here in Puebla. This is said template. Website template

Personalising my website

The first thing I did was to change the title of the bookmark and name of the website.

I did this by simply overwriting the information in the text spaces in the code.

I did the same thing with all the costume text. After that I started to add diferent color schemes. I change the background, the color of the buttons and the color of the text.

This part of the process was slightly difficult, because when it comes to changing colors, shapes, or any kind of aesthetic modification, another type of file comes into play, the ".css" file. This file is responsible for all the aesthetic parts of the website, and for the same reason is easy to get lost in it. Here's an example of the .css code.

How to upload it to gitlab?

The first thing we need to know about to work with GitLab is "Version Control". This is a system that records all the changes you make to your work, this way you can recall a specific part of your project in case you made a mistake or you want to check something. There are three different types of version control. Local version control, centralized version control and distributed version control.

  • The local version control consists of copying files into another directory in order to save your updates.
  • The centralized version control is a single server that has all the versioned files of the participants.
  • A distributed version control system similar to de Centralized Version Control, but with the addition that every user can mirror the repository and all of its history.

In order to upload the modifications I made to GitLab I follow the next steps:

  • git init: Command that is used only once during the initial setup of a new repository.
  • git add: Adds the modifications you made to a staging area for the next commit.
  • git commit: It captures that state of the project you are uploading and saves it in the timeline of the project.
  • git push: It uploads the new commit into the remote repository in the server so its saved in a public or private project in GitLabs.
  • git status: This isn't a step but is usefull, this comand let's you see in what stage of the proces you are.