Village Web Company CIC

Helping everyone make the most of the internet

Eva’s First Remote Working Experience

September 21st, 2024 by Eva

I thank the universe every day that I exist in a time where we can work remotely. Whether that’s from the comfort of your own bed, stood at one of those free standing ergonomic desks that cost way too much, or sat at the kitchen island in your new uni digs – like me.

Going to university is a huge shift for so many people. There is just so much to do: you have to get to grips with a brand new campus and university, attend all of your lectures and seminars, read, learn, revise, revise some more, take exams. That’s without even attempting to be social through societies, sports and going out and meeting people. Remote and flexible working gives me the opportunity to try and attempt all of this whilst still being able to fit in work and earn an income alongside my degree.

The elephant in the room that I have so far chosen to ignore is that instead of living a humble 20 minute walk away from the Village Web Company office it would now take me a whole 48 hours to walk back to the office. Talk about a commute! We’ve seen global tech companies like Google and Meta employ people literally across the globe, particularly in the region of South East Asia. That could be a whole different blog post focusing on the outsourcing of labour in tech and media industries, going into the ethics and consequences of these practices. Nevertheless, if Google can reach someone across the globe I’m sure we’ll manage just fine – unless I start picking up the accent; then we might have some issues on the zoom calls.

There’s been so much push-back on remote working in recent years due to claims of decreased productivity and this corporate urge to get everyone back into the office. Of course working in person has so many great benefits, collaboration is much more feasible and communication can happen face to face instead of through emails. Many say they prefer having the physical separation between work and home, allowing them to compartmentalize the different aspects of their life and maintain a healthy balance between the two. There’s also just the pure human element of it, working somewhere and getting to know the people around you is sometimes the best part of the job. I met one of my best friends when she had to show me how to prepare the desserts at the restaurant we worked at. Stuffed into a storage cupboard with a mini fridge and a dream of making something edible looking, we clicked instantly and have been brilliant friends ever since. That is the magic of working in-person and I can’t wait to come back and visit the Village Web Company office and get to have those days together with Claire and Will.

I’m thoroughly excited to get stuck into my course at uni, get settled, find the best spots and the quickest routes and get myself into a routine that will allow me to experience as much as possible whilst i’m here! I also can’t wait to continue working on my projects at Village Web Company, writing these blog posts, building and designing sites and more.

Signing off,

Eva

Teaching Web Development with Boring Website Workshops

August 25th, 2024 by Claire - Village Web Company CIC

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of delivering a family workshop on behalf of MadLab. I decided to teach the young people a little bit about building websites by showing them how to edit some HTML (Hypertext Mark Up Language) The children thoroughly enjoyed it and several asked for more information so that they could carry on at home.

HTML is the code that all websites are made with and although lots of things in web development can be difficult to learn, HTML is quite easy, especially compared to most programming languages.

Lots of people think that they need a top of the range computer and lots of complicated software to start learning web development, but that’s not true. To start learning HTML all you need is a web browser (eg Chrome, Microsoft Edge or Safari) and a code editor. We chose to use Visual Studio Code (also known as VS Code.) During the workshop, the families used laptops provided by MadLab, which already had VS Code installed and at least one web browser.

During the workshop, we gave the families a folder containing the code for a simple website. The website had no styling, no images and very little content. It was a very very boring website, but it contained everything they needed to get started.

  • 1 HTML file called index.html
  • 1 CSS file called style.css (which was not applied)
  • 1 folder called images containing 6 image files (sweets.jpg, kittens.jpg, puppies.jpg, unicorns.jpg, picture.jpg and claire.jpg
  • 1 image file called claire-and-wapuu.jpg
Boring website screenshot

After introducing them to our boring website, I talked them through the basics of how we use a code editor to change the content on a website and view our changes in the browser.

The children then started to update the boring website by editing the content to change the main heading and include the details of their favourite foods and their favourite books or films. We then moved onto HTML comments. Their index.html file contained several lines of code which were hidden with comments, including a picture of me at a conference, stood next to a mascot.

Once the children managed to include the “hidden” image, we showed them how to change the picture for one of the others stored in the images folder.

By the end of the hour the children (and their grown ups) had updated a website and learned how to edit several HTML elements. The next step would be to give the children chance to edit some of the CSS styling, but it’s always much better to leave people excited to learn more than overwhelmed with too much content crammed into a short time.

I had a wonderful time with the families and will be sending them a tutorial shortly.

Last day at placement – Callum & Jacob

July 19th, 2024 by Callum

We have had a great time here, learning new skills including, web design, Canva, coding, Tinkercad and much more. We hope to use these new skills in the future to be able to develop our future ideas. Thanks Claire!

Matthew’s final work placement day

July 18th, 2024 by Matthew

Throughout the past 5 months, I have learnt a lot that has helped prepare me for my future career. It has been a great experience working in a business and being involved in the work process.

WordPress

I have developed my WordPress skills significantly since I started, learning how to use appropriates themes and personalise them to suit my needs, and the functions of different plugins. Developing demo sites has massively helped me with experimenting what and what not to do when creating websites, and has given me confidence with creating my own website in the future.

These are a few of the demo sites I have worked on, which includes a construction placeholder website, a barber shop placeholder website which I worked on with Shahzaib, and my own personal coding course website.

3D Printer

Experimenting with the 3D Printer has been a fun learning experience, which we have built up our knowledge of it throughout the past 5 months. We have printed out different types of models, such as: cubes, flexible cats, phone holders, a dragon, and some models that are designed by us.

We have used different filament materials and colours throughout this placement. We have used colours such as: black, dark blue, pink, red, multi coloured gradients, and a shiny blue.

GitHub Websites

I have also developed HTML, CSS and JavaScript code during my time here for websites using Visual Studio Code and resources from the VWC GitHub. This involves ideas such as: a random website idea generator, website template downloader, and a WordPress helpful tips plugin.

I now feel much more confident with advancing my career in tech, as I have learnt a lot more of making websites and creating my own portfolio website. I have also seen how businesses run and how to manage and work with clients.

Shahzaib’s final day at placement

July 18th, 2024 by Shahzaib

3D Printer

315 hours are now over, I’ve done a lot in that time and learned a ton. One thing I learned at the village web company is using a 3D printer, this caught my attention as I thought it was very interesting. The 3D printer allowed us to print virtually anything however we were unsure how to use it at first as Claire had only recently got it so she was still trying stuff out. We started off by trying small cubes that had X Y Z on them that were called ‘calibration cubes’ these were used just to test the 3D printer to see if it worked, once it worked consistently we could start downloading things to print off a website called Thingy verse. Once we found something interesting on Thingy verse and made sure it was the right size we downloaded it as an STL file and then sent it to a program called Cura which could download it into the 3D printer and then begin printing. We also started to make our own designs on Tinker cad, I followed different tutorials to make certain items like a chess piece and then did my own designs but they weren’t very good.

WordPress

Aside from the 3D printer, I also started using WordPress, before coming here I had only heard of the name but absolutely no idea how to use it or what it even really was. I got taught how to use WordPress to update client websites and make backups of their websites. I also learned how to create my own websites and use various different themes as well as different useful plugins, I experimented with a few but later made websites that were far better than what I’ve done previously.

This is the most recent one that I have worked on alongside Matthew, I made the logo using Canva which is another skill that I have learned as before I only briefly used Canva but upon coming here I used it more regularly. We set up a booking system, we added a contact page using ninja forms and added various copyright free images from sites like Pixabay and Unsplash.

I also made some other websites, one for a portfolio of stuff I’ve done previously and also bought my own web domain to put that portfolio on there (shahzaibawan.co.uk) , I’ve made a gym website that I customised regularly and I also made a garden website that was more of an example gardening site. I changed one website into a complete blank state only adding sample images and text and made sure that it was essentially a template website.

Github

I have used GitHub before at college however I did not use it much so I even forgot some of the features, however upon arriving here I started to use GitHub to fork repositories and upload different code files that I had made.

I have even made a plugin for WordPress that was based off HelloDolly, I made it so that it would display some tips for using WordPress instead of song lyrics.

Conclusion

I have enjoyed coming here as I have learned a lot of useful things such as using WordPress, a better understanding of GitHub and using the 3D Printer. I have also learned how to interact with customers as when we first started I didn’t know what to say to customers and what to do but by the end I could easily welcome a customer in, take their info and I could also answer calls for Claire. I would recommend this work placement as I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Manraj’s Final Blog

July 12th, 2024 by Manraj

During my week here I have made and posted content for Village Web Company CIC, Created a E-safety guide to keep people safe whilst gaming, created and printed my Christmas design and created a Google spreadsheet about girls with ADHD.

Ethan ‘my week at village web company’.

July 12th, 2024 by Ethan

I have redesigned a website to the best of my abilities in wordpress and in my opinion it has turned out pretty well. I have currently made all the pages for the website.

If I were to do it again I would probably add more pictures to the pages and choose a more customizable theme so I could make the colour theme ,black and yellow, more apparent. However I do think I have done a good job for my first website with word press. The most challenging part of this experience was when one of the plugins was not working as it was intended because of the theme so I had to adapt and get it work in a different way by instead of putting it in as its self I put it in as shortcode. Here is one of the pages where I had to do this and how they look in the website.

Here is the finished product.

we also made a design for a e safety information sheet to shown parents the dangers of some games and how to keep there children safe.

I also made 3 3d print designs a vwc coin. a chrstmas tree and bawble. and successfully printed a coin.

3D Printing Tutorials

July 11th, 2024 by Matthew

How to remove the filament:

  1. In the main menu, select the temperature option, then select nozzle.
  2. Set the temperature to 190
  3. Then return to the info screen, and you will see the nozzle temperature is going up.
  4. Once the temperature has reached 190, find the spring on the side of the printer, where the filament is being inserted into.
  5. Push this spring down to be able to pull the filament out of the tube.
  6. Return to the temperature screen, and then scroll down until you see the cooldown option. Select this option.
  7. The filament has been successfully removed.

How to insert the filament:

  1. Mount the spool onto the spool holder at the top of the printer.
  2. Push down the spring on the side of the printer.
  3. Pass the filament through the hole that opens when the spring is pushed down.
  4. Push the filament through the tube all the way to the nozzle, until you start to feel some resistance.
  5. On the printer screen, go to the main menu and scroll down until you see the option print from media. Select this option.
  6. Then scroll down until you see the XYZ calibration cube. Select this option.
  7. Confirm the print and it will start printing.

General E-Safety

July 11th, 2024 by Shahzaib

Nowadays technology is so prevalent that kids under 3 will have access to technology and will regularly use it their whole life. With such technology there comes a lot of risks, one such being videogames, videogames and apps are not necessarily bad, however sometimes the people on the games or the social media apps can cause a lot of harm and long lasting effects. Thankfully, there are a multitude of ways to prevent it, first let’s mention what some of the games and apps are and then some safety tips regarding them.

Fortnite

Fortnite is a popular battle royale game where players compete to be the last one standing. It involves combat, strategic building, and collaboration with other players.

Safety Tips:

1 – Parental Controls: Use the in-game parental controls to manage who your child can communicate with.

2 – Monitor Multiplayer: Despite it being a battle royale, there are other modes such as creative where users can make and do anything, ensure they only play age appropriate games.

3 – Manage Friend Requests: Make sure that the people your child adds are people they know in real life.

4 – Purchases: Ensure that any purchase is a one-time thing and remove the card from the account once the purchase is made, otherwise the child could easily keep buying items in the game.

5 – Communication: Disable/limit voice chat so any strangers can’t talk to your child and they can’t talk back to them.

Call of Duty (COD)

COD is a first-person shooter game known for its realistic graphics and intense gameplay. It often features team-based missions and multiplayer modes.

Safety Tips:

1 – Communication: Disable/limit voice chat so that strangers will not be able to talk to your child

2 – Discuss online safety: Ensure your child know what not to say to strangers if they manage to speak to people online

3 – Manage Friend Requests: Ensure that your child does not add every single person they see and instead only add people they know in real life

4 – Teach : Teach your child that games are different to real life

The way to keep safe on both these games are quite similar, here is a game where little to no supervision is required:

Minecraft

Minecraft is a sandbox game that encourages creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration. Players can build and explore virtual worlds made up of blocks.

The way in which Minecraft is more of a safe game is that it has a popular single player mode where players can build, explore and create contraptions. The only problem that can come is multiplayer, if your child joins servers then anyone can talk to them, there is a way to disable the chat though and if the child is on PlayStation or Xbox then not having PsPlus or Xbox Live will disable multiplayer and make it so they can only play single player.

Snapchat

Snapchat is a social media app that allows users to send photos and videos that disappear after being viewed. It also has a messaging feature and various filters.

Safety Tips:

1 – Privacy Settings: Set your child’s account to private to control who can see their snaps.

2 – Friend Requests: Teach your child to only accept friend requests from people they know

3 – Monitor Usage: Regularly check who your child is communicating with and what they are sharing.

4 – Discuss Online Behaviour: Educate your child about the risks of sharing personal information and inappropriate content.

Instagram will be pretty similar, the main takeaway is to monitor their online usage and to disable/monitor friend requests on these apps and for videogames to limit voice chat and monitor the age rating of severs/lobbies that the child could join. There is an app where children can socialise with little to no harm and that is:

WhatsApp:

WhatsApp is an app where you can easily message, call, facetime ,make group chats and it is totally secure as in order to use WhatsApp you need a phone number.

This means that if your child wants to talk to their friend all they need is their phone number and they can talk to them on WhatsApp with little to no risk. As long as your child doesn’t get access to someone else’s number that they shouldn’t have access to then they should be fine.

Guide on using HTML

July 9th, 2024 by Shahzaib

The way to make a website using HTML is actually quite simple, here is a few steps on how to get started:

Step 1:

First make a folder and save it somewhere where you can easily access it for example, your desktop


Step 2:

Open up your code editor, for me its VS code, once it is open, you should click on create new file and call it ‘index.html’ , save the file in the folder that you have already created.

If you click on the file in the folder it will open it in the browser, this will be important later.

Step 3:

In the file called ‘index.html’ type out ‘html:5’ and click enter and then add ‘-gb’ to where the language is, this will make it so that the language is set to the UK and not American English, if everything is done you should be left with this

now that you have a basic template done you can follow these next steps to see what else is possible with html

Step 4:

<h1> level one heading </h1>

<h2> level two heading</h2>

<h3>level three heading</h3>

<h4>level four heading</h4>

<h5>level five heading</h5>

<h6>level six heading</h6>


Using this makes it so that each heading will be smaller then the previous one so heading one will be the biggest.

Step 5:

<p> paragraph </p>

this line of code is just so you can input a block of text, now using the information learned, we can put them together and make this:

Remember to save any changes and now you should have a decent understanding of how to use html to make a website.