What The Flexbox: A Free Video Course On The CSS Flexible Box Model By Wes Bos
Last week, I read and reviewed The New CSS Layout by Rachel Andrew. Her book opened my eyes to the new Flexbox and Grid layout capabilities of modern CSS. I was truly inspired by her book; and I have since begun filling in the gaps in my Cascading Style Sheet mental model. Over the last two days, I've gone through "What The Flexbox" - a free video course about Flexbox by Wes Bos. And, just like his other course materials, What The Flexbox delivers high quality, easily consumable material with more than an ounce of polish and professionalism.
| |
|
|
||
| |
 |
|
||
| |
|
|
If the name Wes Bos sounds familiar, it's because I reviewed another one of his video courses - Learn Node.js Master Package - a few months ago. In that review, I praised Bos for the high quality of his content and the professionalism of his delivery. This course - What The Flexbox - lives up to those same standards. Everything about this course is well done, from the organization of the material; to the isolation of the Flexbox specific CSS; to the selection of his user interface (UI) colors. It all just flows well and makes the content easy and enjoyable to consume.
And, the course is clearly effective. I came away from the videos truly feeling like I had a solid understanding of how Flexbox works. In the first two-thirds of the course, Bos covers the technical foundation of the Flexbox semantics. Then, in the last one-third of the course, he walks through several real-world examples that drive home the way Flexbox can be used at both the mirco and macro levels of a webpage's architecture. Seeing these demos got me noodling on all kinds of ways that I can weave Flexbox into my current CSS practices.
At several points throughout the video course, Bos references The Complete Guide To Flexbox by Chris Coyier (of CSS-Tricks fame). The Complete Guide provides a robust overview of the CSS properties of Flexbox. And, walks through several real world examples. This makes it a great companion piece to Bos' video course because it can fill in any technical gaps. For example, after watching What The Flexbox, I was still getting confused over the difference between "align-content" and "align-items". No problem, Chris Coyier covers the role of these two properties with several illustrative figures. Confusion cleared!
I'm a big fan of Wes Bos and his video courses. He clearly has a flair for teaching; and, continues to create content that is both engaging and attractive. If you're new to CSS; or, you just haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest, I'd highly recommend What The Flexbox. Flexbox has solid support in all modern browsers. It's also and easier mental modal than floats and will certainly help bring you into the world of responsive web design.
Reader Comments
I love wes's courses too, though I went the flexbox for zombies route for this topic (highly recommend).
Was just wondering though; have you ever written an unflattering review? I'm honestly not sure I've ever seen one, and I at least skim most of yours. They're always very thoughtful.
@Chris,
Ha ha, good question - if a review would be unflattering, I tend to just omit it altogether. For example, I've read some books that were just ... not very good. But, rather than writing something negative, I just move on to the next thing. I think, as someone who has had to deal with angry customers (via Support), I shy away from doing any public bashing :D
I respect that, but maybe consider at least listing books to avoid? Knowing where not to waste one's time can also be helpful. But yeah, totally understand and agree with the keep it positive philosophy
@Chris,
Yeah, good point. I'll noodle on a solution.