March 14 is known as Pi Day because the date represents the first three numbers in the mathematical constant π (3.14). We're celebrating with our coverage of everything Raspberry Pi related. If you've never even thought of what HTML means, you can still create amazing gadgets using Raspberry Pi and a bit of imagination.

• The Pi: Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ ($47 at Amazon)
• For downloading the software: SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSD card ($8 at Amazon)
• For adapting the microSD card to your computer: SanDisk Mobile Mate microSD card reader ($13 at Amazon)
• The power supply: CanaKit 5V Raspberry Pi Power supply ($10 at Amazon)
• You'll need this to type: Verbatim Slimline Keyboard ($10 at Amazon)
• For pointing & clicking: Logitech B100 ($10 at Amazon)
• The monitor connector: AmazonBasics HDMI
• For internet hardwire: AmazonBasics Ethernet cable

You'll also need a monitor or TV that accepts either HDMI or composite video input. HDMI works best, but composite video is workable. Many Raspberry Pi projects use an internet connection, so you'll also want a Wi-Fi dongle or ethernet cable.

How to reformat your microSD card

1. Insert your microSD card into the USB card reader.

2. Connect the card reader to your computer.
3. Download SD Formatter 5.0.1.

4. Double-click on Install SD Card Formatter 5.0.1.mpkg in your downloads folder in your Dock to install SD Formatter 5.0.

5. Follow the instructions in the installation window.
6. Click the Launchpad icon in your Dock. It looks like a silver rocket ship.

7. Find the SD Formatter 5.0.1 app.
8. To move between Launchpad windows, click the Next Page icons at the bottom center of the screen, or swipe to the right or left with your trackpad or Magic Mouse.
9. Click on the SD Formatter 5.0.1 app to open it. A formatting window will appear on your desktop.

10. Under Select Card select your microSD card from the dropdown menu.
11. Click Format in the bottom right corner.

When the reformat is complete, you will get a notification window. Select OK to close the window. Your microSD card is now ready to install the operating system to the Raspberry Pi.

How to Download NOOBS onto the microSD card

1. Download the ZIP file of NOOBS Version 3.3.1. It is a large file and will take a while to complete. You will want Raspbian, so do not download NOOBS Lite.

2. Double-click on the NOOBS file from the Downloads folder in your Dock to open it.

3. Select the first file inside the NOOBS folder.
4. Scroll down and Shift + left-click on the last file in the NOOBS folder.
5. Drag and drop all selected NOOBS files into the SD card icon on your desktop. You don't have to open the SD card drive.

6. Right-click on the SD card icon.
7. Select "Eject [SD Card Name]".

8. Remove the card reader from your computer.
9. Remove the microSD card from the card reader.

Now that NOOBS is loaded onto your microSD card, you're ready to set up your Raspberry Pi.

Set up your Raspberry Pi

1. Insert the microSD card into the card slot on the underside of the Raspberry Pi.

2. Plug the USB keyboard into one of the USB ports.
3. Plug the USB mouse into one of the USB portsAlternatively, connect the Bluetooth adapter into one of the USB ports.

4. Turn on your monitor or TV set and make sure it is set to the proper input (e.g. HDMI 1 or Component)
5. Plug the HDMI or video component cable into the monitor or TV set.
6. Connect the other end of the cable into the Raspberry Pi.

7. Connect an ethernet cable to your router if you plan to connect to the Internet.
8. Connect the other end of the cable to your Raspberry Pi.Alternately, connect the Wi-Fi adapter to the Raspberry Pi.

9. Connect the power supply to the Raspberry Pi.
10. Plug the power supply into the power outlet. This will turn on and boot up Raspberry Pi. A power indicator light will begin to glow, letting you know that you are connected.

A start screen should appear on the monitor or TV you're using.

Download the Raspbian operating system on the Raspberry Pi

1. Select Raspbian.
2. Click Install.

3. When the warning window pops up. Click Yes to confirm. This is just letting you know that the microSD card will be overwritten with an uncompressed version of the Raspbian operating system.
4. Wait for the installation process to complete.

Once the installation process is finished, Raspbian will automatically begin to boot.

Configure your Raspberry Pi

1. Click Menu in the upper left corner of the screen.

2. Select Preferences in the dropdown menu.

3. Select Raspberry Pi Configuration under Preferences.

4. When the configuration window appears, click on the Localisation tab.
5. Click on Set Locale… to set your location.
6. Click on Set timezone… to set your local time.
7. Click on Set Keyboard… to set your keyboard language.

8. Reconfiguring your Raspberry Pi will require a reboot. When the reboot window appears, click Yes to continue.

You are set up and ready to start using Raspberry Pi. The mini computing world is your oyster. The only question now is, what project will you build?

What you'll need to get started

Of course to get started with the Raspberry Pi, you'll need to pick from one of the various motherboards available.

The Raspberry Pi 3 B+ is the most flexible iterations of the do-it-yourself computer. It includes ports four USB-A ports, an ethernet jack, a microSD card slot, micro-USB for power, HDMI out, as well as connections for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas.

While the Raspberry Pi is obviously the star of the show as far as equipment is concerned, you'll also need a microSD card and reader, a power supply, a keyboard, and a mouse.

SanDisk Ultra 32GB microSD card ($8 at Amazon)

You'll need a micrSD card onto which to install NOOBS, a crucial part of setting up your Pi.

SanDisk Mobile Mate microSD card reader ($13 at Amazon)

You'll need to use a microSD card reader to load NOOBS from your Mac onto your microSD card.

CanaKit 5V 2.5A Raspberry Pi Power Supply ($10 at Amazon)

This micro-USB power supply is just what you'll need to get your Raspberry Pi up and running.

Verbatim Slimline Keyboard ($10 at Amazon)

A basic wireless keyboard that you'll need when you start using your Raspberry Pi.

AmazonBasics HDMI Cable ($7 at Amazon)

To connect your Rasberry Pi to a monitor. A USB-A cable would also work, depending on your monitor's port options.

Logitech B100 ($10 at Amazon)

A standard, cheap USB mouse for your pointing and clicking needs.

AmazonBasics Ethernet Cable ($5 at Amazon)

If you want to connect to the internet using a hardwired link, a basic CAT-6 patch cable will do the trick.

Passion projects can keep you up at night. They nag at your senses, pulling you back when you should be doing any number of other things: sleeping, eating, or in the case of WWDC student developer Akshaya Dinesh — attending a friend's sweet 16 party.

"The first app that I made was actually a tic-tac-toe game. I started coding it in the morning… totally forgot what was going around me. I missed the party, and I was coding through the night, up until like 2AM in the morning." She laughs. "I was scared that I wouldn't be able to know how to do a single-player mode, because I was like: 'Oh, AI. That's so complicated, I don't know how to do that.' And it ended up that I just wrote 100 if-statements and it worked totally fine!"

Dinesh was in her early teens when she found herself lost in the code of her first app; in the few years since, she's become a hackathon enthusiast, AR champion, and most importantly — a role model to thousands of other young women in the northeast. Because Dinesh doesn't just make her own apps: She helps others find their own coding passions with Girls Make Apps, an organization she co-founded with Malavika Vivek in the summer of 2016.

"Girls Make Apps is a national grassroots organization that helps provide free educational programming for girls of all ages. So we work with girls from elementary school all the way up to college students. Essentially, what we do is we provide programs such as camps, workshops, and hackathons. And all these programs are meant to teach young women not only just how to code, but how to use code for social impact."

Dinesh and Vivek have run camps for over 500 women across the United States over the last few years, giving girls in middle school, high school, and college the chance to learn the skills to build their own apps — and bring that talent back to their communities.

Tomorrow there'll be more of us

I met Dinesh through Apple's WWDC scholarship program along with a number of other amazing student developers, but as I reflect on the conference over a month later, I keep coming back to her story.

Tip: Check out Joe Rossignol's story over on MacRumors if you'd like to read more about some of the amazing work the 2018 WWDC scholarship winners are doing.

The App Store and competing platforms have given kids as young as seven or eight the opportunity to learn to code and make their own programs; options like Swift Playgrounds and (coming in iOS 12) apps like Shortcuts can help make the process of learning switches, if-statements, and nested code even easier. From this wellspring, we've seen no shortage of incredible young developers come through with all sorts of brilliant app ideas — camera apps, automation, games, and more.

Dinesh has built a number of apps over her few years in computer science. But where most younger developers focus inward, elevating their own ideas, Dinesh has been almost single-handedly focused on bringing up those same ideas in her peers.

We are what they grow beyond

Listening to Dinesh speak about Girls Make Apps, it's hard to escape her passion for teaching and sharing information. Talking about "social change" is easy. Effecting it is another matter entirely, and Dinesh does so in every course she runs and new developer she teaches.

She credits this fervor in part to the early hackathons she attended while first learning to code. "When I first started out a few years ago — I think it was 2014? — and I went to my first hackathon, there were only five girls there. And I was so intimidated to be in that room. I walked in, I was like: 'Mom, I just want to walk back out. I don't think I can do this anymore!' And she pushed me in the room!

"And so I went, and I talked to those five girls, because that was the only common ground I had [in that room] — I had no friends there. I still keep up with those girls now, and it's been 4-5 years. I definitely think that finding that support group, and that little network of women is so important in retaining minorities in tech."

At our cores, we're a tribal species. We take cues from each other, and build our experiences and path forward from there. Dinesh's hackathon experiences built the base that helped her create an even better space for young women going forward. And who knows? Those young women she's taught may build communities that are even better still. This is how we grow the technological world we want: if-check by if-check, line by line, story by story.

"Coming from a background where I didn't have that many women role models in tech: When I thought about tech, I thought about nerdy people geeking out on their laptops in the dark." Dinesh laughs. "But then, once I actually found out what being in technology meant, I knew that all the stereotypes were so incorrect. I totally started getting into programming more, and I built a lot of programs and apps now that I never would have been able to do if I hadn't found more role models."

Dinesh will leave New Jersey for the west coast and Stanford this fall, but she's not giving up on her company just yet. "It would break my heart for me not to work on Girls Make Apps, so I'm definitely going to continue working on it. But I think I might have to delegate more of the responsibilities away from myself."

The organization is currently seeking new board members as their co-founders move into the next stage of their young lives, but Dinesh and Vivek also have support in the community of women — and their parents — they've helped train. "The people that support us the most are the people we have supported."

You can learn more about Girls Make Apps on its website (which Dinesh built).

OS X's command line and I have never been what I'd call "friendly"; rather, we have a mutual respect and understanding about not messing with each other. (Well, as much of a mutual respect as one can have between a human being and a code window.)

While the average person should never have any reason to visit Terminal, Apple's command line interface app actually does give you access to quite a few neat tricks and shortcuts... if you're willing to take a peek.

What is Terminal?

Apple's Terminal app is a direct interface to OS X's bash shell — part of its UNIX underpinnings. When you open it, Terminal presents you with a white text screen, logged in with your OS X user account by default.

Here's the important part: With a system administrator account and password, you have direct access to tweaking almost everything about your computer's software code; that means that while this little window provides great power, it comes with great responsibility. In short, be careful before using Terminal to execute commands, and make sure you understand what you're typing.

You can also use Terminal to securely connect to other machines, web servers, and even create your own scripts, but those are how-tos for another day. For now, we're going to focus on using Terminal to explore your own computer.

Basic Terminal commands you should know

Before we get started with the fun stuff, let's learn some basic Terminal terminology and commands. These form the framework for more complex interactions (aka, the fun stuff).

You can type something in the Terminal window until you're blue in the face, but it won't execute until you press the Return key on your keyboard. At that point, it will either return an error if you've typed something incorrectly, or the command will execute.

Unless you're executing a command that requires the display of text in Terminal, you won't have any indicator that what you've done has been successful; you'll just get a new line with your user name on it once the command is finished processing.

When writing commands and paths in Terminal, almost everything is case sensitive: This means that you need to remember to properly capitalize "Dock" when referring to the Dock, or OS X won't understand your command.

You can use Terminal to get direct access to your files without using the Finder. To do so, you build something called a path. Paths look similar in some ways to website sub-directories, and follow the structure of your folders.

Paths take two forms: absolute paths and relative paths. An absolute path starts at the root level of your hard drive, and is displayed as "/". So if you wanted to make a path to your Applications folder, you would write "/Applications/".

Relative paths are defined based on where you've already navigated to, and represented by "./". For instance, if you go to the "/Applications/" folder in Terminal, that's your current working directory (cwd). You can then get to your Utilities folder by typing "./Utilities/" rather than "/Applications/Utilities".

When you first launch Terminal, you're starting in the current working directory of /Users/myusername/ (also known as your User folder).

To actually put all this path knowledge to use, you'll need the Terminal commands for displaying and changing files.

ls: The "ls" command, by itself, displays the contents of the cwd. So if I were just to type "ls" in Terminal, it would display the contents of my user directory:

You can optionally add an absolute or relative or path if you want to view a different directories. So, for example, if I wanted to view the Utilities folder inside Applications, I could type "ls /Applications/Utilities/". This won't change your current working directory, but it'll let you view other directories on your hard drive.

You can add options to view more information about that directory. The options for "ls" include:

• -l, which lets you view the permissions of each file in the directory
• -R, which will not only show each folder in the directory, but all their files, as well
• -a, which will show any hidden files in the current directory

cd: Where the "ls" command lets you view a directory, the "cd" command will actually move to that directory (change your cwd). For instance, if after viewing the Utilities folder, you want to move to it, you'd type "cd /Applications/Utilities/".

pwd: Write this command by itself to help you remember the path of your current directory. When typed into terminal, it will print the full path of your cwd.

man: This command, followed by another Unix command, lets you read the Unix manual about the second command. This is super useful if you want to try a cool Terminal trick you found online, but aren't sure what those commands actually do.

For instance, typing "man ls" will get you information on the "ls" command, which lists directory contents.

defaults: This command is often used in Terminal tips and tricks to tweak applications and system settings via their preference files. You can use it to do things like disable transparency in the menu bar, always show your scroll bars, change trackpad behavior, and much much more. You'll usually see this paired with either "write" and a string, as with this:

The code above lets you save all your screenshots as JPGs instead of the system default PNG.

killall: If you execute a Terminal command that affects any system process or app, you're going to need to reboot the process to make it take effect. "killall" followed by the process will do so. (This is also another way to force quit misbehaving apps or processes if your Force Quit menu isn't behaving.) Remember, this command and its target are case sensitive.

ln: OS X has long offered aliases, which let you create links to files, folders, and applications elsewhere in the system without having to duplicate them. Unfortunately, certain apps don't play well with aliases. With the link command "ln -s", you can create a low-level, UNIX-based symbolic link which most system processes will recognize. Likely, you'll never have to make a symbolic link, but on the off-chance you want to perform a Terminal trick that requires them, this is how you do it.

The first path listed is your original file's path; the second path is where you'd like your symbolic link.

chflags: This commands lets you view and change the flags on a file or folder. For most people, the only flags you're going to care about are "hidden" and "nohidden", which hide and unhide documents, respectively.

sudo: If you spend any time online, you've probably heard of "sudo" before. This is Unix's override command, and lets you execute any command as an administrator — provided, of course, that you have the requisite password and permissions. It probably goes without saying, but as a Terminal beginner, it's generally a good idea not to mess with commands like "sudo" unless you are 100 percent sure what you're doing.

say: Feeling lonely? You can make your computer say anything you like with the "say" command, and you can even record it in audio format to your desktop, if you so choose.

telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl: This isn't technically something local to your Mac, but it's my all-time favorite Terminal trick. Some kind soul on the internet made an all-ASCII version of Star Wars: A New Hope; run the following code, and you'll be treated to a full showing. If it doesn't make you smile just a little bit, you might be dead inside.

Apple's Hour of Code program is back at Apple retail stores, taking place December 4 - 10! You can sign up for workshops at your store by visiting Apple.com/retail. Whether you join Apple or work on your own, here are some great resources for learning how to code.

It would likely take you millions of years to consume all the content available on our computers, phones, and tablets — there's so much out there on the Internet and App Store, and more coming every day. But what if you want to make your own content? That world can be a lot darker and scarier if you're not sure where to start.

There's a ton of great content on website-building, ebook creation, writing automated workflows for productivity, and even putting together your own apps. But when you're starting from step zero, where do you go? Who do you talk to?

Why learn to code in the first place?

I remember being in the dark. I first started tinkering with HTML in 1998, back when how-to sites were few and far between. I stumbled into self-teaching myself HTML, CSS, PHP, and Javascript throughout the next decade, with a few terrible detours — including Python, which to me, felt just as scary as the snake of the same name. And then, in 2010, I started the whole process over again in learning how to build ebooks.

I got lost more times than I can count. I made many, many mistakes. But: I came out of nearly two decades of experimentation loving to code.

Coding gives you the power to not only enjoy other people's projects, but also to say "I can do that!" and build your own passions. You form excellent problem-solving skills and troubleshooting steps — steps that I use almost every day in other areas. And if you enjoy logic puzzles, coding is a neat way to scratch that itch and make something special for yourself.

The language you learn can be helpful in the most unlikely of situations: Because I knew HTML and CSS, I ended up with lots of one-off web jobs from friends and acquaintances who didn't want to venture into those waters. In my early post-college years, those jobs paid my rent; and it was HTML and CSS that helped land me my first job at Apple, and my ebook-building job at Macworld.

And, like learning real-world languages, once you understand one coding language, it's a whole lot easier to get to know the others.

Great resources to start learning how to code

The good news is, you don't have to stumble through coding and self-teach yourself the way I had to. It's 2017, and you have your pick of great, interactive resources for learning to code. Whereas I had to rely on the kindness of random internet strangers and HTML Goodies, you can quickly pick up the basics of just about any coding skill with the right tutorials.

Here are some of my favorite starting points:

If you've never touched code before and the mere thought of writing things with brackets and chevrons scares you, give one of these programs a whirl. Apple has partnered with the company for years to help teach its "Hour of Code" workshops, and it's easy to see why: The lessons are fun, colorful, and present code as more of a Lego puzzle to be built than endless lines of text. And better yet: You can take the courses on your Mac, PC, or mobile devices.

• Get started coding with Code.org

Khan Academy offers a large assortment of online classes for you to enjoy ranging all manner of topics, but I put them on the list specifically for their Computer Science program. If you want a deeper dive into the theory and building blocks of coding, this course does an excellent job of it — and keeps you entertained, too!

If you want to dip your toe into web development, Khan Academy also offers Hour of Code tutorials for creating Javascript animations, building a webpage, or databases of information. And if you want to learn on the go, Khan Academy has a great app for iOS devices.

• Learn about the science behind code with Khan Academy

Ready to get your hands into some actual web development? Codecademy is an incredible free resource for learning just about every major web programming language out there. The website offers a step-by-step interactive course for building a webpage along with lots of tutorials for web languages and systems like Javascript, Ruby on Rails, SQL databases, and Git.

Codecademy's tutorials are very easy to follow and all your progress is automatically saved, so you can come back to it at any time. Unfortunately, the website doesn't work well with iOS devices at this time, but they're excellent in a Mac or PC browser.

• Dig into the language of web code with Codecademy

If it's iOS app development you want to explore, Apple's Swift language is the perfect place to start — and the Learn Swift website has collected a ton of material for beginners and intermediates to peruse. While there are no sites offering free interactive tutorials for Swift (that I know of — readers, if you have a great site to recommend, post it in the comments!), that doesn't mean you solely have to rely on text documentation.

There are great resources like We heart Swift if you're looking for interactive paid tutorials, or Apple's extensive Swift library for text, video, and everything in between.

• Start making apps for iOS with Learn Swift

I've been coding HTML websites for over 18 years, but I still use Google almost every day to double-check a piece of code, or integrate an open-source Javascript tool. Your search engine is one of the best tools you have for finding answers or information to your coding problems: Chances are, someone else online has had this problem before you, and it's been solved.

• Stack Overflow is also a great resource. It's a huge programming community full of smart developers, and always worth a visit if you're having trouble with your projects.
• W3 Schools serves a vital role in the web coding space: showing how these things are supposed to work and breaking down the individual components so you can see exactly what does what.
• CodePen isn't so much of a resource as it is a tool for web developers. With CodePen you can try out live changes to your markup without having to save and reload a page, or just use it as a playground to see how HTML, CSS, and JavaScript all work together in web harmony.

Let's find out together!

Whether you want to learn how to build a website, create an ebook for the iBookstore that doesn't suck, get an introduction to the great iOS automation app Workflow, or ease into app programming with Swift, we're hoping we can answer your questions and give you a good starting point.

Have a topic you'd like us to look into? Let us know in the comments.

Updated Nov 2017: Updated content for 2017.

Welcome back to Coding Corner! Today, we're going to go over some great interface and user tweaks you can execute to customize your Mac. These tricks are often simple and can help you spruce up your Mac far beyond what the System Preferences window allows.

So, without further ado, 15 great tricks you can execute in Terminal.

Tweak the Finder

Want to see hidden files, or copy Quick Look text? There are quite a few "defaults" commands that let you alter how the Finder looks or acts.

Want to see all the hidden files and folders OS X has to offer — or you simply can't find a file you hid? Just use this command in Terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles -bool TRUE

killall Finder

To re-hide all your files, just change the TRUE to FALSE.

If you've had a file get corrupted or you suspect there's something hidden inside its package, you can force Terminal to open it. Just use the following command:

cat ~/enter/file/path

Fair warning: If you try to open a photo or pretty much any non-text document, you'll likely just see text gibberish.

Sure, you can Option-drag any file to a new location to make a copy of it, but if you want to simplify the process and automatically copy the entire contents of one folder to another, check out this simple Terminal trick.

ditto -V ~/original/folder/ ~/new/folder/

Have the URL to a file but don't want to use Safari, Firefox, or Chrome to download it? You can go through Terminal with the following commands:

cd ~/Downloads/

curl -O http://www.thefilename.com/thefile/url.mp3

The first command moves your current Terminal location to your Downloads folder; the second downloads it from the web to that folder.

Modifying screenshots

Want to change how your screenshots look? Here are some commands to help you do just that.

This Terminal command lets you change the file format of your screenshots. By default, they're saved as PNGs, but you can also save them as PDFs, JPGs, and more.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg

Here's another good one if you tend to take a lot of screenshots: This command will disable drop-shadow on your screenshots, only displaying the window you've snapped.

$ defaults write com.apple.screencapture disable-shadow -bool TRUE

killall SystemUIServer

Don't like the phrase Apple uses to save your screenshots? Traditionally, it's "Screen Shot - [date] - [time]", but you can change "Screen Shot" to any word you please.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name "New Screen Shot Name" killall SystemUIServer`

Get bored of your new name scheme? Go back to the default by typing as follows:

defaults write com.apple.screencapture name ""

killall SystemUIServer

Your screenshots, by default, save to the Desktop. But if you'd prefer they save elsewhere, it's an easy Terminal trick to make it so.

defaults write com.apple.screencapture location ~/your/location/here

killall SystemUIServer

You can also drag the folder of your choice on top of the Terminal window after typing "location" if you don't want to manually type out the file path.

System changes

If you're looking for broader OS X-level changes, these commands might help you get started.

Whether you want to troll your friends or add useful "in case of loss" contact information, you can add a personalized message to your login screen with this Terminal command.

sudo defaults write /Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow LoginwindowText "In case of loss, call 555-555-5555."

Is your Mac acting sluggishly? It might be in need of a good restart. You can check to see just how long your Mac's been active by checking its uptime with this Terminal command:

uptime

If you need to prevent your Mac from going to sleep — say, you're running an extensive task, or recording your screen — there's an all-too-amusing command for that:

caffeinate

Once you enter this command, your Mac's digital eyes will be pried open and prevented from going to sleep until you end it by pressing Control-C.

If you don't want to rely on being the one to end your poor Mac's suffering, you can also create a set a number of seconds before your Mac sleeps:

caffeinate -u -t 5400

The above command will keep your Mac awake for an hour and a half.

We've all had our Mac freeze up or crash at least once in its lifetime. If you want to skip the crying and the yelling at the screen and get back to work, you can enter this Terminal command, which will make OS X reboot as soon as it senses a full system freeze.

sudo systemsetup -setrestartfreeze on

Modify your Dock

Want to make your Dock look different? Check out these Terminal tweaks.

You can organize your Dock's many icons by adding in blank spaces with this handy terminal command:

defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-apps -array-add '{"tile-type"="spacer-tile";}'

killall Dock

Repeat this command for each spacer you'd like for your Dock. To remove a spacer, you can drag it out to the right until you see the poof icon.

Not sure which apps are visible on your screen? You can make this information extra pertinent by using this Terminal command, which lowers the opacity on icons for hidden apps in the Dock. It's a great way to see what you haven't used lately, as well as what's cluttering up your screen.

defaults write com.apple.Dock showhidden -bool TRUE

killall Dock

If lowering the opacity of hidden apps appeals to you, you might like this Terminal command even better: It hides any closed app from your Dock at all times.

defaults write com.apple.dock static-only -bool TRUE

killall Dock

Your favorites?

Have a Terminal command you love that we didn't mention? Drop it below in the comments.

Whether you're experimenting with building your very own website or you've ever wondered how you might go about changing something in your Tumblr theme, it's important to know a few things about the backbone of the Internet. Knowing "just enough to be dangerous" allows you to understand what's going on behind the scenes without having to spend 10,000+ hours mastering a coding language. After nearly 20 years of website building, here are the 10 things I think everyone should know about the weird and wonderful code that makes up the web.

Website code is made up of HTML, CSS, and scripts

When you visit a website's domain name, you're likely to see beautiful images, a clean layout, and text beyond your heart's content. Peer behind the curtain of that visual smorgasboard, however, and you'll find the building blocks of the web: code.

Website code is made up of three things: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and scripts. Each piece of code contributes a valuable part to making a website look and work the way it does.

HTML is the most visible code hiding behind a website, and can be seen by viewing a page's source code. Elements are made up of words enclosed in chevrons called '[[ tags ]] '.

An HTML element usually comes in a pair: an opening tag, and a closing tag. For instance:

 This is part of the body of the website 

Some HTML elements don't require a closing tag because everything happens inside the tag itself. Two examples of that are (which inserts an image into the page) and
(a line break). Instead of a separate closing tag, these HTML elements just have a trailing slash before their closing chevron.

CSS hides within an external stylesheet or inside HTML's