Getting started with CodePen

CodePen is great tool for writing code with minimal hassle. It's basically an online text editor that allows you to write HTML, CSS, and JavaScript with no setup. And it's FREE! And you don't even really have to sign up. You can't save your work, if you don't sign up, but still, if you just want to start playing around, you can do it easily.

Go to codepen.io

I'd suggest you sign up, but you can just click the Start Coding button.

The coding space will open and you're ready to start writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

As you write your code you'll see the output display in the white space automatically.

There are lots of other great features. You can easily include CSS and JavaScript libraries. You can share links to your 'pen'. You can download all of your code. You can change the layout of the coding space and display space. And I'm sure there are tons more cool things you can do that I'm forgetting or haven't discovered yet.

Posting on the forum

Choose a forum category. Choose a category you think makes the most sense for your topic.

When you write your post there are all kinds of options for what you can add. Images, videos, GIFs, code snippets, etc.

Adding code snippets when you're posting about your code is incredibly helpful. You won't see the code formatting when you're writing the post, but once its published color formatting will be applied.

Providing links to your code on places like CodePen and CodeSandbox is especially helpful. And definitely preferred if you're posting more than just a few lines of code.

But most importantly, just have fun!