Hello fellow campers, good night.
I recently started my course at the FCC and now I have reached the stage where I will need to build my tribute page.
I feel completely lost despite carefully following all previous steps.
If I go back and get the codes I will be able to build this page, but the idea of assembling a layout is not clear in my mind.
I am thinking of giving a pause and doing exercises and reading other bibliographies to solidify my knowledge before continuing.
I would like to know of you, more experienced, if this idea of mine is really worth it, or if I should build the page in a simpler way and give continuity to the course, if you have already seen this situation and what attitudes have had and still have something That can recommend me 
Thanks guys, hugs!
I suggest making a go at it, and just taking things step by step. Reading and looking are only one part, the doing…especially if you struggle though it is what really helps you learn it and pull everything you are leaning into place.
Don’t look at it as one big whole, break it up into smaller pieces and concentrate on how you are going to do each part. So like, when you look at the example for the project, theres a header, a pic with a caption, the bullet points a quote and a link. Dont worry about all of it, just work your way down the page.
How will you get the header up on the page? If you’e lost…check back through the lessons or get on google to figure it out. Once you have that down, then move on to the pic…so on so forth.
Trust me though, by taking a pause, reading, looking, etc wont solidify your knowledge anywhere like actually doing will…if anything, all those things are procrastinating…the only way to solidify what youve learned in theory is to actually put it into practice. Whats the worst that could happen? You wont break the internet or anything hehe! So put some faith into yourself and power through it. If you’ve gone through the lessons and google and still stuck like Chuck, just post a thread and ask for help… Im new here but everyone seems pretty helpful…
Really, your confused on the first project?!? You are the first person in the history of Free Code Camp to get lost! … Oh wait, no, it’s the exact opposite of that. 
Many, many people have been exactly where you are. Relax. Take a deep breath. Here is the standard advice I give the the many posts that I see like this:
I think one of the great lessons from the movie The Martian is that when you are confronted with a problem to large too comprehend, break it into smaller pieces and work those problems. Don’t think that you need to solve the entire problem all at once – that’s for the pros. Just take on one little problem at a time. Keep breaking things up into smaller problems until you get down to a problem small enough to handle.
Let’s look through the user stories.
- User Story: I can view a tribute page with an image and text.
OK, can you create a web page in codepen? Do you know how to add text? Don’t move on until you can. Can you add an image? Don’t move on until you can. Do you know how to manipulate and format these? Don’t move on until you can. Seriously, don’t move on until you can do any of these steps.
- I can click on a link that will take me to an external website with further information on the topic.
Do you know how to put a link into a web page?
My advice is to break things into small problems and test them. Don’t get too complicated too fast. Don’t make 10 changes at once until you’re a good enough coder to do that. Make one change and test. Make another change and test. Etc. And don’t get too complicated if you don’t need to.
Research those small problems and test them. Read-search-ask - it’s a great motto. If you get to the point where you are stumped, then ask the forum, but be specific. Don’t say “I’m stumped on this build.” Say, “I can’t figure out how to put a link into a page.” Ask for small, specific problems and you’ll get better results. (And you could probably google that first and get 1000 results.)
Lastly, see what others have done. Yes, you can look at other people’s pages. Obviously try for yourself first, but if you’re stuck, see how someone else did it. As long as you understand what they did, you’re still learning.
Just keep it simple. You can go back and spruce it up later. This is what I did. I fully intend to go back and clean it up and improve it later, but its good enough for now.
Relax. Go back to basics. Ask specific questions.
Seriously. Just break things up. It astonishes me when I see people provide pens to builds where they’ve tried to do everything but still haven’t figured out how to solve the fundamental tasks of the build. And now they have a dozen problems to deal with all at once. Just take it little by little.
@ksjazzguitar You make a really good point about trying to be too ambitious… I will say, Ive seen some pretty awesome tribute pages, made me feel bad about mine lol so I tried to get a bit more creative with my portfolio page, but not by much, I sitll followed the outline of the example given.
Im keeping it simple because Im focusing on using what Im learning and 2 projects in, have learned SO much, even though it was pretty frustrating at times. I do remember though, when I first started out Id joke that my internet provider was going to shut off my service due to my abuse but that hasnt happened…yet lol. My computer has yet to burst into flames too…after how royally Ive messed things up while trying to learn, I feel pretty confident saying, the worst that can happen if you try is you have to try again. The best that can happen is you actually coded something that works…and thats waaay more awesome than just watching other people do it.
Cool. Just keep at it.
Yes, it’s frustrating. IF I HAVE TO SPEND ONE MORE MINUTE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY MY BOOTSTRAP COLUMNS DON’T DO WHAT THEY’RE SUPPOSED TO! ARGH!!!
But just keep at it. It gets easier.
Yeah, don’t get too complex. And there’s no one stopping you from going back and touching them up once you know more. Just get it done simply and well. I think you’re better off learning a few things really well instead of trying to kluge in a bunch of stuff that you don’t understand.
I’ve been having this problem as well. I just figured out on code pen, that quick adding bootstrap, adds Bootstrap 4 rather than bootstrap 3. There are some changes with columns in bootstrap 4, the main one I had a problem with was that ‘col-’ is used instead of 'col-xs-’.
Hi cndragn, good afternoon.
Reading your words was really motivating.
Reflecting here with myself, I realized that what you said is true! If I stop and start reading other books, I will never feel ready, I will always postpone the work of creating the tribute page and I will never feel ready.
Now I will start developing this project and will only leave the computer when it is ready. I’ll post it here for you to see.
Thank you very much for your support and for the words you wrote to me.
Hi ksjazzguitar.
Actually splitting a problem into small pieces makes it seem simpler to solve.
These words were etched in my head.
Thanks for the force, friend. A big hug!
Well, building something that really works is a wonderful feeling! It’s as if the whole universe made sense at that moment lol
It’s very rewarding!
@GustavoFVeloso YaY! im glad you are motivated and ready to delve in!! By the way, don’t worry about making it look pretty, put your efforts into making sure all the parts are there and layed out correctly. Focus on your code, not the design.This is code camp afterall, not design camp lol Of course, we want what we make to look nice, but personally, I feel coding and design are two different things…trying to learn all of it at once will be way too overwhelming.
So for now don’t make things harder for yourself and keep it simple… focus strictly on what the project is asking for. At some other time down the road, you can always come back to the project and spruce it up… When you’re on to way more difficult projects and need a mental break, go back to earlier projects and see how you could make them better. At least that way…your distraction will still involve coding.
Oh, and speaking of mental breaks…they are good, not as a deflection but just to give your brain breathing space. Sometimes when something is really killing me, I step away, make a cup of coffee, hit up Netflix for an episode of Law & Order (lol) and then when I look at my code again…boom, I’ve got it.
.[quote=“GustavoFVeloso, post:9, topic:108260, full:true”]
Well, building something that really works is a wonderful feeling! It’s as if the whole universe made sense at that moment lol
It’s very rewarding!
[/quote]
Funny story, a couple years ago I was tyring to learn something…I forget what exactly but it had something to do with php. I was grinding away and this one particular thing that I couldnt grasp, couldnt understand, wouldnt work, no matter what I did and it was killing me dead!!!
Finally after nearly a week, while my brain was deep in a coffee infused, sleep deprived with an unhealthy dose of delirium state…it suddenly clicked. I got it and what I was trying to do worked perfectly. I was so excited I jumped up yelled OMG OMG OMG!!! and ran into my daughters room to tell her all about how freaking amazing her mom is.
Unfortunately, it was like, 4am…she barely opened her eyes, pulled her blanket over her head and fell back asleep. No appreciation for my dope coding skills LMFAO I cant even remember the problem now, but I still remember how amazing I felt to not have given up and figured it out 
Hey, man, I feel you. I too haven’t done the tribute page yet but it’s because I want to learn CSS more. I want to build a responsive page without the use of Bootstrap, so right now I’m learning about media queries.
Anyway, I think you should identify what it is that you’re having difficulty with, and devote a bit of time to figuring it out. If you don’t know CSS layouts (and this is also my problem as well), there are a lot of guides out there that can help you.
Start small and work your way up. Maybe this link can help point you in the right direction.