In courses like on FCC I found it difficult to learn how to use the cascade and flexbox. And it just wouldn’t stay in my memory, so I learned the same stuff over and over again. But I finished some courses and felt that I learned a lot.
And then I started to rewrite the CSS for a real website as a volunteer for a non-profit organisation. The website was old (7-11 years) and not responsive. It has a CMS-like system for content in php. No problem, but that system gave me a few restrictions to work with.
So I updated the html, modernised the lay-out a bit and started to create the new CSS, using flexbox. I wanted it to be accessible and user friendly, which it is now
.
I’ve never made so many mistakes in such a short period of time. And I’ve never learned so much. It was really hard work and took me quite some time. Sometimes it took days to figure out how to solve certain problems. I usually had more than 10 tabs open in my browser, searching the whole internet for answers.
Or I thought everything was fine and then the whole website was messed up in older browsers. And backwards compatibility was a requirement, because the visitors use these old browsers on old computer or tablets. It’s not only about Internet Explorer, but also about iPad2, which has an old version of Safari.
CSS seems easy sometimes if you practise in a course like this. Or if you build only one page. But if you build several pages, (around 45 in my case) with all types of content, a CMS, a certain lay-out, more than one menu, parts of it with translations, and so on, that’s a whole different job.
It’s a good way to get it into your memory though. I do remember my mistakes and the search for a solution better than any lesson.
And I learned to love CSS.