I’m brand new to coding. I’ve been working through the Responsive Web Design section and am now working on the “Build a survey form” at the end. I’ve been working on these projects by filling out the HTML and CSS as best as I can, while referring to all the notes I took while going through the module. Then, if I still can’t figure out a certain portion of the coding, I’ll look at the example page’s code to see how they did it.
I’ve noticed that, at least for the Survey Form, there’s been a good amount of CSS attributes used that haven’t been explained yet in the curriculum. I’ve been doing my best to learn from the example’s CSS and use Google to look up the attributes I’m unfamiliar with, but this method has been very tedious and slow going.
My question: Do you think my method above is a good way to learn the CSS? It feels a bit overwhelming trying to figure out what all of these attributes do when they’re not explained in the curriculum.
Don’t limit yourself to just the fCC curriculum for learning. Look at the fCC YouTube channel, the fCC news section, and other resources like MDN, etc. The curriculum only teaches the basic and the front-end CSS part of the curriculum isn’t really enough to become truly proficient.
We try to keep the example project fairly simple and we try to keep the usage of things not taught in the curriculum to a minimum. But that is just an artificial limitation imposed because we can’t possibly teach all you need to know about everything.
What we have is a good nudge in the right direction, the rest is up to you.
Appreciate the reply. Could you tell me how proficient I might need to be in HTML and CSS, for example, before moving on to learning other languages, such as Javascript? I’ve been feeling like it’s important to have a good level of proficiency in HTML/CSS before moving on… but I’m a little unsure of how far to take it.
I have always tried to consume main idea out of curriculum by FCC ( sometimes it has so much of material when time to complete a problem). what would you recommend in this scenario ?
The languages are mostly unrelated, with some syntax similarities. Being good at HTML/CSS isn’t going to help you all that much in learning JS. HTML/CSS is just a good starting point to get going into coding.
In the beginning, I wouldn’t worry too much about becoming proficient at anything. There is really no point in waiting to learn JS until you are proficient in CSS.
It’s just a very time-consuming process, I don’t really have any shortcuts for you.
I will say it’s important to stay focused. Quality over quantity. Spend small amounts of quality time learning every day (or as often as possible). Take breaks and make sure you are focused and committed to the learning.
Accept failure and frustration as part of the process and do not misinterpret them as evidence for your lack of “talent”. Take all the small wins you can get and give yourself some rewards for a job well done. Do whatever you can to create a positive feedback loop. Otherwise, it can become a miserable experience of self-doubt and soon enough you will have convinced yourself that you just are not “good enough”.
This might sound strange, but I think most developers are gluttons for punishment. Deep down we have to enjoy a little “pain”. As long as we can know that there is light at the end of the tunnel we don’t mind a little fumbling in the dark for a bit. It is what makes success so much more an accomplishment. If it was easy we wouldn’t be doing it.