I’m on “Applied visual design” One thing i’v noticed is that the terms your using aren’t consistent… Sometimes when you refer to tag its <h1> , but other times it’s h1 { }. Im new to all this so im trying to learn the difference between tags, elements, properties, etc, etc, but it seems like every problem, is referring to these things differently… WHY? And can someone explain this better. Cuz I’v been paying attention to it all day, and it’s getting annoying. I ordered a book that should be coming soon, and hopefully as I go through it, some of this stuff makes more sense, but… why the inconsistencys?
this is a css selector that is targeting the h1 element
<h1> is an opening tag, </h1> is a closing tag
the two plus their content is the element
so often the term tag and the term element could be used interchangeably
properties and attributes are the things you add to the elements inline or via the css selector
4 Likes
Thank You. I will try and recognize these in the future. 
for the css selector, it is a mouthful, so you will never find someone say “let’s add this property to the css selector targeting the h1…”
they say they are adding the property to the element, even if it is confusing for who doesn’t know the underlining of the css selectors being used
1 Like
Theyre teaching the first part of the lesson using html. So you are seeing them refer to h1 as <h1></h1>.
Later, they are going to teach some cool CSS tricks, when doing so they will obvi be using CSS so you will see them refer to h1 as h1 { }. Good eye though. That is a very important distinction you have recognized. I just finished Applied Accessibility, I also am brand new to this. Good eye though, really. That question was very important to have answered. Critical to our understanding. Keep up the good work!
1 Like
@zbozon How long have you been studying this? I feel like, once I get to the projects, i’m going to have to go back and review stuff. To help it stick. I’m understanding everything so far. im at 45/52 on applied visual design.
you will always need to check on documentation how you use stuff
there are too much features for anyone to be able to remember them all, it is expected to keep using documentation even years down the line
so, yes, don’t worry, and use documentation as much as you need to complete the projects
1 Like
@ilenia How bout you ieahleen? How long have you been practicing? Have you completed any of the sections? Once you started the projects, was it scary, or did you feel like you knew what you were doing?
@masterninadog -like you name btw- I have been using FCC for just a short while. I have been studying this area of general subject matter, IT, for years and the more I learn the more I realize how little I know. Right now I am working on the ‘Build a Survey Form’ in the Responsive Web Design Project.
Whatever course or subject matter I am studying I always use my computers native note client. On macbook its just called Notes. Theres a cross platform one called StandardNotes that works on Mac, Linux, and Windows simultaneously. Literally every single word on the subject matter that I am able to highlight (I dont think I’ve ever seen something I couldnt do this to) I copy and paste into my notes. Then I set aside time to edit my notes. I go through and read it and underline, bold, and italicize words or sentences for emphasis. This is kind of like induction. It forces me to retain just a little bit more than I would have otherwise. Because you are right, there is SO MUCH thrown at us. How much sticks depends on submersion, how much time the ideas spend in our heads. I hope that made sense and was helpful on some level.
1 Like
I can’t give you a timeframe, as this is not my field of study
I have completed the Javascript Algorithms and Data Structures certification, everything else is in various states of completeness
it is not possible to “know what you are doing” for the projects if you are new to this, as the projects are the time to learn how to use all the stuff you met in the lessons.
1 Like
I’ve been on FCC for about 3 months.
Yes. this is 100% true. I’m not a professional programmer (yet), but there isn’t a day I don’t go to MDN or w3schools for information.
My 2 cents:
Programming is NOT about memorizing everything. It’s about your ability to find the answer, efficiently.
The curriculum is not perfect, a few of the higher challenges are broken. BUT if you do the ‘read and research’ you end up into the GitHub of the source code for the whole website & edit requests to fix it. Simple things like ‘need to use " " not mentioned in challenge’ or ‘variable in provided code needs let’
F.C.C. is only groundwork to move forward. I’ve learned my strengths and weaknesses. I suck with Regex (have to use online visualizers to help me), but love JS algorithms. I’m at the point where HTML/CSS flexbox is muscle memory. CSS animations or Grid not so much.
1 Like
I tried a few udemy courses on c and c#, I then went to microsoft docs. None of it was really sticking. So I started cs50x but it was a lot of information each week, and I needed it more broken down so I started using the “beginning c for dummies” book by Dan Gookin. I got about halfway through it, and I really liked it, but thats not going to get me a job. It was helping me understand stuff though. So I went back to fcc (which I started like half a year ago but only got to css). This time I restarted at html and I am on applied accessibility now. I’v being going at fcc for a few weeks now, but I would say altogether, maybe a month or two total with everything.
I am a professional programmer, but there isn’t a day I don’t go to the internet for information.
The brain doesn’t work like a computer hard drive,
it’s more like a spider web.
Therefore development gets easier when you can connect new stuff to old stuff, that already is saved in the spider web. If you start your developer journey, there’s not much stuff you can connect.
1 Like