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CSS How to Make a Website Styling Web Pages and Navigation Build Navigation with Unordered Lists

Posted by name564681351614
name564681351614
3,497 Points

Doing fine....feeling very overwhelmed though

By this point do any newbies feel quite overwhelmed? I'm plugging away just fine but it's definitely overwhelming to be learning something so new and with such a large amount of info to know. I basically have about an hour a day I can work on these things. Is it reasonable to think that I could make the career switched based on that? I'm starting to doubt it. Just wondering what other's thoughts are on this. Thanks! Eric

Rick Hoekman
Rick Hoekman
9,494 Points
Rick Hoekman
Rick Hoekman
9,494 Points

Focus on the journey and not the goal for now. It will fall into place at some point in time.. That's how I look at it ;-)

Chelsea C.
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Chelsea C.
Full Stack JavaScript Techdegree Student 3,392 Points

Hi, don't give up. I learned HTML and CSS in one year mainly by going to W3Schools.com and doing their test examples and reading books. I truly never thought I ever could learn CSS, but I did.

It all seems like a lot because there are a bunch of different languages out there and long lines of code that mean different things, but learn just the basics first. Do test examples, make simple small programs out of that. One of the greatest way I find is to create something with what you just learned without looking at your notes. If you get a compiling error, try and fix it on your own and if you can't, then go back to your notes, but I find that the information sticks longer than just copying what you see and pasting it...

Just keep at it. It's going to take time but you can be sure that you'll get it.

2 Answers

Alice Spencer
Alice Spencer
12,273 Points
Alice Spencer
Alice Spencer
12,273 Points

I was completely overwhelmed and out of my element learning HTML, CSS and WP for probably the first 6 months, and I was spending 6+ hours a day on it. But eventually it just clicked (you will probably be much faster, I was recovering from a head trauma at the time, it was actually really great for my recovery though), and while Google is still one of my best friends, I at least know/understand enough to find the answer fairly quickly.

I think it's absolutely possible to make a career change no matter how much, or little time you have to devote to learning a new skill. It may take a while, so don't be discouraged by that, rather use every free minute to learn/practice/read and know that you are getting closer to your goal. of having a new career.

John Steer-Fowler
PLUS
John Steer-Fowler
Courses Plus Student 11,734 Points
John Steer-Fowler
John Steer-Fowler
Courses Plus Student 11,734 Points

Hey Eric LaPatka,

This is something that pretty much everyone feels, I have been there! Learning these development languages is extremely overwhelming at first or even for a little while. However, like anything, after practice you begin to not only understand it more, but you end up being able to do everything with your eyes closed... trust me.

I first learnt css and html from a dodgy book, and it was really overwhelming. Treehouse is a great place to learn and will make it a lot easier in the long run.

With regards to your question, I think that 1 hour is fine for doing a bit of learning on Treehouse. However, I think that the most important thing is practicing what you have learnt and putting the knowledge into a project (small or large) that you can personally relate to.

How about, everyday you spend 1 hour learning new things and then spend just 15 minutes afterwards creating something with your old and newly learnt techniques? This is just 1 hour and 15 mins a day and then you can chill out with your family/wife/children/parents etc.

This is a similar technique to what I do while learning the Ruby programming language. I spend about 1 hour a night reading a Ruby book, and then spend another hour creating small programs while watching TV with my partner :D

Hope this helps,

Keep up the good work

John