Building Interactive Website is Going Over my Head

While the JavaScript videos are appropriate from an introductory perspective, they do fall short of practical application in my opinion. I haven't really done any of the Gold content however, so maybe there's some good stuff there.

The jQuery content was pretty rapidly paced, especially when it came to the Google Maps API. It was a good starting point, but I don't feel I got the same out of it from watching the CSS/HTML videos for example. I don't think how jQuery operates on a basic level was even covered really.

I'd love to hear the opinions of others on this, and I don't think it's complaining at all when constructive. The community has to be willing to chime in if we want Treehouse to continually improve.

I enjoyed both courses immensely but I also supplemented them with side reading and learning projects.

• tryjquery
• codeacademy
• 30 Days to Learn jQuery

The Codeacademy stuff was pretty decent. I'm also reading Pro jQuery and JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, 6th Edition.

Don't ever feel like you're complaining, Martin! We are here to help and we won't know if there is an issue unless it's brought to our attention, like Sam mentioned. I've pinged Andrew to see if he can provide some better insight and direction than I can on the JS course.

I agree with Mark however, that the best way to learn is not through only one medium. Always try to be reading books, articles, blogs, and follow developers you look up to on Twitter, Github, etc. :)

Allison

Hi Martin and others,

Thanks for giving your feedback, we really appreciate it and we're always wanting to improve our teaching efficacy and the structure of our content.

The points you've raised are valid and are on our radar already. The JavaScript Foundations course was created in pre-code challenge era at Treehouse and internally we've been discussing going back and introducing code challenges to solidify the concepts learnt in the videos.

Content for Build an Interactive Website was sketched out prior to the Learning Adventure release so some of the content may feel out of place for a designer track. For example the Google Maps API stuff is pretty hard going and it may not be that suited for a Designer Learning Adventure. It probably could be broken out in to it's own project and slowed down considerably. I'd imagine this would be more for a Front-End Developer than a Designer.

We'll be taking all the feedback we've received and the pass rates and engagement metrics and we'll seek to improve all of our content. We're ever-evolving.

In the mean time if you have any content related, we're here to answer, clarify and break it down until you've got a clearer understanding.

Regards, Andrew

Allison and Andrew,

I would like to say the work you all do at Treehouse is Great! Thank you.

Though i did have some issue with the Responsive Jquery Slider videos including the wmuSlider plugin. Im not sure why, but when i bring it into my site (im using a blank site, after i get it to work i'll bring it in to my personal site) Im not able to get the "Pagination links" to appear. As i follow along with the videos it all works up to that point. Im not sure what im doing wrong.

Thoughts?

Thank you again Nick

Hi Nick,

I'd start up a new thread and have a link to the work in progress and either myself or another forum member will take a look at your code and see if there's anything we can spot. It maybe just a small syntax issue.

Regards, Andrew

Here are the links to the text files. Thank you again.

This is up to the point where we are to check if the Pagination links are showing and either I'm not able to see them or the links aren't showing up. and the slides seem to not show up on the page, even after i refresh by pressing enter, like suggested in the video.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/uc4nf6bk5pgsvey/css.html https://www.dropbox.com/s/pv34kek127orjr7/HTML.html

Please let me know if the links dont work. Thank you Nick

This interactive website and jquery stuff is going over my head... I'm frustrated and to me it is just too much implementation without enough explanation. I need to understand why I am executing a specific code and how did I/ do I get there. Some of the steps to get to the final outcome need to be broken down further. I've stopped watching the videos because of it. Frustrated... I understand we should find the information from other sources but honestly finding good outside sources can be difficult besides we are here because you guys are our source... Sorry this has been bugging me for a month straight.

Hey Natasha, glad to hear that I'm not alone. I have enjoyed every section except this one. While I do agree with some of the staff that we should use different mediums to learn, like you said, we are at TeamTreehouse because this is supposed to be the most convenient learning medium for us paying customers. At least from what they mentioned above they said they are aware of this issue and are working to fix it. But I'm with you. Very frustrated.

Oh wow, this is so true. Andrew speeds through the google maps stuff, introducing all sorts of new methods without any real explanation. I can muddle my way through the challenges by using the forum and rewatching the videos in a different window while I do the challenges, but this is no way to really learn how to do this stuff. That said, the rest of the classes have been a lot more comprehensible.

I know the last input was 5 months ago, but I do want to chime in and include my agreement. I signed up last week, worked through Building a Simple and Responsive Website, but have taken a few days off after hitting the Advanced Techniques in Building a Responsive Website and now jQuery. Everything is suddenly over my head in a big way, and after these first couple jQuery lessons, I'm now wondering if learning to code is not for me.

sigh

I guess maybe I can try some of the other courses and see if something else just kind of "clicks" for me...but right now I'm more worried than hopeful.