font end development is overwhelming

I like what Kristopher Van Sant said about learning a new language. And like learning a new language you have to use it or lose it. Get a project going and start building websites. You are only going to understand which techniques to use when you are really building web sites. Find someone who needs a small website, or make one up. But start applying what you are learning right away.

As a developer for 8 years I can tell you that it gets easier when you start using the different methods. It takes a while but the more you use them the more you'll see their various strengths and weaknesses. Try and surround yourself with other like-minded people, whether it be in person, or over the internet. There are lots of communities you could participate in and you'll find it makes learning easier and more fun!

Don't give up Glenn! I'm not a "seasoned pro" but I am learning things on my own as well and it does get difficult at times. Some things seem to come naturally and others not so much! But that's all part of the learning curve. Think of learning HTML and CSS as learning a foreign language. Learning a foreign language can be awkward at first and you sound like a little kid most of the time, but the more you practice and surround yourself with it the easier it gets and one day all of sudden it clicks, makes sense and voila you speak another language! One thing I like to do when I feel like HTML or CSS or another language is kicking my butt is go to w3schools.com and take a quiz. I just did that this morning and realized I knew more HTML than I thought! So don't give up! Keep up the hard work :)

I'm on this track also, and it definitely can be a bit overwhelming. But I just re-watch videos of things that I struggle with, and that helps a lot.. What I like to do is just build web pages, and throw in things that I know I need to work on. I have a folder called 'cssPractice' and in it I will make a single page for example called typography.html linked to typog.css and practice that. It's a big clunky folder but it works for me. I'm on to the Javascript part now, so I don't want to forget stuff I learned earlier.

> With responsive design techniques (floats, flexbox, fluid grid) its difficult to know which technique to choose.

That's pretty simple to answer actually, fluid grids. They are really just fancy applied floats. Flexbox doesn't gracefully degrade currently it would break the website on 20% of users.