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CSS

sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points
Posted by sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points

Hey i feel i'm having trouble getting CSS and JS to get stuck in my head

I feel i am not remembering what i am learning as easily, how do you study this to help you remember this more efficiently, any tips and advice you can give me?

Andrew Folts
Andrew Folts
14,238 Points
Andrew Folts
Andrew Folts
14,238 Points

What I do is pick one website I really like every week, and then figure out how to reproduce my favorite parts of the design or functionality.

So for example, you could try making a mobile menu based on what that website does. If you get stuck, just search on Google for what you're trying to do. It's really important NOT to copy and paste code in the beginning, because you'll never remember how to actually write it yourself.

Another reason to do this is that projects in the Treehouse videos can sometimes feel boring or irrelevant to where you want to take your career. You're going to learn better if you practice on projects that you're passionate about. Like Jennifer mentioned, you can mess around on Codepen—I prefer JS Fiddle (https://jsfiddle.net), but you'll figure out what works best for you!

3 Answers

Jennifer Nordell
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STAFF
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

First off, and I can't stress this enough. Code often. You don't have to code every day, but try and do something. Look up a neat CSS trick. Do a challenge on here. Just ... something. Because if you wait a few days in between, when you pick it back up it'll look slightly foreign. If you wait long enough, it'll look like ancient Egyptian algebra.

Pick up codepen at http://codepen.io/ . This will allow you to work on small projects at your leisure even from mobile devices! I've even been known to sit and work on mock-up websites in waiting rooms. It's definitely going to be more educational and fun than the generic dentist office magazine. I guarantee it!

sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points
sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points

Hey thanks, yes i know of codeine not really used it so will look into that! i have been creating my mock websites for future website i want or a cafe shop for my GF but when i come to CSS i'm like "Have i even learnt any" because i usually get stuck with what changes what haha! But practice makes perfect

Jennifer Nordell
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.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher
Jennifer Nordell
.a{fill-rule:evenodd;}techdegree
Jennifer Nordell
Treehouse Teacher

sean purdy Well codeine is a drug so that might not help :smile: But codepen is awesome. I can tell you that you can code directly in codepen from any browser I'm aware of. Including Safari on iOS. However, it might be fairly small on a telephone. I use an iPad :thumbsup:

Cindy Lea
PLUS
Cindy Lea
Courses Plus Student 6,497 Points
Cindy Lea
Cindy Lea
Courses Plus Student 6,497 Points

You can create a new workspace & cut & paste code into it & make up your own mini-projects. You can even re-use the pictures from class, but make it a different theme or content.

Another way is to read about html & css examples online & then do the same thing in your workspace & keep adding to it everytime you find something you want to do. I havent found a way to do a Save As with existing workspaces so you may have to copy the code to another file then paste into new workspace.

You can even get your own domain & keep adding examples you work on to your domain server. Eventually this could become your portfolio.

I know what you mean because I will soon have to deal with retaining it too. But I have had web programming before, although its been awhile, so I think that helps me to remember better.

sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points
sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points

Ah ok yeah that might be a good idea, i think because theres that many courses on here i want to do, i give myself overwhelm with what i have to learn and in a way put pressure on myself instead of just focusing on what i need to do TODAY to progress that little further

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
230,274 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
230,274 Points

I got your request, but I see Jennifer already gave you pretty much the same advice I would.

I also recommend CodePen for experimentation. You might take a look at some of the other live editors (JSfiddle, JSbin, Dabblet, etc.) in case you find they suit you better, but CodePen is my favorite so far. There are also editors with built-in servers you can run on your own machine like Brackets and Atom.

Cindy Lea
Cindy Lea
Courses Plus Student 6,497 Points
Cindy Lea
Cindy Lea
Courses Plus Student 6,497 Points

Thank you for posting the info on all these tools. I dont know most of these & it will definitely help me to practice.

sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points
sean purdy
sean purdy
2,770 Points

Yeah cheers Steven, i use brackets also for creating mock websites out of treehouse, i have one for a future portfolio but i may end up using github for that possibly,but i am also working on a coffee website for my GF (it's a business she wants to start in a couple of years) so plenty of time to practice. I'll definitely check out codeine then...Is there a app for this? IOS?