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CSS

Using Treehouse's Courses Effectively

So, I went ahead and gave Treehouse a try—to learn Responsive Design. Now, I'm mid-way though it and I feel like I'm missing key ideas.

The videos are brief and the quizzes seem pretty straightforward. I'm also following the project files using the information provided. However, it doesn't full explain what code is being added onto the website (in this case, the Smells Like Bakin' site) when she made the site adaptative. She literally copy and paste a bunch of code she made already to make the navigation and buttons align properly.

When analyzing the code, she added ID classes and adjusted html to work with it. I have an idea what she did, but I don't fully understand it.

Am I missing something here? Am I suppose to keep completing the videos and quizzes and expect to know everything when I'm done? Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks!

3 Answers

I second the learning adventures consensus. If you follow the adventure, you will find that the responsive design section makes a lot more sense...this has been my experience, anyway.

Additionally, I would suggest that you look for opportunities to learn from more sources. Get acquainted with css-tricks, MDN, and StackOverflow. If you get stuck with a concept, you will find that those two sites will give you enough information to fill in any gaps in your understanding.

Lastly, take advantage of the examples they have on codepen. Modify parameters and change attributes to see what happens...you'll get a feel for what's happening pretty quickly.

The advice on learning from more sources and using codepen is probably the best advice on learning web design I've seen on this forum.

I agree. I learn a lot just by experimenting. The videos and quizzes are great, but being able to work with the code is very important. Great advice Joel Powers

Thanks for the advice, I'll looked into those sources in additional to the videos and quizzes from Treehouse. Awesome!

The responsive design course is an intermediate course, so it assumes you've completed introductory couses.

I'd suggest following along with the learn HTML & CSS learning adventure.

Ah, alright! I'll give that a try then. Since I thought I had a good understanding on HTML/CSS already, I felt that I could of just dive right in responsive design.

Makes sense! I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks!

The learning adventure is a touch repetitive, but in a good way. I suggest one of these over doing individual courses. Also, if there are code challenges, I have not tried it but you could possibly skip the videos if you already understand the concept.

Well, god luck!

I definitely agree with Harrison. the learning adventures can seem repetitive but they're actually great way to learn because they go through everything you need to learn and build upon in order.

Thanks! In fact, I've been working on a few courses already from the beginning—and there were probably a few new key points that I learn and are most importantly useful.

*good luck