I'm a new coder who has just begun my tribute page, but I feel a little lost...Is this normal?

I want to know if I should be further along and tackling this challenge easier than I actually am. It’s taking a lot of review, which I guess is like any “real” class. How’d you guys feel when you got to this point? Did you remember everything you learned from the html/css modules right away?

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Short answer: yes, totally normal. You’re going to alternate, over the next few sections, between “Gee, this is way easier than I thought it would be!” and “Gee, this is way harder than I thought it would be.” Just tell yourself that, every time you have to go back and look at something again to figure out how to make it work, that’s when you’re actually learning it.

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Hey @wtb28,

First of all, congratulations on making it to the Tribute Page challenge.

It’s completely normal to feel that way, I’m actually on the Tribute Page too, but I’ve been a full-time web developer for the last few years. I remember when I started, it took me awhile and a lot of mistakes before HTML and CSS started to truly stick.

As @AbdiViklas said, somethings will be easier than others. The important thing is that you just keep pushing on through, and over time, you’ll find yourself getting better and better :slight_smile:

Good luck!

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Don’t worry about it.

It’s a free course, so they don’t exactly cover everything. You’;re expected to research things on the side. And don’t be afraid to ask.Read - Search - Ask, like they say. If you keep at it, you’ll get there.

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totally normal!
I tuned up mine several times as I learned better ways of doing things haha
for example my code was messy because at first I had “style” in my html elements instead of putting all of my CSS/style on the CSS page.
Lots of Ah-Ha moments to come!

Yup totally normal. You just have to push through it. It will not be the last time this feeling will come to you, but the good thing is that you will feel great when you start to get a grasp on html/css. Then you’ll realize that there is a whole world out there. I recently had this feeling in the first challenge of Back End. It’s a pain, but once you push through it, totally worth it.

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This is totally normal. I am a little further along and have found that these more open building exercises are really where learning happens, and where I was able to understand how much of the prior lessons I had actually absorbed and could apply. (Yes, I had to return back to them multiple times.) Best of luck and enjoy the process!

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That’s what I figured! Right now, I’m actually just running through HTML for a second time before resuming my tribute page. It definitely seems to be helping with retention. Thanks!

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Can’t wait for the day I can build something like it’s nothing! It’s cool just to know the few basic things I’ve already learned. Thanks.

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Yeah I just recently made the connection that css IS the style section. I made the same mistake of adding it to html and then codepen corrected me. Even that feels like a big deal at this point, haha. Feels good to already be learning some of the “insider” knowledge instead of just seeing acronyms and being clueless.

Keep at it, I will! Thanks.

Coding is a constant state of confusion.

Here is a little tool I made, and I hope to build more on it so people can go from new coder to better coder!

https://tommygebru.github.io/camperguide/

Good luck and have fun!

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Btw, this might be the point where you’re discovering that it’s helpful to have some other resources outside of fCC. For me, right around that point, I found this course very helpful: https://www.udacity.com/course/intro-to-html-and-css--ud304 . I find I learn things best when I hear them from two or three different sources–not because any one of them explains them better than the others, but because having each one explain it a little differently helps “triangulate” understanding.

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Thanks! I’ve been curious about other resources. Have you tried Code Academy? I’ve heard that one’s another top one.

I wouldn’t call it top, but it’s often handy for filling in some gaps. I’ve been enjoying Codeschool.com–it’s a paid site, but back on Black Friday I took their 6-months-half-price special, and haven’t regretted it. They also give away the first chapter of many of their courses free, e.g. https://www.codeschool.com/courses/front-end-foundations

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lol i literally just finished mines and i think it’s normal … well i felt lost too. i researched out of freecodecamp and also looked back at old lessons if i needed to remember something.

Exactly how I feel!! I just got to the tribute page and I’m like what, I’m supposed to be able to “freeform” now?? What?? I had no issue with the code exercises but i mean they literally told you exactly what to do…meh.

Think of it this way: the challenges are like painting by numbers, and the projects are like producing works of art. They’re much more difficult to do really well, and much easier to get wrong, but the level of creative input is much higher, as are the payoffs in terms of results and sense of achievement.

The problem is that you can do a million paint-by-numbers exercises without ever learning to paint the Mona Lisa. The challenges will help you to learn the basic technical skills (“painting within the lines”), but you’ll need to do more self-directed learning if you want to do really well at the projects.

Luckily, FCC’s “Read-Search-Ask” mantra offers a simple framework to help fill in those knowledge gaps.

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Totally normal to get stuck as long as you don’t give up :slight_smile:

i felt exactly the same when i got to the tribute page. how am i supposed to start man…