Need Some Help!

Hi,
I am a beginner in programming. I started to learn to program since Jan 2017. I got confused and wasted a lot of time due to the variety of the sources and finally got stuck. I finished 119 challenges in the Front-End path but, I couldn’t make simple projects because I can’t understand positioning and elements distribution in CSS. So I decided to start over again the Front-End path and revise the main concepts maybe I missed somethings. What I need some advice or if someone had same experience can give me better solutions. Thank You.

Hello @Ahmed-Elbessfy,

I started about the same time you did and have had some success, I think. I love Front-End development: HTML, CSS, JQuery, Bootstrap, Flexbox. I need to find some resources on making images and working with graphics, I have no experience with that. What I did back in the beginning that I think helped is that I have been doing freeCodeCamp and Codecademy at the same time. I do similar courses from each and keep switching back and forth. I think it helps with repetition and to approach similar problems from two different angles. Also, I downloaded a code editor Atom and just make simple webpages with simple box div’s and practice moving them around the screen, adding various elements to them and changing their properties to see what happens. Working in a real editor lets you see what will really happen instead of using the web-editors from the websites that sometimes will pass your code even though the output is not what you desire.

Hey taking a break and coming back is a good strategy too. Getting away and processing what you have learned and realizing what you need to work on is a good strategy. Good Luck!

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@Ahmed-Elbessfy I think I can feel your struggle on CSS learning. I’m a quite beginner as well in programming since I just start to learn back in 2016 and now I still get (a lot of problem) when it come to CSS.

What I can advise is first before you jump in the code directly, try to find out the nature of CSS. This just to let you get familiar to it. You can learn it from blog, course, w3school or anything else. In my case, I joined paid courses in CodeSchool for 1 month only to learn about CSS concept and all the basic thing need to be note taken. In my opinion, CodeSchool got a lot of resource to learn CSS, however it is a paid service. Second is no other than trial and error. If you really need to know the behavior of the CSS attribute immediately when you code, you can use Bracket as the editor since it has built-in live preview so you will notice directly as soon as you change the code. And last but not least, try to read other people code, Chrome developer tool has awesome job to help you read the code behind the website, and try to clone it.

However, I think you did great to complete all the Front-end challenge for less that 6 month, even myself haven’t finished the path since early 2016 :stuck_out_tongue: Keep code and good luck!

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focus on what you need, for example if you get stuck on positioning elemnts in the page, use bootstrap grid system or css flexbox. Break a complex problem to small and easy pieces, then solve them one by one. Last thing Google is your friend.

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Thank you @HamerWV
I am actually using Brackets and tried to build some pages but, the problem I think with positioning and box-sizing in CSS.
I might try your method of Freecodecamp and Codeacademy together it might work.

Thank you @maixatra
I already using Brackets but, as I mentioned I thin my problem with positioning and box-sizing at CSS.
By the way, I didn’t finish all the Front-End path but, I am one step behind the JS part :smile: .

Thank You @abdellah-el-mennani
I will try your advice.

Definitely not the best approach but this is what work for me when dealing with CSS.

Try and error in the browser’ dev console.

Every time I’m focusing on css I keep my dev tab open, inspect and modify classes directly there to see how it affects the page.
When I reach a decent solution I then proceed to paste the CSS i’ve added into my file.

Also I’ve bought books about design and CSS. Every courses I’ve tried, video I’ve looked helped me but never gave me the same sense of “understanding” as some book did.

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