All that I know about web markup, scripting, and programming, I learned in as-needed basis by finding what I needed, copying and pasting, tweaking through trial and error. Over the years this has resulted in an understanding of html, css, javascript, php, and perhaps others that is limited, spotty, and devoid of any sort of application of best practice.
The tutorials on W3schools.com are great.. and I've known about them for years, but the truth is, unless I NEED that new skill at that moment, I can't stay focused, or I forget it in five minutes. So if I inherited some project and needed to tweak style sheet, I'd learn just enough to do so.
I have vowed to do no copy and paste for my projects in this class. It isn't about not wanting to steal, cheat, or be lazy, it is about wanting to look a page that I created completely by myself. That way, when I know that I know what everything does. It is a sad admission that I have created things in the paste from a talent of hobbling things together, and I have only been about 50% clear on how it did what it did.
It has already paid off. I applied what I learned from the xhtml and css tutorials to create a page and a stylesheet using nothing but things that I understand. I probably can't convey the excitement I feel in this blog... but I can share my dirty little secret.
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2 comments:
I don't think you should feel bad or guilty for "hobbling" together your learning/application of various tools/technologies. For many of us, it is the only way we can survive in this ever-changing field! And, while many of us might even have organizations that are willing to pay our way to learn such tools with more depth - the challenge (for me and I am sure for many others) is time...(although I will admit GW won't pay for my training - but I can take classes at GW for free).
I hear you! I know all about the copying/pasting method of creating a “masterpiece.” LOL!! I do agree, though, that coding from scratch will really help your understanding of how the language works. Sometimes just staring at the code (really!) as a “whole” can help you visualize the commonalities within the code structure and from there you can break them out into individual smaller sections and go from there. I guess I’m thinking specifically about JavaScript. As far as css – there’s no way around that for me – I have to get in there and mostly code from scratch. I can maybe use a template, but by the end it’s so drastically different that I should have just started with the white space to begin with.
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