I finally tried making a simple website with just HTML versus using a template builder.

Writing the HTML myself took an hour longer, but I actually understand how the page is built now. Has anyone else found that doing it the 'hard' way first helped them learn?

4 comments

4 Comments

shane_hayes2mo ago

That "understanding how the page is built" feeling is the best, right?

jamie_adams2mo ago

Totally, that feeling when the code clicks is unreal. But what's wild is when you finally get it, you start seeing the same patterns everywhere, like in app menus or even how a game's UI is laid out. It's like learning a secret language for how everything digital is put together. Makes you look at the whole internet differently.

jessej232mo ago

Remember my buddy who tried to learn guitar by just copying songs without learning any chords? He had a similar thing happen when he tried to build a site with a drag and drop tool. He could make something that looked okay, but if one piece moved, the whole thing broke and he had no idea why. He went back, spent a weekend just making ugly boxes with plain HTML and CSS, and it was like a light switched on. Now he can fix his own stuff and even tweak those fancy templates because he gets what's happening underneath.

morgan_king361mo ago

My lazy self used to avoid code, but @jessej23's friend is right, that ugly box phase actually teaches you something.