Back from Tampa

I had a crazy few days before going to class to present. I got panicky trying to get everything to work, and a couple of times, ended up with indecipherable stuff on my screen and had to start back.

The experience: KompoZer was frustrating, to say the least. I think if I had had a tutor to sit down with me through this and explain just the simple "how to's" of it, I would have been more sane. Instead, I would get frustrated, scap the mess I had in KompoZer, and go back to writing everything out in Notepad. Then I would be unable to make something work there, and go back to KompoZer. Eventually, I just had to start from scratch and go ONE STEP AT A TIME.

Ideally, I would have done external stylesheets and kept control of the whole thing, but when I had to drop everything into KompoZer, that changed.

My plans for my page were nothing like what I ended up with, but, in the end, I am happy that anything showed up there at all. Also, I am happy that, although it is not snazzy, it is organized.

Today's lesson:

I came back from Tampa with some ideas about things I wanted to change. For instance, I wanted to be able to click on the pictures in my photo gallery and enlarge them. Seems pretty simple. A classmate mentioned Googling free photogallery templates. I found one that looked pretty simple and followed the directions, but it didn't work. I really don't understand Java Script, and I am not sure what I did wrong.

I think I am getting to the LARGER LESSON here: I need to build on the foundation I have, no matter how small, and be patient with what I know and fully understand. I can't jump ahead and just hope that, by chance, I will hit a button and my work will be transformed. I have to build on what I have.

At this point, that means doing the "simplest" things that need doing: Fixing my links, putting in a footer, and making sure everything is in there that the list requires.

Practice, learn, practice, learn, practice, learn. Be patient where you are, and be happy with all that you have learned.