looking things up on the internet

[220061]

My teacher always tells me: if you don't know how or what to do, just look it up on the internet! implying to just copy code on the internet and use that if you don't know how to do things yourself. but will this really help me? I have to look the most basic things up online and always have to use tutorials to get something done. is this really what code is about?

 

[Johna]

I also look things up if I don't understand them, but then I change the code to how I need it, and I eventually remember how to do it on my own.

 

[simong1993]

Look at it this way. If i gave you a car manual for a ford escort, told you to read it and then take the engine out and put it back in without any help would you be able too? Hell i couldn't and i have trained in mechanics lol. Google is not cheating its the same as asking someone more experienced for help, ive been coding for 14 years now (Wow i am getting old lol) and i still use google, i look up a question for a issue i am having and this will ether help me solve my issue or i take someone elses code and work out how it works and then next time around you will go, ow hold up i remember this and i have to do x y and z.

 

[Krygore]

While yes, you could copy and paste the code directly into your site, most templates that you can use have an explanation for what the purpose of the code is and how it works.
If you are strictly trying to figure out the meaning of a line of code and not wanting to copy someone, check out w3schools, MDN Web Doc, Devdocs, and other coding tutorial/resource sites. They usually have a full breakdown as well as ways to personalise it to your site.

 

[OldMan]

100% in agreement with Krygore. Looking things up, to me, means looking at the sites listed above to understand how to do things.

No sense trying to remember everything - just remember where to look it up.

 

[Lämmchen]

When I first started learning html many many years ago, I had to look everything up. What I learned by looking things up is that other people had more info for things I hadn't considered so I grew in my knowledge. Of course, I also made my own cheat sheet as I went along but looking things up really is the way to go when starting out on things or when trying to figure out why something might not be working.

 

[Krygore]

Also, if there is specific webpage layout that you like on an existing domain, you can "inspect" the page and it brings up the index.html file and style sheet.
This youtube video shows you have to take advantage of the browser dev tool:

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