Things didn't go exactly as I planned. I lost all willingness to document what I was doing when coding and not learning as often or as consistently as I'd have liked to. So, what am I going to do about that?

Focus on one thing

Diving into the world of learning web development can be this vast daunting thing, and it is for me! Past HTML, CSS and JavaScript you realise there is just a sea of frameworks, tools and programs at your fingertips allowing you to code, design and program all sorts of websites.

Trying to dive into a number of them that interested me at the time did not help me when it came to trying to learn one thing that I was initially trying to get to grips with, JavaScript. I was having trouble learning the fundamentals of it and once I struggled so much, it just ended up falling by the wayside. So I ended up looking into frameworks and other tools that I really shouldn't have been doing yet. This brings me to my next point.

Don't skip the fundamentals

HTML, CSS and JavaScript, from what I've seen, heard and read, are the fundamentals when it comes to learning web development. Before you jump into any frameworks, JavaScript based or otherwise, you need a strong grip on these three things.

Without these three, you lack any foundations as a web developer. Also, without these three, learning any framework is going to be a lot more difficult than a lot of the components of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

I've realised, it's about taking my time and making sure I really understand these ideas and concepts. This brings me to my next point.

Practicing and Building Projects

Once I have reached significant milestones in learning these languages and concepts I need to apply what I've learned by building projects, or if that's too much then I should build some components. Never be afraid to start small and build your way up.

I've realised that if I just sit there watching somebody else code or just copy their code as I go, I'm not actually going to learn a great deal. It's all about taking these ideas and practices and applying them to a project by yourself, be it building your personal website, or even just practising building a navigation bar or website footer. The learning will come from applying what you've learnt but on your own.

Of course, this doesn't mean you can't refer to any guides or documentation or even just refer back to a video tutorial. It simply means getting out there and giving it a go. That's going to involve some frustration and just getting it very wrong, but this is how we learn.

In conclusion

Now that I know where I went wrong, I do feel that I am going to have a much stronger grip on where I'm going when it comes to learning web development. This doesn't mean it's going to be smooth sailing, but it does mean that I will learn a lot. I've just got to get in there and not be afraid of getting it wrong.