Someone recommended this forum to me as an intermediate beginner in HTML/CSS/PHP but I would like to ask outright: Is this a good forum for beginners?
I've been through a number of forums in the last few months that have frustrated me to no end, with people obviously not wanting to be bothered with my questions or making me jump through hoops to get a simple answer to a basic question about the structure of an HTML form or completely going off-topic and expounding upon things that have nothing to do with my question. Not to say I mind advice that might be beyond the scope of the question - I like a good screed as much as the next guy but keep it germane!
I'd rather not waste anyone's time - let alone mine - by pestering them with simple concepts if it's not acceptable or if it's a bother. I am at the point in my learning where I need a mentor of sorts; I've done a million tutorials but I need feedback to questions and I run into situations where stuff just doesn't work and I can't figure out why. Seeing as I'm the only person I know that knows the difference between GET and POST (or even what they are), my IRL pickings are slim. If this not the best place for a beginner to get simple answers that are on-topic, could someone point me to a good place for this?
I'm at the end of my rope as far as getting advice is concerned! Please, please help!
Although a little weighted to the intermediate/advanced levels, and heavily weighted to WordPress, I think it's still a good place for beginners. But see the sidebar item called "How To Ask A Good Question" before composing your question - some good tips there.
Thank you! I've read the link and that's easy enough. I'm into Wordpress as well (matter of fact, a deficiency in WP is what has lead me to really buckle down and get more serious about learning web design) and found the official forums not always... straightforward so I welcome the additional resource.
I'm not sure how many online communities you've been a part of, but going into any forum with the attitude that the responses to your question must adhere to certain guidelines is a really crappy attitude to have and will most likely result in either silence to your question and worse, you not getting the answer that you need.
I find that most of the answers here that are [graciously] given are completely on topic and help the person asking the question not only do what they are trying to do, but expand beyond that. That's the whole point of trying to move up from a beginner to something more.
If your IRL pickings are slim and you have actual criteria on how you get an question answered online (for free I might add), then I would honestly go buy a book or three and read up on that, since most likely nothing here will satisfy you.
Being "serious" about web design means not being afraid to figure stuff out yourself - that includes actually reading the answers that people give you. People answer because they want to help; you're seriously going to ask them to frame their answers within some kind of template?
This is all meant as constructive advice, mind you. I love helping others but I also believe in a take what you can get dynamic online.
I almost ignored your post but jumping to conclusions and lumping me into some arbitrary taxonomy really needed rebuttal. You have somehow misunderstood my post and twisted my words so far out of shape as to render them nearly unrecognizable, but I am not "demanding" anything from any forum, bad or good. Being upfront and trying not to tie up anyone's valuable time on this free forum is not "attitude". I've spent days on forums waiting for an answer that never came because no one wanted to lower themselves to answer a question about beginner stuff so instead of waiting, I asked. The other responses seem to back up my conclusion that my post is not out of line.
Assuming that I am some entitled forum jerk and that I've never cracked a book simply because I need to have feedback to progress and have been frustrated by poor or no response on forums that advertise themselves as helpful and open for questions is pretty crappy. Please don't just assume that I've never read a book on HTML or PHP or JS because I have different needs than you. I find that asking books questions rarely works and they suck at evaluating code. Different people learn differently; some benefit from a second set of eyes while learning.
Just because "I don't have the right to expect something" doesn't mean I can't be disappointed that it doesn't work out the way it's advertised and look for an alternative. If I find that this forum doesn't fulfill my needs I will walk away and be frustrated, even if you want me to smile and suck it up and ask another question that is answered incorrectly, or ignored, or people hate me for. I refuse to be prisoner to YOUR expectations.
All I did was ask if I was in the right place place, if my questions would be appropriate, voiced some frustration at the many forums I've tried to get help from and failed, and then expressed thanks to the helpful and civil answers. How crappy, I know.
Wow, you really seemed to have taken my post the wrong way, taking offense and jumping to quite a few conclusions when there was none intended. My first instinct was to respond with "Your post is a prime example of why you aren't getting the help you want". But I won't do that, because it will just result in useless banter.
Your assumption that people haven't answered your questions because they couldn't lower themselves to answer a beginner's question really shows that you don't have much respect for the people on this forum to begin with, so why would you want their help?
I think your question was reasonable and I understand where you are coming from. Some sites can be difficult to engage with, as they have different expectations of their members. However, there are some useful generalised assumptions that people can make that you should be aware of:
1) If google returns a useful (correct) response from a copy/paste of a question, the poster probably hasn't spent much (if any) time researching. 2) If questions don't include actual code, then the original poster probably hasn't tried to attempt to resolve their own problem. 3) If searching the forums using obvious keywords from the original post returns the correct answer, then the original poster doesn't have sufficient respect for the other forum users' time.
These are very generalised, and often a person will fall foul of these for unrelated reasons (number 2 is frequently a result of someone not wanting to post code that hasn't worked -- don't fall into that trap! Bad code is still useful).
In addition, you won't always get a straight answer to a question. Some users would rather direct you to a good quality resource that should be able to resolve your problem. Don't take offense at this -- if you can't see how it is related, then ask. The more basic the question, the more likely you are to be directed to this sort of resource. The reason is simple -- the answer should probably have been available to you through good quality web searching, so in asking that sort of a question you highlight a need to learn more around the topic. People understand that early on it is hard to answer these questions yourself, so they are trying to help when they direct you to those pages (honest!). In doing so they are hoping to empower you with a greater ability to find answers yourself, saving other users' time for more challenging questions you might have.
Either way, ask away! Make sure you read the How To Ask a Good Question post, and most importantly, just write code :-)
@benzo, I love helping people with their problems, beginner or advanced. However, I agree with what @BenWalker said. You should take the time to research it to your extent and when you're all out of options, then it's always fine to ask. Just make sure you give us enough information to help you.
As long as people don't expect the forums to basically do their job for them, they'll usually get the answers they're looking for.
Generally the quality of help provided by this forum is outstanding. There are many regulars on here (you'll quickly find out who they are). And as mentioned if you provide a codepen (or similar) link with your code, a lot of the time you'll get a full solution to your problems.
Someone recommended this forum to me as an intermediate beginner in HTML/CSS/PHP but I would like to ask outright: Is this a good forum for beginners?
I've been through a number of forums in the last few months that have frustrated me to no end, with people obviously not wanting to be bothered with my questions or making me jump through hoops to get a simple answer to a basic question about the structure of an HTML form or completely going off-topic and expounding upon things that have nothing to do with my question. Not to say I mind advice that might be beyond the scope of the question - I like a good screed as much as the next guy but keep it germane!
I'd rather not waste anyone's time - let alone mine - by pestering them with simple concepts if it's not acceptable or if it's a bother. I am at the point in my learning where I need a mentor of sorts; I've done a million tutorials but I need feedback to questions and I run into situations where stuff just doesn't work and I can't figure out why. Seeing as I'm the only person I know that knows the difference between GET and POST (or even what they are), my IRL pickings are slim. If this not the best place for a beginner to get simple answers that are on-topic, could someone point me to a good place for this?
I'm at the end of my rope as far as getting advice is concerned! Please, please help!
I find that most of the answers here that are [graciously] given are completely on topic and help the person asking the question not only do what they are trying to do, but expand beyond that. That's the whole point of trying to move up from a beginner to something more.
If your IRL pickings are slim and you have actual criteria on how you get an question answered online (for free I might add), then I would honestly go buy a book or three and read up on that, since most likely nothing here will satisfy you.
Being "serious" about web design means not being afraid to figure stuff out yourself - that includes actually reading the answers that people give you. People answer because they want to help; you're seriously going to ask them to frame their answers within some kind of template?
This is all meant as constructive advice, mind you. I love helping others but I also believe in a take what you can get dynamic online.
I almost ignored your post but jumping to conclusions and lumping me into some arbitrary taxonomy really needed rebuttal. You have somehow misunderstood my post and twisted my words so far out of shape as to render them nearly unrecognizable, but I am not "demanding" anything from any forum, bad or good. Being upfront and trying not to tie up anyone's valuable time on this free forum is not "attitude". I've spent days on forums waiting for an answer that never came because no one wanted to lower themselves to answer a question about beginner stuff so instead of waiting, I asked. The other responses seem to back up my conclusion that my post is not out of line.
Assuming that I am some entitled forum jerk and that I've never cracked a book simply because I need to have feedback to progress and have been frustrated by poor or no response on forums that advertise themselves as helpful and open for questions is pretty crappy. Please don't just assume that I've never read a book on HTML or PHP or JS because I have different needs than you. I find that asking books questions rarely works and they suck at evaluating code. Different people learn differently; some benefit from a second set of eyes while learning.
Just because "I don't have the right to expect something" doesn't mean I can't be disappointed that it doesn't work out the way it's advertised and look for an alternative. If I find that this forum doesn't fulfill my needs I will walk away and be frustrated, even if you want me to smile and suck it up and ask another question that is answered incorrectly, or ignored, or people hate me for. I refuse to be prisoner to YOUR expectations.
All I did was ask if I was in the right place place, if my questions would be appropriate, voiced some frustration at the many forums I've tried to get help from and failed, and then expressed thanks to the helpful and civil answers. How crappy, I know.
Wow, you really seemed to have taken my post the wrong way, taking offense and jumping to quite a few conclusions when there was none intended. My first instinct was to respond with "Your post is a prime example of why you aren't getting the help you want". But I won't do that, because it will just result in useless banter.
Your assumption that people haven't answered your questions because they couldn't lower themselves to answer a beginner's question really shows that you don't have much respect for the people on this forum to begin with, so why would you want their help?
I think your question was reasonable and I understand where you are coming from. Some sites can be difficult to engage with, as they have different expectations of their members. However, there are some useful generalised assumptions that people can make that you should be aware of:
1) If google returns a useful (correct) response from a copy/paste of a question, the poster probably hasn't spent much (if any) time researching.
2) If questions don't include actual code, then the original poster probably hasn't tried to attempt to resolve their own problem.
3) If searching the forums using obvious keywords from the original post returns the correct answer, then the original poster doesn't have sufficient respect for the other forum users' time.
These are very generalised, and often a person will fall foul of these for unrelated reasons (number 2 is frequently a result of someone not wanting to post code that hasn't worked -- don't fall into that trap! Bad code is still useful).
In addition, you won't always get a straight answer to a question. Some users would rather direct you to a good quality resource that should be able to resolve your problem. Don't take offense at this -- if you can't see how it is related, then ask. The more basic the question, the more likely you are to be directed to this sort of resource. The reason is simple -- the answer should probably have been available to you through good quality web searching, so in asking that sort of a question you highlight a need to learn more around the topic. People understand that early on it is hard to answer these questions yourself, so they are trying to help when they direct you to those pages (honest!). In doing so they are hoping to empower you with a greater ability to find answers yourself, saving other users' time for more challenging questions you might have.
Either way, ask away! Make sure you read the How To Ask a Good Question post, and most importantly, just write code :-)
As long as people don't expect the forums to basically do their job for them, they'll usually get the answers they're looking for.
Generally the quality of help provided by this forum is outstanding. There are many regulars on here (you'll quickly find out who they are). And as mentioned if you provide a codepen (or similar) link with your code, a lot of the time you'll get a full solution to your problems.
Either way, welcome!