====== General Tips ======

Pieces of advice collected and consolidated from the Melonland forums in answer to requests for general website-making advice.

**The questions:**

  * I am new to making sites and I want some tips to improve.
  * I want to redesign my site, but I don't know how! 
  * how to feel less overwhelmed? 
  * site too spagetti to fix, scared 
  * What to do when programmer's block hits???

**The answers:**

===== Brainstorm! =====

  * A couple of questions to ask yourself: what do you like and don't like about your site? What do you want it to look like and behave? Once you've got those more or less settled, then you can start adapting a template or creating your own.
  * Understand what you want to have in your webpage. This is infinitely better than just going around aimlessly without any set vision in mind. 
  * Go check out some moodboards. Maybe make your own. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
  * Personally, I find looking at potential backgrounds very inspiring.
  * Never follow trends, find things that make you excited to be alive.
  * You'll have much more fun if you have content to post about. When I started my content was collections and past projects that I had sitting around, that gave me a whole wealth of stuff to post without much effort.
  * Design is the most important bit, you can have crappy HTML and a cool design and it will still be cool. By design, I mean the layout, but also the mood and vibe.

===== Start Small! =====

  * Remember to take it one page at a time, or even just one line of code at a time !!
  * I struggle with reading books and long guides, so I tackle learning code by thinking up of a simple project. Then, I look at cheatsheets and search up anything I don't understand.
  * Don’t worry about Javascript until you’re good at HTML and CSS, do a programming fundamentals tutorial from Youtube. Then pick a simple project like a name generator and try that, then do more complex things. 
  * Read a basic tutorial, do a chapter, and try to make a little site where you apply only what you've just learned. After a few chapters, try to combine things you have learned into a little website. Wait a while, and repeat, but upgrade your existing website by replacing parts or adding new ones after you've collected some new skills.
  * Make a sketch, or a sort of storyboard of your site. Draw it out on paper and write down the functionality you'd like it to have. Then code what you can of it, static pages with explanational text to fill in what you don't know how to do.

===== Just Do It! =====

  * After you learn the basics of HTML and CSS, just jump into the waters and start programming. You won't be able to learn another language by reading one or two guides and the same can be said about learning to build webpages.  
  * It's always better for you to actually do _something_ than nothing at all, even if it's just some fun side-project/idea that you came up with a few minutes ago. 
  * Sometimes I seem to have so much to do, not just the websites, that I spend more time thinking about what I have to do than simply choosing just one thing and at least making a start on it. It might be that's where you are at.

===== Steal! =====

  * Take inspiration from other websites and don't be afraid to look into the HTML/CSS that they're using.
  * Snoop the source of sites, steal bits you like and re-work them. 
  * I used a template and slowly messed around to see what each piece of code did. I'd recommend either just trying to get the basics of learning what each thing does under your belt, or start with a template and mess with it from there !!
  * I built my first website in 1996. I did it by using "view source", copying and pasting markup, and running it in a local browser to see what it did. I took me almost 30 years to become as skilled as I have, and I still have a lot to learn.

===== You Can Do Whatever You Want! =====

  * You’ll find a lot of rules about how you SHOULD do web design, be sure to break them at every opportunity but learn them first. 
  * Just do what you feel you want to. There's no set method, no timetable you have to keep to.
  * There's nothing stopping you experimenting - layout, themes, colours, content - absolutely everything.
  * Remember that the technologies are just tools, they will allow you to make what you want, but you have to find your creative inspiration yourself.

===== Be Kind To Yourself! =====

  * When the stuff gets too overwhelming take breaks in between coding sessions.
  * Take a break! Just let it be for now and come back to it later. I had the same thing with my site and got kind of tired working on it, but after I came back to it I found myself with both appreciation for what I had already done, and more ideas on how to proceed.
  * Remember art is magic, and fun is magic, your are conjuring things into reality, make sure your having fun doing it! :grin:
  * You don't have to beat yourself up for being a beginner. Everybody starts from zero.
  * Don't be stumbled by the websites of other people. Many people have much experience, and often there are also preexisting resources (like layouts, images, or color schemes) used to create beautiful stuff.
  * Don’t judge your site too harshly against other sites, remember some (like mine) were made slowly over many years by people with too much free time… 
  * I had the idea for my site in 2018, since then I've overhauled every element at least ten times over. I bet all the creators of those intimidatingly cool sites can say the same. Your looking at the culmination of years of methodical refining.

===== Also... =====

  * Don’t overdo Javascript, if your site can’t work with JS turned off then you have overdone the JS!  
  * Use Stack-Overflow for help!