the toe of webdev

Take heed my small sampling of readers — when you read a tutorial for whatever purpose — make sure you completely understand it.

Often I read a tutorial on JavaScript or some advanced Photoshop tutorial and I am left thinking, “What the hell did I just read?”

I know it can be difficult because you may think, “Who do I ask when I do not understand?” The answer is not at all clear, but you can help yourself in a number of ways.

• IRC – Yep, Internet Relay Chat.  You can search for channels (chat rooms) that contain listings such as “programming,” “javascript,” or even “love” — and find someone, somewhere who is willing to deal with your issues.

  Just make sure you obey the laws of netiquette and you should be fine.  In addition, make sure to obey the laws of the given medium.  If IRC, then how to behave on IRC.  If newsgroups, then how to behave on newsgroups, et cetera.

• School
• Internet
• Socially accepted mediums – Twitter, Facebook, Slashdot, Digg, hell, even MySpace.

Woah, woah… the Internet?  Twitter?

What the hell am I talking about you say?

The thing is, that beyond the scope of the millions and millions of blog users out there — you have the “socially accepted mediums.”

These are the sites, chat rooms, blogs, forums, et cetera where like-minded people share and trade ideas, wisdom, and other semi-useful information.

Twitter for example exclaims, “What are you doing?”  Well, I am currently writing this post.  However, it means what are you doing (for the day)!?  Are you studying?  Skiing?  Flirting?

Does it not make sense to ask others who are doing the same thing as you for their opinion?

Seriously.  Whether it is a StumbleUpon’d site or someone who happens to share a few of the same interests as you, it is always wise to let others know that you value their opinion and have a desire to digest the information that only they (or someone just like them) can provide.

Did the Internet response floor you?  Why!?

How many times a day do you Google information?  How many times a day do you fire up a browser just to look up a reference at Mozilla or Microsoft?  How many times a day do you review DevGuru’s CSS reference?  How often do you visit Programmer’s Heaven?

Um… hello!?  That is the Internet!  Every time you seek information that is not included in a software program’s help resource or visit a “reference” site, you are referring to the Internet.

Trust in it, just do not be led astray by it.  Much like Wikipedia.  I do not give two cents for what others think — Wikipedia is an excellent resource!  However, you need to be smart enough to discern the multitudes of shite from the grade “A” fertilizer.

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