The learning never stops; and so, it shouldn’t.
Often, more through trial than error, I have taken on new tasks throughout my life and the experience (for the most part) leaves me in a better place; no matter how difficult it seems at first.
I am undertaking a redesign of this website. Not the type to go into things blindly, I’ve taken on some help to see myself through the process. I knew, from the outset, that I would require some assistance just as I did when I opened up Mythos & Marginalia almost a decade ago.
So much has changed in the years since. I wanted to take this opportunity to not only update the look of the website, but also my skills.
I am learning.
While I know (or think I know) what I want, turning my ideas into a tangible reality is not easy. I understand the fundamentals of page design from my years in the newspaper industry but editing and layout has come a long way from the days of pencils and pica sticks. Technically it is easier now (or should be), but it is the technology that I have issues with. My knowledge of coding was never what it should be, so I am trying to learn more.
The learning never stops.
The WordPress ‘classic editor’ — the platform I have worked on until recently — is, principally, more straightforward with its options. Selecting text size was a drop-down menu, and aligning the type was just a choice of clicks. Working in this format had become routine.
The newer (and, apparently, more advanced) ‘block editor’ mostly seems to skip those familiar steps. I, now, should be able to work more visibly to adjust the text to what I am trying to achieve. That’s a big “should be”. I am, right now, daunted by what should be simple keystrokes and sizing on a very intuitive template.
Making mistakes is easy; correcting them often proves difficult. Understanding the errors of my ways takes understanding and knowledge. I am learning. Slowly.
I guess I had become too used to doing things in a certain way, in a specific order, always able to visualize the results. Now, in this new format, all I seem to be doing is confusing myself.
I am not working in my habitual ways. But I am still learning. That’s a good thing.
You don’t learn from routine, yet you should routinely be learning.
12/16/2024 j.g.l.
It is, at times, mind-numbing.
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