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[TomC Moderator TomCJoin date: October 2014Posts: 14077Downloads:58Uploads:137 Thanks: 948 Thanked: 3155 times in 2495 posts]

#168148

NEW TO JOOMLA? – BE A LEARNER, NOT A QUITTER

The inspiration for this piece comes from the (unfortunately) frequent support tickets and posts I see from those who have a great idea for a new website … have discovered Joomla/Magento (and, by proxy, the amazing/dynamic template and extension creations of JoomlArt) … find a JoomlArt template they really like … join the JoomlArt Joomla Template Club (JATC) or JoomlArt Magento Templace Club (JMTC) … and then all too quickly – due to experiencing initial personal difficulties installing their template and/or getting started with modifying/customizing their template – feel they want to throw in the towel and give up.

I assume that you came to JoomlArt and invested in a Club Membership because you have a great idea for a website – or an update for your existing website – and found a JATC or JMTC template that you feel will fit the bill – yes? So, even if you’re new to Joomla and/or CSS based web design, if you’ve installed your template and – within a matter of a few days – are ready to throw in the towel, let me ask you one question . . . .

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

PATIENCE, PRACTICE and PERCEVERANCE . . .

Nothing throughout history was ever accomplished by someone who gave-up and quit after the first, second or even third try. Patience, practice and perceverance in accomplishing a goal is the cornerstone to success – ask ANY Olympic or Professional Athlete … ask Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. Where might we be today had Gates and//or Jobs given up when things became tough or a circuit board frazzled out on them?

EMBRACE THE PROCESS OF LEARNING . . .

The world is not black-and-white. If you fail to understand something on your first try, it absolutely does not mean that your failure is or will be permanent. You do not want to annihilate all your potential future successes from a single snag, do you?

Embrace the process of LEARNING and GROWING in your knowledge and skill. I assure you that neither myself nor ANY of the JA Development or Support Team woke up one day and knew everything there was to know about Joomla and/or JoomlArt products. Rather, we took things one step at a time and – as with learning anything – patiently and methodically learned, experimented and practiced until we achieved the various goals we set for ourselves. YOU can achieve the same – if you simply take a deep breath and allow yourself to embrace the process.

(continued . . . . )

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1. rozzroy

[TomC Moderator TomCJoin date: October 2014Posts: 14077Downloads:58Uploads:137 Thanks: 948 Thanked: 3155 times in 2495 posts]

#410448

( . . . . continued from above)

The following are concepts to try to help you break free of the “I can’t handle this” roadblock mentality and (hopefully) ENCOURAGE & INSPIRE you to want to embrace the process of learning and persevere on toward realizing that vision of the exciting website idea you came up with. SUCCESS FINDS THOSE WHO SEEK IT.

BE WILLING TO TRY SOMETHING NEW . . .
The only way that a person will learn something new is for he/she to be willing to learn new things. A person’s mind is very powerful, and if you decide that you are willing to try something new, you are more likely to be motivated to do it.

BE CURIOUS . . .
Just as children are motivated to learn new things because they are very curious, an adult needs to become more curious about the world. There is no way that any adult, no matter how smart and wise he/she is, knows everything. There are always new things for people to learn. When a person becomes curious about something, he/she will be motivated to learn about it.

BE INTERESTED . . .
Make no mistake. Your interest in the subject is the essential driver of success. You can’t learn what you do not want to learn. Emotion is an important part of the learning process. If you are even moderately interested in a subject, give yourself a chance. The key is to get started. If you can create some pleasurable routines, you may find that the subject grows on you.

“L’appetit vient en mangeant” (the appetite comes with eating) as they say in French.

ANYTIME IS LEARNING TIME . . .
Take full advantage of the Internet – Google, YouTube, JoomlArt and various mobile devices – not to mention good old-fashioned books and magazines. Learn during “dead time”. Listen in your car, on the train, or while jogging. Have your learning with you while waiting in the doctor’s office, or listen while checking out at the supermarket. Anytime is learning time.

Remember, you are learning through exposure, not by nailing things down.
It is more like moisture accumulation in a cloud, rather than building a brick wall.

BE A MULTIMEDIA LEARNER . . .
The more varied your learning content, and the more varied the ways in which you learn, the clearer the puzzle will become. Different learning activities suit different people, at different times of the day. Vary your activities in order to keep your interest level up. Even if listening and reading work best for you, treat yourself to the odd video lecture or get-together with other learners.

We are amazingly fortunate to live in a time where virtually anything you want to learn, you can find resources for it on the internet – MANY at/for the very affordable price of . . . COMPLETELY FREE. 🙂

The following are but mere examples of the literally HUNDREDS of resources at your fingertips . . .

JOOMLART JOOMLA TUTORIALS

JOOMLART MAGENTO TUTORIALS

CSS BASICS

FREE JOOMLA TUTORIALS

LYNDA.COM – one of my personal favorite learning resources.

EXPECT PROBLEMS, and YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED . . .
Don’t expect to understand things, much less remember them, the first time you study them. Trust that things will get clearer as your brain comes to grips with new information.

It is like a jig-saw puzzle or a cross-word puzzle . . . . as you start to put the pieces together, or string the words together, the full picture becomes clearer. The brain learns all the time, but on its own schedule. Learning does not take place according to a schedule laid down by a curriculum or teacher. Some things are easier to learn than others. Some things just take longer to click in. Keep at it, and you will gradually find that things that seem difficult at first, will become second nature with time.

Failure may be one of the fears that a person needs to overcome for them to be motivated to learn new things. But instead of being afraid of failure, a person should welcome it as part of the process that comes along with learning new things. Failure is not a bad thing-unless a person stops trying after they fail-and it can even lead to a person discovering something new.

JOIN LEARNING COMMUNITIES . . .
The “loneliness of the distance learner” is a thing of the past. In fact, you’ve already made a VERY WISE and educationally valuable first step in joining the JoomlArt Community Forum. Not only do we have a wealth of tips and tutorials for performing various tasks in/with Joomla, but each of our JATC and JMTC Templates is accompanied by it’s own specific Forum Section and in-depth/illustrated User Guide outlining the features and configurations of each template.

However – insomuch as we would like to believe so, JoomlArt is not the only web development learning resource available to you on the internet. There are literally dozens upon dozens of Community Message Boards and Forums – on virtually any topic – strewn throughout the web (with more launching every day).

So, join a learning community on the web, where members share their knowledge and experience. Search for the communities that suit your interests and learning style. You will find encouragement, advice and stimulus from fellow learners – as well as from tutors, teachers and coaches. In these communities, you can measure your progress against your own goals, or compare your experience with that of other learners. You can even teach and help others, which is a great way to learn.

For example . . . JOOMLA USER GROUPS

(continued . . . . )

[TomC Moderator TomCJoin date: October 2014Posts: 14077Downloads:58Uploads:137 Thanks: 948 Thanked: 3155 times in 2495 posts]

#410449

( . . . . continued from above )

IN CONCLUSION . . .

You know, sometimes people will write or say something in ENGLISH that I don’t understand. Granted, it doesn’t happen often, but people continuously make up new words or use something from a larger vocabulary pool than I possess. So what do I do when you encounter something like this when working with your new JoomlArt Template? It’s very simple . . . I make a note or take a screenshot of the issue/element that is temporarily beyond my understanding . . . and I look it up.

My friends, the internet is LOADED with, quite literally, thousands of resources for learning/understanding virtually any issue/topic you will encounter in working within a Joomla website development environment – from the most basic of concepts to the expert/advanced. Never has it been easier nor more exciting to be a learner.

Let constant learning be a major part of your life-style. The rewards will be constant – personally, socially, and professionally. We’re all constantly learning something new, right? If we weren’t, we would all be so boring.

Likewise, learning the various elements for customizing a Joomla/JoomlArt based website can be mentally exhausting.! It’s literally a marathon, not a sprint. I look back at the miles I’ve covered, proud of what I have accomplished so far.

Nevertheless, what lays ahead still is more work, more to learn, more practice. Then multiply that by 3 or 4 other aspects of web development I would like to learn. Fun …. inspiring …. yet time consuming and tiring.

You know what . . . it’s all absolutely worth it in the end.

😎

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