...at an educational tool.

That's right, my blog.

And no, I don't mean educational for you, I mean for me!

I have actually astonished myself in the past year with how much I've learned to do. Oh, I love the writing and being able to share photos and the conversations we get going on certain topics. But one of the most unexpected things is how much I've been able to learn about HTML and web design. So much of what I've learned is from hours of experimentation on this and a "practice" blog I have. Much of it you never see, because I'm just playing to see what happens. But it's been a little like immersion language study. I could take a class or read a book and learn all about it, but nothing beats the learning that you do "hands on."

You are looking at an educational tool.

The trial and error approach, where there's nothing to lose and no one ever has to see my errors, has been exhilarating for me. Who'd have thought that a stay-at-home mom and Granny with no teacher and no tools other than my laptop would figure out the basics of coding some of this stuff and end up enjoying it so much? I love this!

Okay, so all that to say that I added a new feature that you probably wouldn't know about unless I told you, since it's invisible. I've added a dictionary resource...not because I think anyone reading the Granny blog would need it necessarily, but only because it was one more thing I figured out how to do and I'm showing off :-) If you double-click on any word on the blog, you'll get a page with the definition and even the audio pronunciation of that word. It's also a thesaurus. Yes, you have to step over an ad or two, but hey, it's free!

All this stuff has so fascinated me that I might really TAKE a class or two, and gather some of the tutorials and other resources that could help me learn to design my own web pages/sites. I'm not interested in it as a money-making venture, though I don't suppose that would hurt; I'm just enjoying the creative aspect and the fact that it's something I can learn and do right on my lap, whether I'm in pain or not, whether it's the middle of the day or it's 3am and I can't sleep.

Anyway, look around every now and then, up and down the sidebars, and you'll see the evidence of my tinkering with stuff as I learn. But don't be surprised if the next day it's gone and there's something else in its place!

Labels: Books, Learning