Signing Off: A Signature Fanclub - Come Join!

[momincharge]

@tzuyu i love your signature so far !! it looks amazing !!!

[bitter;]

@tzuyu your signature so far is beautiful! <3
@Taffydilla Your sig is so complex, I wouldn't be able to code that!


By the way, I decided to change my sig into a more simple one, any advice?

[momincharge]

@bitter; sorry for late reply but scre
am it's absolutely amazing ?? holy crud-

scream ok im sorry for asking but uh
is my signature ok or should i go bac
k to my last one ?? i decided to make
it more complex but i don't really kn
ow what to think about it, i don't kn
ow if i like it or hate it- also constru
ctive criticism would be nice !!

[gamorasass]

This lovely human directed me here from the Digitally Distinct thread. My questions are:

How do you become better at coding?
Do you believe my coding is good enough for a shop?

I do know practice makes perfect, but I've been coding for years and still do not compare to a majority on this site who have shops or to even half of you on this thread. It's frustrating and disappointing as I really do want to create a shop, but feel inadequate. Any advice?

[Monomares]

@King Kakashi I feel like it really depends on the person. Not everyone learns the same things at the same speed. Some people learn more in months than others do in years. If I egotistically use myself as an example, I've only been coding since August, and I possibly know more than some who've been coding for years, or less than people who've been coding for less than me. You shouldn't compare yourself for the pure fact of putting yourself down, instead use it as a way to improve. Develop your style, experiment with things you might not be comfortable with. Fail, try again, fail again, all the while getting better until you get it perfect!
It's hard, but it'll work out.
As my gym teacher use to say, "Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent."
To answer your question regarding your coding, I think it looks great! A lot of people really like simple signatures, and that can aid you in the long run. A coding shop is a great way to expand and experiment, so I'd say give it a shot!

[yaku]

@ Kakashi ;
Coding is a lot like drawing - some people have a natural knack for it and pick it up quickly. Others have to work for it. Almost everyone compares each other to others and puts themselves down for their coding without knowing the background of the person they're comparing themselves to... and on CS, there's a market for almost everyone. There's never a "not good enough," because this is a creative and subjective medium. I've had people tell me specifically not to make their signatures big and huge. I've had people buy two signatures with the same exact form from two different people (one me, one another person), and never even put my overly complex piece of junk in their signature box, instead opting to use the other person's: one with a structure similar to yours: left column, center column, right column. The point of that little anecdote is that there's almost always going to be somebody that wants to buy your coding, and that's because CS BBCode isn't technical at all, though it's similar to HTML/CSS in that you're constantly referencing rather than memorizing. It's more about image manipulation and looking pretty than it is about functionality. It's about the end result, not the journey.
tl;dr: Yes, you're good enough to make a shop, because with a visual medium like this there's no such thing as "not good enough." There's a demographic for every conceivable type of layout. It's a visual and subjective thing, so just like art you should stop comparing yourself to others!

And with that out of the way, you get better at it mostly through osmosis. Scrolling through the forums. Seeing what you like about other peoples' layouts. Seeing what you don't like. Emulating that, like an HTML student tries to emulate webpages. Slowly (and more importantly, PASSIVELY) developing an eye for colors that look nice together, how to lay out effectively, and even little "cheats" to make your life as a coder easier like combining unicode assets and stuff into images... but at the same time, being careful not to get lost in thinking anyone is "better" than you. Despite the name, the "coding" part of CS BBCoding is an extremely small part of the process. I keep saying it, but it's a visual medium. The primary skills that you'll want to work on are creating layouts (perhaps by sketching them on a piece of paper or in a drawing program of choice) and image manipulation. How fast you pick these up is up to you, your personal learning speed, and your background with Photoshop (or Photoshop-like software). With Digitally Distinct around, the technical part is as easy as highlight, copy, paste, but just like you can't only target the fat on your stomach, you can't specifically teach creativity.

tl;dr: Look at other peoples' work and try to emulate (but don't plagiarize) the elements that you like. Act like you're a kid making a collage, and the bits and bobs of BBCode and unicode characters in Digitally Distinct are your magazines to be clipped. Maybe try to bolster your image manipulation skills and practice making creative layouts, then worrying about how they'll actually work on the page later.

And a technical tip to break up all that long-winded rambling I just did, in case it's not extremely obvious on DD: you can nest alignment tags within each other. Putting a [right] tag in a [left]tag works similar to the CSS float:right property and allows you to make sort of "columns within columns." The hallmark of CS BBCode is understanding how columns work. That's the only real fundamental I can think of.

[dαrkshαdє]

Okay, so I love signatures, and I'm literally jealous of everyone's, but I need help with making one (just the basics) Can anyone help me with it? Thanks
Edit: Here's my form

Username:

Verrian

Name/Nickname[s]:

Veri

Pronouns:

She/her

Do you have an signature shop?:

Nope, just need help with one :3

What's your favourite and least favourite part about coding:

The difficultiness

When did you begin making signatures?:

When I joined, but I wasn't good at it at all

Tell us a bit about yourself?:

I'm an emo furry :3

Irisid, I'd like to sign up!

[gamorasass]

Thank you both so much! My appreciation is endless <3

[dαrkshαdє]

Okay, so I love signatures, and I'm literally jealous of everyone's, but I need help with making one (just the basics) Can anyone help me with it? Thanks
Edit: Here's my form

Username:

Verrian

Name/Nickname[s]:

Veri

Pronouns:

She/her

Do you have an signature shop?:

Nope, just need help with one :3

What's your favourite and least favourite part about coding:

The difficultiness

When did you begin making signatures?:

When I joined, but I wasn't good at it at all

Tell us a bit about yourself?:

I'm an emo furry :3

Irisid, I'd like to sign up!

[rocoboq]

@Verrian
Welcome to the club! I agree that I both like and dislike the difficulties that come with coding... sometimes it's a nice challenge, but then other times I just get frustrated and need to take a break.
If you need any help with coding, you can definitely PM me (though I will be unavailable today through Saturday, Sunday-Tuesday all day, and Thursday-Saturday due to school activities). Otherwise, Digitally Distinct is a great place to learn about coding and ask all kinds of questions. Just remember that no question is a stupid question, and it's a learning experience for everyone involved!
Good luck with your coding, and have fun!