The Finish Line or Is It?

Dreamweaver Constructed Finished Website Homepage

What a journey it has been. From Code Chaos to Creative Clarity: My Dreamweaver + CSS Journey. When I first opened Adobe Dreamweaver, I thought I was ready to take on the world of web design. The colorful interface, the promise of visual editing, and the idea of writing my own code had me floating in a cloud of creative ambition. That cloud lasted all of 17 minutes.

Week One: Lost in the Code Jungle

Let’s be honest. CSS looked like English… until it didn’t. “Display: block”? “Float: left”? Why did my paragraph suddenly leap to the top of the page like it had a caffeine rush? Dreamweaver, while helpful, often felt like it was giving me a false sense of security. I would change one style rule and—poof—everything collapsed like a Jenga tower during an earthquake.

Jenga tower collapse

Week Two: The Pitfalls and the Panic

At this point, I was convinced I had accidentally written code in ancient Greek. My HTML was decent, but my CSS? A hot mess of curly braces, mismatched classes, and declarations that didn’t declare anything. Entire sections of my site would vanish into the void, and all I had to show for it was a blank white screen and a growing sense of doom. I sat in Limbo for days waiting on something or someone to help me out of this mess. I questioned my sanity for even attempting the process.

Crying Emoji

Week Three: The “Happy Accidents” Stage

Here’s where things got interesting. I started experimenting—okay, desperately trying anything—and stumbled into a few successful accidents. I messed with the margins to fix spacing and accidentally created a really sleek layout. I changed a font and realized it fit my theme perfectly. Slowly but surely, Dreamweaver and I started to get each other. It was like learning a new language through arguing with a very stubborn (but patient) friend.

Moving Type

Week Four: Connecting the Dots

By this point, the tangled mess of divs and styles started to make sense. I learned to organize my CSS, with a lot of help, and troubleshoot without panicking. Dreamweaver’s split view helped me see what my code was doing in real time, which was a game-changer. I even started to enjoy the process, until I didn't. I tweaked colors, aligned elements, and watched my site evolve.

Final Week: Victory is Sweet (and Styled)

The moment I previewed my final site and everything worked—everything—I almost cried. My nav bar stayed in place, my images floated just right, my typography looked clean, and my links actually went somewhere. It wasn’t just functional—it felt like mine. My digital footprint had style, structure, and most importantly, soul.

What I Learned Along the Way

• Bad code is just a lesson in disguise. Every mistake taught me more than perfection ever could.

• Dreamweaver is powerful, but it’s still your responsibility to understand what’s under the hood.

• CSS is a beast, but once tamed, it’s beautiful.

• There’s no better feeling than seeing your vision come to life on a screen.

  
  

Faith Over Frustration

I’ll be honest—I still can’t code without help. I’m not fluent in HTML or CSS, and I still look up every little thing (sometimes twice). But I am starting to understand it. Slowly. One bracket, one selector, one lightbulb moment at a time.

And here’s the deeper truth: I now know this side of the design process isn’t where I’m meant to stay. And that’s okay. If I hadn’t wrestled with it, I never would have known. Sometimes, God lets us walk through the unfamiliar so we can discover our gifts—and also our limits. I’m grateful for the push, the growth, and even the late-night coding disasters. They reminded me to stay humble, stay curious, and most of all, stay open to where He’s leading next.

My finished website isn’t just a project. It’s a symbol of perseverance, grace, and the power of simply showing up—even when you’re unsure. And in the end, I believe that’s where the real creativity begins.

Michelle at her desk working

To My Fellow Students:

If you’re feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or questioning why you signed up for this in the first place—breathe. You’re not alone. Learning something new is never linear, and you don’t have to be perfect to make progress. Keep experimenting. Keep asking questions. Let yourself fail forward. And most importantly, trust that even in the mess, God is shaping something meaningful in you.

Whether you end up loving code or leaving it behind, the effort is never wasted. So hang in there, press on, and build something—even if it’s small—that reflects who you are becoming.

We’re learning. We’re growing. And we’re doing it together.

Let’s keep going.

This is just my CreativLeeway!