{"id":144,"date":"2012-08-07T13:38:47","date_gmt":"2012-08-07T18:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/?p=144"},"modified":"2016-08-09T15:44:00","modified_gmt":"2016-08-09T20:44:00","slug":"when-the-internet-isnt-helpful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/","title":{"rendered":"When the internet isn’t helpful"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet can be a helpful place but it isn\u2019t always true. I have received quite a bit of help from the Creative Cow, Video Copilot and Adobe user forums when needing assistance in how to achieve something with a plug-in in a piece of Adobe software. I\u2019ve also found a number of online resources that have been very helpful about how to create an effect in Photoshop or how to import your Gmail calendar into Outlook. The downside of help on the internet is that some people actually spend time being unhelpful or the information posted online isn\u2019t explained well enough so that you\u2019re able to see how what you\u2019re reading connects to the bigger picture.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Photoshop is a powerful program. I\u2019ve seen tutorials that cover how to convert a photo shot in the daytime into a nighttime image and how to turn flat text into realistic 3D text incorporated into any environment. While I appreciate these tutorials as I generally glean something from them, they aren\u2019t always helpful in explaining how the steps of the tutorial contribute to the final image.<\/p>\n

If you look at most Photoshop tutorial sites they give you a run-down of all the steps taken to achieve the effect they created. More often than not, the person posting the tutorial just ends up posting a screenshot of their layer effect settings so you can copy the settings verbatim to create the same effect. But, all this does is allow you to copy the effect without any real understanding of what the settings do.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Here, copy this but don’t ask my why you should or what any of it does.<\/p><\/div>\n

The tutorials make it somewhat simple for people to grasp a simple understanding of what\u2019s possible in Photoshop but without an understanding of how the curves tool or layer effects actually function, the people that are following the steps of the tutorial aren\u2019t really learning how to use Photoshop. Instead of knowing how to use curves at any time they\u2019re just learning how to use curves to create the one effect the tutorial is explaining. So if you don\u2019t understand how to use curves in any other scenario you haven\u2019t really learned how to use curves.<\/p>\n

I saw a video from Adobe many years ago where the person speaking said that when people first jump into using Photoshop they\u2019ll try out most of the effects. When they apply an effect and they don\u2019t see anything happen they\u2019ll just figure that the effect doesn\u2019t work so they\u2019ll never go back and use it ever again. The other side of that is they\u2019ll use an effect and when they don\u2019t understand why they got the result they did they\u2019ll also never use that effect again for the same reason as before.<\/p>\n

When I first started using Photoshop I didn\u2019t understand layer masks which allow you to mask off part of an image so that the masked off part is no longer visible or, if you\u2019re using any value of gray from 2 to 99, that part of the image can be transparent. I\u2019m able to say this now because I understand how masking works and I also understand how to use it. When I began using Photoshop I stayed away from layer masks because I didn\u2019t understand how they worked and couldn\u2019t see the benefit in them. It was at this time that I had recently purchased the Toy Story Ultimate Toy Box DVD set and was watching the bonus material when they showed a picture of Buzz Lightyear and were explaining how they composited his image into a scene with an alpha mask, which is somewhat the same as a layer mask. The area around his body was black and he was white because black obscures everything in a layer mask, but the area of his clear plastic helmet used shades of grey. The darker the gray, the less transparent his helmet was. Suddenly the light went off and it made sense about how layer masks worked and I\u2019ve been able to use them ever since.<\/p>\n

\"Buzz<\/a>

That little bit of gray in his helmet is what makes it transparent.<\/p><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t fault online tutorials for not explaining how each step is contributing to the larger image. It really isn\u2019t their responsibility to explain how each of the controls in the satin effect function. If each tutorial did this then all the tutorials would just be rehashing the exact same information. The downside is that finding a resource that explains to you how the different Photoshop tools function in a way that you understand how they work and can interact with other tools and features isn\u2019t always easy to find. I\u2019ve found a few places that have explained a few of the tools in Photoshop but it wasn\u2019t a repository of all the tools. It was someone that had a personal website that saw a need and decided to fill the void.<\/p>\n

Along the same lines as the understanding of Photoshop is learning how to use other software. WordPress drives the blog for this site and while I\u2019m happy with how it functions and looks, getting it to this state wasn\u2019t that simple.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been designing websites for quite a while but this blog my first foray into working with WordPress. The most work I\u2019ve ever had with the PHP language is setting up mail forms for websites so delving into WordPress took a lot of reading as well as trial and error. Actually, make that a ton of reading and not just from one site. My first attempt at setting up this WordPress site was through an attempt to modify an existing theme. That didn\u2019t go so well because unless you know PHP and how WordPress functions it isn\u2019t as simple as modifying HTML. PHP is quite different from HTML as you can setup one PHP file and then add a simple reference to it in another file which the site then combines the two or more files into one page. Since I didn\u2019t know what I could and couldn\u2019t remove from the templates, not to mention how to really modify the PHP code so that I would be displaying exactly what I wanted, I decided it would be better to just setup a new WordPress site from scratch and \u201csimply\u201d add in the things that I wanted. This is much easier said than done.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Code from my page.php file<\/p><\/div>\n

WordPress does have a repository for everything WordPress called the WordPress Codex. I attempted to use this as my guide for creating a WordPress site from scratch but the Codex really isn\u2019t written for people that have no idea what they\u2019re doing like myself. It also doesn\u2019t help that the codex is written from the perspective of delivering all the information in a \u201cto do xyz, do abc\u201d style. This is the same as giving the exact instructions on how to do something but without a good explanation as to why you\u2019re doing it nor does it delve into exactly how it connects to the larger picture.<\/p>\n

In the end, this blog is the culmination of no less than ten different sites that discuss how to build a WordPress site from scratch. Some of the sites I visited were a lot more helpful than others as the sites that explained why you had to add PHP coding where it\u2019s being placed and also how to modify it were great. It\u2019s this type of explanation that tech-savvy sites need to have more of. As time went on I was able to figure out how to use a piece of information from one site and another piece from somewhere else.<\/p>\n

The second type of non-helpful assistance online are people in user forums. Generally, user forums are great and I get the majority of my questions answered in user forums. However someone people spend more time being unhelpful than they do being helpful.<\/p>\n

I had a question regarding how to accomplish something in Microsoft Word that I had been struggling with for a few days. I had exhausted all my reference books and couldn\u2019t find the answer anywhere online. I had recently joined a local tech group and sought their help in their user forums. After posting my question, I received a response that was no fewer than two pages long. The response didn\u2019t answer my question but was a rant about how I was wasting their time by asking how to do anything in Microsoft Word. They went on to say that Open Office was a much better program and gave me at least ten different reasons why. I responded with, \u201cSo, what you\u2019re saying then is that you have no idea. OK, thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Just like a DVD rewinder, he did a lot of work but didn’t accomplish anything.<\/p><\/div>\n

While I\u2019ve run into this type of individual before, I feel sorry for other people that have to put up with purposely unhelpful people in places where they should be able to get help. On the site LinkedIn are numerous user groups. In the Adobe Dreamweaver group someone had asked a question about how to work with templates as they didn\u2019t quite understand how they functioned. If you\u2019re not sure about how to use templates I can understand why they seem confusing. I didn\u2019t get it for a while either, and was actually one of those things that I knew existed but didn\u2019t use because I didn\u2019t know how they help you stay consistent across multiple pages.<\/p>\n

The unhelpful response the person received was something along the lines of, \u201cDon\u2019t use templates. Use PHP.\u201d My thoughts were that if the person was having difficulty in getting templates to function in Dreamweaver that PHP isn\u2019t going to help them much. When someone asks for help you don\u2019t tell them to go do something more difficult if they\u2019re having trouble grasping the easy things. Fortunately, someone had responded with an explanation of how to use templates in Dreamweaver, which made the original poster\u2019s day.<\/p>\n

The downside of both of these issues is that they probably aren\u2019t going to go away. However, if you do happen to see someone ask a question that you know the answer to or you can direct them to where they can get their question answered, do the right thing and help them out. Giving someone actual help can make one person\u2019s day brighter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen the internet isn't helpful<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When the internet isn't helpful\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"monkeylogic blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MonkeylogicDesign\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-07T18:38:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-09T20:44:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HelpPost.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"570\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Michael (the head monkey)\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Michael (the head monkey)\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Michael (the head monkey)\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d39347fa8dbfebec314b0a130b26aa1\"},\"headline\":\"When the internet isn’t helpful\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-07T18:38:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-09T20:44:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1833,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/08\\\/HelpPost.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Internet\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/\",\"name\":\"When the internet isn't helpful\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/08\\\/HelpPost.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-07T18:38:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-09T20:44:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d39347fa8dbfebec314b0a130b26aa1\"},\"description\":\"Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/08\\\/HelpPost.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/08\\\/HelpPost.png\",\"width\":570,\"height\":200},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"When the internet isn’t helpful\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"monkeylogic blog\",\"description\":\"Out of Register\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4d39347fa8dbfebec314b0a130b26aa1\",\"name\":\"Michael (the head monkey)\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.monkeylogic.us\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/monkeylogic.us\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/head-monkey\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"When the internet isn't helpful","description":"Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"When the internet isn't helpful","og_description":"Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.","og_url":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/","og_site_name":"monkeylogic blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MonkeylogicDesign","article_published_time":"2012-08-07T18:38:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-09T20:44:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":570,"height":200,"url":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HelpPost.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Michael (the head monkey)","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Michael (the head monkey)","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/"},"author":{"name":"Michael (the head monkey)","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d39347fa8dbfebec314b0a130b26aa1"},"headline":"When the internet isn’t helpful","datePublished":"2012-08-07T18:38:47+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-09T20:44:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/"},"wordCount":1833,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HelpPost.png","articleSection":["Internet"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/","url":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/","name":"When the internet isn't helpful","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HelpPost.png","datePublished":"2012-08-07T18:38:47+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-09T20:44:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d39347fa8dbfebec314b0a130b26aa1"},"description":"Despite having a wealth of information the internet can sometimes be quite unhelpful.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HelpPost.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HelpPost.png","width":570,"height":200},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/when-the-internet-isnt-helpful\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"When the internet isn’t helpful"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/","name":"monkeylogic blog","description":"Out of Register","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/4d39347fa8dbfebec314b0a130b26aa1","name":"Michael (the head monkey)","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.monkeylogic.us"],"url":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/author\/head-monkey\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/monkeylogic.us\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}