# How I used Instagram to get better at CSS

I've been an advocate of using plain CSS in web applications instead of using frameworks like Bootstrap. But it meant that I needed to be good at CSS in the first place.

People have been using Instagram to scroll through entertainment for ages, but in June last year, I found something interesting I could use to become good at CSS.

# Learning CSS

I didn't learn CSS from Instagram 😂 that'd be extreme. 

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1661684372684/62cA3J0kF.png align="left")

I learned HTML and CSS from [this](https://www.udemy.com/course/modern-html-css-from-the-beginning/) Udemy course created by Brad Traversy. 

> _About Brad, he's one of the most inspirational people I've seen on the internet, apart from such a great instructor that he is. He makes every concept simple and easy to understand. If you're new to web development, I'd highly recommend you to get this course_.

# UI-UX Posts on Instagram

Earlier in 2021, I started following a few tech accounts on Instagram. After that, I found some UI-UX-related posts on Instagram in my Explore Feed.

Looking at one of them, I thought that I could code this. I know what it looks like, so it would not take long to get it up on a Browser. 

![saved_insta.jpeg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1661685216636/44JtGDRtr.jpeg align="center")

[uxbrainy](https://www.instagram.com/uxbrainy/) and [orizon.design](https://www.instagram.com/orizon.design/) are some of the accounts I'd recommend you check out. 

What you see in the image above is the list of posts I saved on Instagram to further use as inspirations to code CSS. 

# Turning Mockup into Website

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1661688732569/rRY_xMjY9.png align="left")

I downloaded this image on my computer and kept it as a reference. 
After that, I opened VSCode and started coding. 

My only aim was to make the result look the same as the image I was referring to.

You can find this project in my GitHub Repository [here](https://github.com/sreekeshiyer/weather-app-html-css).

# The Results

Once I finished coding work, I shared the results on Instagram. Here are some of them.

![WhatsApp Image 2022-08-28 at 5.53.26 PM.jpeg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1661689477063/AlJjFmVcV.jpeg align="center")

![WhatsApp Image 2022-08-28 at 5.50.30 PM.jpeg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1661689292864/TYgOeE-Vs.jpeg align="center")

# The Learning

As guilty as I am of scrolling mindlessly on Instagram every day, I think I made some efficient use of it back in the day to ensure it helped me improve as a developer.

Even today, not just for UI, I keep saving some informative posts on Instagram that I feel might be useful going forward. 

> It's not about the platform but how we use it in our lives. We have similar use cases for Twitter and even TikTok. What matters here is the right attitude. 

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I feel good when I look back at those days because these are the little improvements and mindset changes that made me the developer I am today. I hope this little story inspires people to use different platforms in possibly unconventional ways to help them improve at what they do best.