Jeff,
I build and rebuild on SketchUp until I have it completely figured out. It saves a lot of mistakes (and lumber). If you do a thorough build on SketchUp, it’s an easier, faster way to work out all your joints. It is probably the single item that has improved my woodworking the most.
With dial-up, I rarely use the on-line resources. After teaching myself for a couple of years, I did borrow a book from the library and found out that even though I was making the program work for me, there were better ways of doing some things. I haven’t bothered updating since SketchUp8 and often still use SketchUp7 on my old XP.
Keep at it; you will find it useful.
L/W
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” Benjamin Franklin