I've found Docker difficult to wrap my brain around as well - even for someone who had used and done light coding for 40+ years using CP/M, MSDOS, and now Windows - but have made some progress thanks to folks here and to my new best AI friend. I now have successfully installed & continue to use 2 containers: Fast Channels, and PBS VLC Bridge.
My first hurdle was just getting Docker set up on my Windows 11 machine in the first place, as there were a good many prerequisites I needed to install and configure first - few of which were straightforward. After numerous failures and backtracking (for example, how to enable WSL, which virtualizations to enable, which version of Linux should you set up on WSL - and does it matter?) I finally ended up turning to AI for help and eventually got it done, but not without much gnashing of teeth.
After that, I had to try to sort through the various ways of installing various Docker containers. Very few of the online tutorials I've found are very useful for people just trying to use containers developed by others; they seem oriented toward helping developers containerizing their creations. The installation methods I've heard about have been:
"Docker Run"
That has been the easiest to set up (once I had Docker itself working) because all I had to do was enter a supplied command. It did get more complicated when I needed to update a Docker container, because that involved several not-so-obvious steps. Fortunately, someone here had posted the list of commands that would do the job, and I have saved them in a batch file that I can run as needed.
"Docker Compose"
The instructions I've seen for these don't generally tell the whole story, and I've yet to manage to implement anything using it. Apparently you need to set up some files & folders -but instructions are not always complete on what and where. The actual command to run once you have those files & folders set up is usually just one line, but getting things set up to run that one line can be difficult. It appears that once you have something properly set up via Docker Compose, updating it is easier than if you set it up with Docker Run, but I have no idea if it's practical to try to convert from Run to Compose once everything's been set up.
"Portainer"
Many have described this as the easiest way to go, so I actually tried that first - then regretted it and doubt that I will ever use it again. I carefully followed the Portainer installation instructions, which included setting a password, which I recorded. Then I installed a container. The problem arose when I wanted to update the container, but I couldn't get into Portainer to do so. It rejected the password I had carefully recorded. In the end, I wiped out both Portainer and things I'd installed it with, and started over. I had a lot of trouble recovering my settings, even though I'd made backups, having switched from Portainer to Run.
It would be great to find a tutorial on how to set up Docker for those of us who just want to use the various containers that are on offer, but have yet to find anything that takes one from zero to 60 - they all seem to start around 50.
