Praise three times as much as you criticize. This is something I learnt when I was a teacher. Being a teacher often involves telling people they are wrong, and if you don't praise praise praise, they _will_ lose motivation.
Your buddy/child/partner is trying out some basic web design? "Hey cool color choice! Show me how you change it from brilliant pink to light grey." Adjust as appropriate.
The value of praise is undervalued in the hacker community. If you are really searching for something to praise, praise effort and getting this far.
I think the reason the hacker community doesn't bother with it is based on a culture of efficiency. It isn't entirely out of order to assume that folks have some other support system in their lives (family, social groups, etc) to offer the praise they need to motivate them (or maybe even intrinsic motivation is there in some).
Your buddy/child/partner is trying out some basic web design? "Hey cool color choice! Show me how you change it from brilliant pink to light grey." Adjust as appropriate.
The value of praise is undervalued in the hacker community. If you are really searching for something to praise, praise effort and getting this far.