Step 1: The White Cross
During this step, we are trying to create a white cross where the edges match the center pieces.
The white cross is the only step in the entire layer by layer method that is almost entirely intuitive. This may be hard for some people, but that is okay; the rest of the steps are algorithm-based.
To solve the white cross, first you need to find the edge pieces that have white as one of the two colors on the piece. There are four of these, the white/red, white/blue, white/green, and white/orange pieces. These pieces can be in one of five locations- top layer, side of top layer, middle layer, bottom layer, and side of bottom layer.

Your goal by the end of this step





Top Layer Side of Top Layer Middle Layer Bottom Layer Side of Bottom Layer






Case:
How to Solve:
or
There are no real algorithms for this step, so you might just have to follow the demos above to solve the white cross. Just be careful that you don't mess up any pieces that were already solved. I suggest you solve the edges going clockwise or counter-clockwise. By doing this, it will be harder to mess up the solved edges if you use the methods above.