Week 12

HTML and CSS


Introduction

Sometimes I forget what it is like to be a complete beginner and start something brand new without any prior knowledge, or limited knowledge, of what I am about to learn. About four years ago I learned how to ride a motorcycle and had never even sat on one before taking a very expensive Motorcycle Safety Foundation class here in Massachusetts (they are about $350). I knew that they were manual transmissions, but had never operated a manual transmission on any vehicle, let alone a motorcycle. It was DIFFICULT! I was freaked out but turns out I was ok and I passed the class. Now I don't even think about what I have to do to shift and it has become automatic.

I am the same way with web development and design: I just do it and it's familiar. Perhaps some of you are in this situation, however, I am guessing most of you are not. I got ready to prepare this week's course information by opening Dreamweaver, which in itself, has it's own learning curve. I am mentioning this because I want to empathize with you if this is the first time you are working with straight HTML and CSS coding. It is difficult and can be sup

er frustrating; however, it is worth learning regardless of your chosen field. I work with a project manager who fills in with coding some basic HTML when I, or others, are not available. We need him to be able to step in to help and these skills are invaluable to our team. You might think that a project manager wouldn't need to know HTML, and some may not, however, it's a great skill to offer, which could potentially help you in your career down the road.

I am often asked how to learn how to code websites and I refer people to the same resources I mentioned in the previous course module. I also recommend the following videos. These videos are great at teaching you the basics of how to put together a web page. They are also short and not so boring that you'd rather do laundry or run screaming. I suggest watching these if you get stuck with this week's assignment, or when working on your final project.