I want some of you, especially those of you that have had struggled with learning HTML and CSS, to take some time and follow this video tutorial playlist. I think the author does a good job of moving from very simple concepts to more difficult concepts. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS A VIDEO PLAYLIST WITH 47 DIFFERENT TUTORIALS, NOT JUST ONE VIDEO! Feel free to skip some of the earlier videos if you feel you have a specific technique down.
Your Midterm Proposals will be returned to you soon, and many of you will be directed specifically to this blog post. In the past I have said that I wouldn’t necessarily set universal requirements for your final deliverables, but it is important to me that you are demonstrating skills that we’ve discussed and covered in class. I don’t want to stifle your creativity, but that doesn’t mean I don’t expect you to be creative.
Just because there are services that can make more advanced or more aesthetically pleasing layouts without requiring you to know any html or css, that doesn’t mean these skills are no longer important. So far we’ve seen how we can extend html and css usage by using things like tumblr’s ‘Blocks & Variables’ theme design techniques, and we’ve seen how we can customize our assets more precisely than most CMS systems allow for (sizing images would be an example of this).
In the world of web development I think of learning basic html like I think about learning to swim. Just because you can take a nice boat from one side of the stream to the other doesn’t mean there is no value in learning to doggy paddle. Once you are comfortable doggy paddling then you will be able to take another step toward learning things like the breaststroke, the backstroke, and the butterfly. If you learn to swim you might one day choose to take up water polo, or diving… things that wouldn’t even be an option if you just say “Swimming is stupid, I got a boat!”
And even if you do have a boat, and you enjoy using it, eventually the motor is going to give out and you are going to have to jump in the water. Why risk drowning?
