5 reasons you should learn how to use HTML

HTML is the backbone of everything online. Everyone should know how to read it and write it! OK, well maybe not everyone needs to go crazy learning how to work with it, but for those who post content online it would certainly benefit to have a rudimentary understanding of it. Here are a few reasons why you should consider taking a few minutes to get a better understanding of what makes the web go ’round.

1. It’s easy.

That’s right. I said it. HTML is easy. I’ve explained the basics of html to clients in just a few short minutes so that they could tweak and adjust content more easily. It doesn’t take much time to wrap your head around the basics. You don’t need a degree in computer science.

2. It’s not going away.

With all the new technologies out there, you might be tempted to think HTML is old and going to go away. Think again. Flash is on its way out, and the replacement? HTML5. Data storage as a whole is also making a huge move into the world of XML, which you may have heard of. Why does this matter? Because HTML, IS XML. (Not with quite as many limitations, necessarily, but essentially, it is).

3. It will save you time.

Have you ever sat there fiddling with a piece of online content, trying to coax it into looking the way you want it to? Sometimes online text editors do strange things, and you wind up getting frustrated and wasting a bunch of time trying to make the content look right. If you knew a little HTML, you would be able to hop over into the HTML viewer and diagnose and fix the issue in most cases. It’s not that you should sit there and draft all your content in HTML, but rather knowing it and being able to adjust it is helpful.

4. You’ll feel like you can hack like Hugh Jackman in Swordfish.

There’s something very satisfying about being able to accomplish things like this. Think of it as a trick you can use to show off to your friends. It’s kind of like being good with a yo-yo or knowing how to complete a rubix cube. Learn it. Show off. Why not?

This is how I code, every single day.

5. You might like it.

Who knows? You might actually enjoy the satisfaction of making some good looking content all by yourself. Not to mention, it’s a great skill to have in the professional world, regardless of what you do.

OK so you’re convinced! How do you get started? Well, you’ll have to stay tuned for our next post where we’ll go over the basics, but for now, this is a great resource:

http://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp