The hardest part of learning a new language is by far learning sentence structure and the order of words. The one good thing though is that once you learn a language under a specific category of languages, take for example learning a latin based language like Spanish, in theory learning other languages within that category should be easy. (As someone who was raised to speak and read Spanish, learning French later on in middle and high school was like taking a walk.)
What Spanish and HTML Have In Common
HTML and CSS are my Spanish and French in the digital landscape. Do I think that if I learn everything about HTML I’ll then be able to do everything in CSS? No. What I’m talking about is the fact that we take for granted learning one new skill set and fail to realize that we can gain even more skills from learning said skill.
I was forced to learn the basics of HTML back in high school because I took one computer science class, and I am so glad that I did. We often think that we are never going to need or learn something as a way to justify not giving our all into learning.
Now that I’m in college and this is the second class I’ve taken where HTML is a part of an assignment, I admit that knowing how to write HTML is a lot more handy than I initially believed.
CSS was never introduced to me until college, but with my prior experience working with HTML it was relatively easy to get used to the way it is written. Much like when I started learning French, I found similarities in the way things were structured and the way things have to be ordered.
You’re Not Me. I Know.
I will admit that most people don’t see things the way I do. I have my own personal experience with learning human languages that I can connect to and see myself in when it comes to learning computer languages. If you’ve never before had to learn a language, trying to do something like HTML seems like a lot. Then when you bring CSS into the mix because you realize HTML looks boring, suddenly everything feels overwhelming.
Relax. Take a step back and take things slow. Don’t let a LinkedIn Learning course scare you! This is hard, learning is hard, but I do hope everyone eventually finds benefits in knowing more about HTML and CSS like I did.
Comments
2 responses to “The Horrors of HTML and CSS”
Hi Lary, great post! I love your comparison to learning (human) languages. It does feel a bit like that, although I’m basing that just off of my two-years-of-high-school and couple-semesters-of-college french. It takes some getting used to, because it’s new, but then you’ll start to recognize patterns and things will start clicking. I’m hoping that trend continues with CSS, and you’ve given me some hope that that’ll be the case! It was also interesting to hear about your experience in computer classes. I had taken a couple because they were mandatory, but I was never even taught any file management skills, let alone HTML. Super neat that you’re coming into this with some prior knowledge, and you’re finding high school classes still helpful! Thanks for sharing your perspective 🙂
So, funny I have literally taken multiple Spanish classes, and of course, they were usually required in highschool, but I got the amazing opportunity to take one in college, and goodness you were right on the mark when it being your equivalent. When you are learning a new language, you are going to not always understand all of it, but often you should be able to get the basics.
While I can’t say I really paid attention in Spanish class, I will say learning HTML has really reminded me of it. The style languages have is so similar to learning HTML, and even later CSS on how unique they are. All languages follow basic principles, but yet they are designed so differently.
My hope is for myself, and the rest of us, I don’t end up like how I did with my Spanish class.