7 – HTML

HTML, coding, or anything else related to the back end of technology has been mentally relegated to a different side on campus for a majority of my time in college. The last time I interacted with anything somewhat related was when I tried my hand at Kahn Academy coding lessons, about eight years ago. I still wanted to be an engineer at the time, so that tracks. I actually didn’t remember that fact until about halfway through HTML basics, when I had a realization that this wasn’t entirely new information. I still felt like I was mostly starting from scratch, though.

The Beginning  

At first I was intimidated by the prospect of this lesson. I knew from the get-go that I would be working with something that is out of my comfort zone. There is a bit of peace knowing that, though, as I had little expectation for what the outcome was going to be. I allowed myself to slow down a bit and enjoy learning something new.

I still feel a bit unaware of the language used, though I took thorough notes to look back on. I think that learning HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language was quite interesting. The acronym has been floating around for so long that I never really thought about what it could mean or even about the fact that it is an acronym.

The Middle

I started to become more familiar with what I was doing as I was able to see what the outcome was. I was able to put a line of HTML in and see the outcome spit out onto a split screen. How cool! I was also able to practice concepts as soon as I learned about them, which was a life saver. At some point some of the language became automatic…

            h1 [tab]    p [tab]

… but other things also became a bit confusing. There is so much information and knowing the basic foundational principles is great, but I can also go to a random website and see what the outcome could be which made me a bit sad at my lackluster attempts at tables.

For as many things confused me, there are twice as many resources that can answer essentially any question I have. Whether I find myself back at LinkedIn Learning, WC3, or Web Aim, I am sure that I will be able to find something to guide me in whatever area I am not confident in.

The End (Not Really, Though)

As much as HTML is really fun, I appreciate the additions that CSS brings to the table. I may not be a master coder or able to build a better site than Wix can for a small fee, but I do feel like a more independent user who is capable of a deeper level of online creation.