W3 HTML Tutorial
Like others, I have bookmarked this for future use, because it is plausible that I will need to know the fundamentals of HTML as some dark point in my career. My web-cool friends have informed me that most programs I will be using to build and host sites with will take care of the HTML for me, but one never knows. I like the specificity of the site, and the concrete nature of the language. So much of what I’ve studied before has had large fields of gray; this is all black and white.
I must admit, though, that the claim: “HTML is easy to learn - You will enjoy it,” terrifies me. Right off the bat, I know the trajectory of the task. I’m dealing with people who openly overestimate my tech-savvy. This is either casual blindness or shameful marketing.
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Webmonkey
This is more a reference tool than an article to comment on, but as such I suppose it could end up being more helpful in the learning process. I can see how, until you’ve mastered the process, this guide would be invaluable. This whole HTML process is reminding me quite a lot of a Japer Fforde novel. It takes some mental redirection (like backing up a trailer) to accept that web pages are born from such chicken-scratch.
W3 CSS
Let me see if I’ve got this:
Cascading Style Sheets are essentially a designer-created matrix for HTML documents. So if I have to input or update information into twenty different pages of a site, I do not have to start from scratch on each page. I design my CSS once, and it will determine the style (translated for Philistines like myself: “look”) of all twenty pages. I can then simply focus on the content of each page, and be home for dinner on time.
Goans, D., Leach, G., & Vogel, T. M. (2006). Beyond HTML: Developing and re-imagining library web guides in a content management system. Library Hi Tech, 24(1), 29-53.
I think I would need to know more about a few things to fully understand the study referenced here. I understand that the FrontPage-published websites that GSU’s Libraries had been using were poorly-designed, inefficient, and unsecured. The CMS, by comparison, gave its users more flexibility and greater security, while saving every page in a database, and allowing librarians (and maybe patrons) to customize their own links…. I’m still honestly fuzzy on some of this.
1. I like your comment (it's a little bit tongue-in-cheek). I don't think you should be terrified. After all, it's just a language. Why nobody is terrified of learning Italian or French, but learning a programming language is all of the sudden scary?
ReplyDeleteGood idea to bookmark that webpage! I think your friends are right though that for the most part you won't need it.
ReplyDeleteAs for CMS, patrons would not be able to customize unless allowed. Where I work the CMS is password protected. So only people with the rights can change things. It is a really helpful thing because it helps the usability for patrons. It keeps things looking similar and usually things are always in the same place. Here at the college it is also important because it keeps the branding standard that the college has for everything with its name on it. Everything is the right font, color, etc, not just whatever each librarian decides (I want everything to be pink and green!).
From what I've read of Jasper Fforde, you either love his books, or you don't. Sort of like HTML. I think things are going more the way of Gmail, or even Blogspot: one uses "rich formatting" with it's fancy buttons (bold, italic, underline) and lets the software take care of all the gobbily-gook (I really wanted to use that word today) that which is HTML.
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