With all the innovations and advances that have taken place with the internet ever since its inception, the one thing that remains important to this day is HTML, or ‘Hypertext Markup Language’. This is the underlying language that powers a big part of the web and will likely stay around for a long time to come. HTML is used to determine the structure of a web page. It defines every element from sections and headings to paragraphs and links. A website that is based on good HTML will also generally load quicker as opposed to those based on JavaScript because HTML-based sites are loaded in increments by browsers.
So, if you’re a student interested in learning the Hypertext Markup Language in addition to CSS, how should you go about it? Read on to find out what you need to know about learning HTML.
Why Learn HTML in 2020?
Firstly, you need to know why you even want to learn HTML or even if it is useful these days. College students mostly are not even interested in learning this language because almost no one writes HTML manually anymore. That is because of web hosting services like WordPress, the world’s most popular CMS, that handle all the heavy lifting for you by creating each element needed to create an amazing web page. So, why learn HTML?
● To Get More Control
The reason for learning the Hypertext Markup Language is that someone still needs to write various attributes of a web page like the template, for example. And that someone needs to have a strong knowledge of HTML to do so. Also, if you’re studying in college to become a developer, then the knowledge of this language will allow you to evaluate what kind of quality the components or templates you’re using actually have. This will give you much more control and knowledge of your choices.
● Because it’s Future-Proof
Not only is HTML future-proof, but it is also backward compatible. This means that if you open up the oldest web browser ever created and open up a good HTML-based website, the browser will be able to render all the text and information just fine. The site won’t show any style or design as such, but the data will be there. This is one of the best attributes of HTML. So, a web page created with HTML will last for a very long time to come.
Is HTML Difficult to Learn?
Once you’re convinced that there are valid reasons to learn HTML, you should figure out if you’ll actually be able to understand it easily or not. As a college student, you would already have a lot of schoolwork to get done, so this becomes an important question to ask.
The good news is that it is fairly easy to learn the basics of HTML. One of the best attributes of learning HTML is that all you really need to be able to create a whole website from scratch is just a web browser, a text editor, and a few hours to learn the language.
Of course, if you want to become a front-end web developer then you would need to spend a lot more time fiddling around with HTML and CSS. But as a student interested in learning the basic workings of the language, a few hours should be all you need!
So How Should You Learn HTML?
Well, every college student today knows that everything can be learned online these days, and HTML is no different. There’s a ton of online resources from dedicated tutorials to YouTube videos that will teach you all the basics of HTML. So, if you want to start learning it and experiment with some casual web hosting, you can get by easily with such online guides for free.
However, if you’re serious about learning HTML on a professional level, then it would help a lot to invest in a paid course. It can still be online, but paying for a professional course in HTML will provide you with streamlined and structured information as opposed to scattered information you would have to scour the internet for if you want to learn it all for free. Going the free route will require you to spend a whole lot more time to get all the information collected and sorted so it’s worth it to spend some money and learn HTML from a professional who can also provide support later on.
Conclusion
So, should you start learning HTML if you’re a college student? If you’re interested in acquiring new skills related to web development, then you should. It really doesn’t take that much time to get familiar with the basics, and it’s not difficult to learn either. The best element about the language is that it is very future-proof so its knowledge will be in demand and appreciated for a long time to come. Whether you wish to become a web developer or just want to try creating your own web page for fun, learning HTML is something that will not go to waste.
About the Author
This article was written by Sean Bancroft, a computer science tutor from PapersOwl. Sean Bancroft has written many non-fiction articles for scientific journals and educational resources. He often attends online webinars where he talks about the current trends in computer engineering.