Learning to Code

Posted in: Blog, Markup & Coding by Skellie on May 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

Photo by atomicjeep.

As I mentioned in a recent Skelliewag post, I’m beginning to learn CSS & HTML. The scary thing is, this process started back in the year 2000! I puzzled my way through a series called ‘HTML 101′. Most of what I learned then was extremely basic, and much of that is outdated now.

What I know of CSS was learnt only by trial-and-error tinkering in Wordpress and, from a while back, Blogger. I changed numbers and hex values, reloaded the site and waited to see if it changed what I wanted. If not, I’d restore the old value and change something else. This process allowed me to make small customizations to my blogs over several hours that would take a web developer a few minutes. Not very efficient, but I did eventually learn a few things about CSS.

My knowledge is still extremely basic, but I find myself tinkering with Wordpress so often that it really is time I learned how to do it properly!

Whenever I decide to learn a new skill my first stop is Amazon.com (though lately I’ve been using The Book Depository). I’ll buy a small stack of beginner books on the subject and resolve to work my way through them. When they arrive, I flick through them, then shelve them with the intent to pick them up when I’ve got time. Needless to say, there are a lot of very new looking ‘how to’ books in my bookshelf! Read more…