How did you learn HTML?
In the mid-1990's, I procrastinated for months in learning HTML, a mark-up language originally designed for non-technical acedemics to create web pages. I have no formal training.
While playing chess on FICS one bright Saturday morning, I met JohnnyRio, who said he had worked in an illegal auto chop shop, stripping down stolen cars for parts. While serving thirty-seven months in an Oregon State Prison for Grand Theft Auto (GTA), or soon thereafter, he created a Bobby Fischer fan web site. It was a simple web page and had a little table with an "x" marked for months that he had Chess Life magazine issues. Thrilling, isn't it? A convicted felon had a web page. I had none and had recently been cleared of all charges. Something about they never found the head. Whatever.
I resolved to learn HTML. Usually I went inline skating on Saturday. But I fired up the windows for workgroups 3.1 editor and grunged my way through a version of "Hello World" as a link in a web page. Maintaining this web site has necessitated updating those rusty HTML coding skills, first to XHTML and then to HTML5. That taught me to be more thoughtful and careful in producing good code. True story.
"Do you realize Fischer almost never has any bad pieces? He exchanges them, and the bad pieces remain with his opponents." (Yuri Balashov)"
Why write valid HTML code?
At the bottom of this page are links to W3C validation tests for W3C HTML5 compliance. The higher the level of conformity, the more uniformly the pages will render among the various browsers. It also helps by catching errors, which I correct. There are other reasons to validate html, including the fact that search engine spiders often can't effectively parse or categorize sites with bad html. Most webmasters write sloppy code and hope that the browser will automatically correct the errors. This is only partially true. This page has cross-browser uniformity, having been tested in
chrome,
safari,
firefox and
microsoft edge.
It adheres to standard code and validates. The pages generally load quicker without the proprietary browser specific code. But varying degrees of W3C browser compliance affects minor cosmetics such as rounded corners and drop shadows.
is probably a good choice.
"Play the opening like a book, the middle game like a magician, and the endgame like a machine." (Spielmann)"
Is being a webmaster difficult?
Being a webmaster without a computer is difficult. I plan to buy a nice one in late 2024, finances permitting. For now this means a slog of some