Why Learn Web Design?

We all have computers these days (you're reading this, aren't you?) and there are billions of web pages, and millions of people who know how to design them. For the internet layperson, it may seem that web development is far beyond what they are capable of. But nothing has ever been further from the truth.

If you can remember a new phone number-or at least write one down-or read new words you've never seen before, and then remember them, you have exactly what it takes to learn at least the basics of web design.

Is it really that easy? Is it as easy as simple memorization? Yes, it really is. And even if you can't memorize, you can still write down what you need to know or save one of the many HTML reference sites to your favorites tab.

But this article is not so much about how to HTML as it is why HTML. So why should we know at least the basics of HTML? If you are reading this, you may already have your reasons. You may want to build a personal website, or even start an e-business. You may just want to spruce up your Myspace page or brag that you know all about how the web works.

How about that it's so easy to learn, and that you spend so much time online, you're foolish not to? How about that it'll enhance your web experience? The World Wide Web is the only place (I can think of) that so many people can come to and everyone can, not only be a part of it, but help build upon it. Could you imagine if this was true for grocery stores?

What would it be like if we could all walk into Wal-Mart and pick and choose what products are on the shelves, for what prices (most things on the internet really are free), and how good they are? Want a second story on your local shopping center? Put one there. Want more handicapped spaces? Put them there. More checkouts, greeters, and fewer lines? Do you get my drift? Who built the internet? We did. Well, not you, not unless you know the code.

The code? Like a secret handshake? Egyptian hieroglyphics? Do you need the Rosetta stone to decipher all this? Not a chance. All you need is your noggin and a little time and effort to play around.

Web design codes such as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), XHTML (Extemsible Text Markup Language), and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the bread and butter of web pages. They are code, but they aren't encrypted. They're easy for everyone and anyone to learn.

I know throwing those fancy names out there can be more than a little mind boggling at first. You may be wondering what a cascading style sheet is (just a way to simplify the web design process, my friend) and what the difference between HTML and XHTML is (oh...about the same difference between Internet Explorer 5 and 7). Right now you don't need to know much about these thing, except for HTML. That's where you'll start.

HTML is the most basic code to develop a web page. HTML uses letters, symbols, and numbers in short, easy to remember coding called tags to design a webpage.HTML can create a certain color, font size, text style (courier or times roman), to include images, and an assortment of other things. If you know the tags, you can build an infinite number of web pages and never make the same one twice.

Do you need to know every HTML tag? Probably not. But it does depend on what your purposes are. If you're a web designer then you should know most of them, at least all the ones that aren't outdated yet. If you just like to fancy up your text on Myspace or Xanga, then you just need to know the several font tags.

You can make your font bold, italic, bigger, smaller, colorful, just by using the simple tags. To bold, insert < strong > (without spaces) before the word and then < /strong >after it. Try that next time you're upgrading text on a social network, or even in an email. Yes, it works in an email too, isn't that awesome? Want italics? < em > (without spaces) word and then < /em >.

The internet is always changing, always getting better. Years ago when someone wrote in HTML, they wrote in caps. Nowadays, all caps is obsolete, as are certain characters. They may not work in some web browsers, and some phones can only read XHTML, and not HTML. What does this all mean? It means that if you do decide to learn even just the basics, you must take heed and learn the newest design basics. In years past, to insert a break between two paragraphs, all you had to insert was < br >, but now it's < br / >.

still works, but for how long? You could wake up one day and the internet will have left you behind and none of your

's will work (okay, that probably won't happen, just trying to get my point across).

What is my point? HTML is on its way out. Of course XHTML uses many of the same characters as HTML, but it has new, improved characters that are compatible with the newest web browsers.

Now that I've screamed my head off about why you should learn web design, here's a wonderful source to show you how. http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp

It's a free source, as are many others. It's also one of the best, with tutorials on all of the major web design practices. There are also many sites, like open source, that give you free web making tools, if you're serious about building your own site. Build a website from scratch? Why waste your time? http://www.oswd.org/ gives you hundreds of free web templates (a web template is the web page design, which you can tweak to your personal needs).

You can also find free scripts online, tools to build mailing lists, hit counters, polls, and many other neat things. Isn't the internet awesome?

The power of web design is what you put into it. You can decide you want a new font color for your emails, or you could build the next Amazon.com or Yahoo! You can use what you learn to construct a web site just for your family, to have a place your aunts and uncles, cousins and children can come to and see old family photos or geneology records. You can do pretty much anything as long as you know how, and knowing how is fairly simple. It just takes time and practice. You don't even have to go to school, but learn from home at your own computer.

And why should you? Because you can, it's easy, and it's fun.