Why you should learn HTML/CSS

Lawal Mukhtar
devcareers
Published in
3 min readSep 8, 2019

There has been a constant discussion as to whether HTML is a programming language or not. As the name implies, HTML is a type of markup language, also known as “HyperText Markup Language” which is used to define the structure of webpages and it determines how data is displayed online. It was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1991.

HTML and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) are the most basic building blocks of web coding. Without these two things, it's impossible to create a website design, and all you’ll end up with is unformatted plain text on the screen. You can’t even do anything to a page without HTML!.

Programming languages have functional purposes. HTML, as a markup language, doesn’t really do anything in the sense that a programming language does. HTML contains no programming logic. It doesn’t have common conditional statements such as If/Else. It can’t evaluate expressions or do any math etc. All these are what differentiate it from programming languages.

Regardless of all these programming attributes, HTML/CSS is great In fact, HTML really shines when you use it in conjunction with an actual programming language, such as when using a web framework. That’s when you can start serving up dynamically created web pages and database applications.

But don’t worry, even with pure HTML, you’re still a coder. You’re writing lines of code in a markup language. You’re essentially codifying information for the web.

Before you get started on any web development career path, you’ll have to master coding with HTML and CSS. The good news is that getting a solid working knowledge of either of these can be done in just a few weeks.

Importance of HTML/CSS

Like I said earlier, HTML/CSS is an important skill to get to become a frontend developer. Not only that, but there is also some other importance of HTML/CSS which we will be talking about below:

1)Better Understanding of the Web

Knowing the basics of HTML and CSS helps to have a better understanding of how web pages are created. They’re helpful tools for designers and many other professionals.

Without at least a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, it’s impossible for a marketer to develop landing pages as well as performing other related functions.

2)Create Websites

Nowadays, it’s quite easy to take a free Web template and build a website. But your website will look like everyone else’s!

You can create the ideal website for yourself — a personal, unique web page. And you don’t need to pay someone else to do it!.

3)HTML and CSS are Easy to Learn

Of all the programming languages, HTML and CSS are the easiest programming languages to learn, and you don’t need a degree in computer science to get started.

You don’t need to learn an entire language at once, but spending even a few days learning to understand the basic structure will help you create your simple web page.

4) Opportunity to learn more advanced web design techniques.

A fundamental understanding of website design starts with HTML. But depending on your eventual career path, it certainly doesn’t have to end there. HTML knowledge allows an easier transition to other website design platforms, including JavaScript, SQL, and many others. But remember, all of the advanced coding languages that run websites are designed to work with HTML.

So what are you still waiting for?. To get started on your HTML/CSS journey, there are a lot of good resources online you can learn from. With HTML/CSS it is never too late to getting started.

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