HTML for People

October 11, 2024

I came across HTML for People this morning, and it put a goofy smile on my face. It’s a fun and thoughtful introduction to web development that focuses on HTML and CSS first. Through it, you’ll learn to build a site, understand the basics of local development, and get pointers about what to learn next.

Reading through it triggered a bit of a rant in me, though.

I’m a grouchy 40-something who’s been creating things for the web since the mid-90’s. This is going to be a bit “old man yells at cloud”, but I’ve been seeing more young devs who think you need a JavaScript framework and hundreds of megabytes of build tooling to get a website off the ground. Not that there’s anything wrong with using JavaScript frameworks! I just think they’re not the best first step for learning to build things one the web. I also think they’re not always needed.

Making something appear on a computer screen is really empowering. Getting there quickly and explicably is important if you want someone to enjoy learning any form of development. Fighting with framework and tooling issues isn’t fun for me, and I get paid for it. I imagine it’d be like a brick wall for someone who’s just learning how to make text turn purple.

There’s still value in actually learning how HTML and CSS work without all the JavaScript gubbins in the way. If you know someone who’s interested in making things for the web, I think HTML for People would be a great place for them to start.