About HTML coding
Goodies to Go (tm)
April 30, 2001--Newsletter 128
At 36 years old, I found myself longing for a simpler time
when people coded HTML using Notepad and the latest
trick was well within the grasp of the weekend silicon
warrior.
I spoke to a group of people about Web page creation the
other day. They were students and programmers. I told
them that I still enjoy coding in Notepad. They laughed.
They laughed much the same way the other student
laughed when I told her about using a razor blade to cut
audiotape.
This morning I put two and two together. I'm the old
guy.
I'm the old-guy audio teacher and I'm the old-guy Web
professor.
I'm the old guy.
When did I become the old guy? I don't want to be the
old guy!
This is not to say that I cannot make the new digital audio
processors sign and dance. I can. I can edit digitally like
the wind. I just don't like it as much. I remember when
my first radio station went from 45-RPM records to all
CD. I hated it. I could slow the 45s down or speed them
up to match beats. I could slip cue. I seemed more in
control. The CDs just didn't seem right to me. The
process became sterile. I couldn't touch the discs. The
technology had too much control.
It's the same with the new Web media. I like coding in
Notepad because I am in control. I don't have FrontPage
placing code and altering elements without the expressed
written consent of Major League Baseball and me.
No, I don't dislike the new stuff that's coming out. I dig
it. It fascinates me. It's just that I seem to like the old
stuff better. I grew up with it. I learned on it. I
somehow feel that I am a better person because I had to
go through it.
They say the first step is admitting it. OK...I am the old
guy. In only seven years, I became the old guy.
Now, if you too are the old guy (or old gal) what do we
do?
Do we abandon our old guy ways for the new? Could we
even do it if we tried or, as I think is more correct, do we
embrace our old guy ways and act as that lightening rod
that keeps the old ways around just to help others
understand how we got to here and how we did it in such
a short amount of time.
I'm afraid I'm going to embrace my old guy ways.
I'll be teaching HTML and Web page design every
semester until I retire. I don't see me changing my
methods of teaching any time soon. If you take Web
design with me, you'll code in Notepad. Yes, I know
there are assistants out there that will allow you to make
Web pages so fast my head would swim. Do it in my
class and you'll lose all the points for the assignment.
There will be no argument.
That's the old guy in me and I think it's the best way.
When my class is over, use any HTML assistant you
want, but until that time, Notepad is the way. Take your
time. Place every flag. Build the page from whole cloth
like it was a Lego set.
I've had students come to me with every form of
argument. They say, "We could build pages faster if we
used [insert program name here]". I always ask, "Will
the pages be better or just faster?" The student usually
states they will be better. I then disagree and send him or
her back to their computer to open Notepad and get
started.
Do the students like it? Not always. Do they thank me
for it? Long after the class when they can fix the code the
HTML assistant messed up they do. Am I laughed at for
sticking to the older ways when there are always bigger,
more powerful ways?
Yep.
But you know what? Each and every student in my audio
class next semester will take a razor blade in hand and
correctly cut a piece of tape long before they get their
paws on that digital equipment. I simply think it'll help
them to understand what in the heck that digital system is
copying.
It is far better to know exactly how the new stuff
works...not just that it works. The only way you can
know how it works is to understand the machine's history
and maybe even live a little of it. Now, everyone take up
your razor blade, sharp side down.
The old guy has spoken.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That's That. Thanks for reading.
Joe Burns, Ph.D.
Author HTML Goodies