8 Reasons to Learn HTML
1. It is the de-facto language for the web.
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It has been around since the birth of the web and ever since then, it has only exploded in growth. Whereas other languages and technologies have come, lost popularity, or even become extinct, the HTML stack still remains.
Today, websites are consumed by desktops, laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Websites are the reason why there are web surfers! Everything from doing research, reading news, blogging, social media, chatting, making online purchases, and watching videos can be done through the web. HTML is the source code that drives the user’s experience.
2. It is future-proof.
HTML is not going anywhere! It is perhaps the only technology stack (HTML, CSS, JavaScript) that has consistently grown in popularity since the early days of the internet. From my personal observance, it’s growth over the past 23 years is truly undeniable! Not only has it adapted itself to modern approaches, it continues to remain simple and beat out many other technologies.
Whether it’s CSS3 introducing animations and canvases; or JavaScript with awesome functional programming features and adding Web Sockets; or HTML introducing media and to eliminate the need for Flash players, this technology stack has proven itself to be an unstoppable force.
What’s better is, there is more innovations to come in terms of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript standards. Moreover, there is an exciting innovation happening in the way of 3D graphics with WebGL and WebGPU as we will discuss later!
3. Great Business Models are Rooted in Web-Apps
Amazon, FaceBook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Netflix. What do all these companies have in common? They are giant tech companies worth billions and they are also all web-companies. They get so many customers who visit their website to do business. Sure, they have giant back-end infrastructure, but guess what all these companies use to interface with their customers?
None other than HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Web applications scale pretty well and can reach an audience around the world, through websites. Knowing how to code creatively with this technology can enhance your ability to see opportunities and allow you to take immediate action!
4. WebGL and WebGPU
WebGL is a web standard for modern 3D graphics computation. They are JavaScript libraries that can be embedded into your website. In combination with CSS, it can create incredibly immersive online experience and even awesome 3D games. As a matter of fact many new titles as well as classic games have been impressively ported to HTML.
WebGPU is a new web standard that will succeed WebGL and improving upon the limitations of WebGL. Modern GPU technology has improved ever since the release of WebGL and WebGPU aims to take advantage of the new API. WebGPU will be taking advantage of Direct3D 12 (Microsoft), Metal (Apple), and Vulkan (Khronos Group). It would allow for better performance across desktop, laptops, and mobile platforms.
For more information check out these links:
https://webkit.org/blog/7380/next-generation-3d-graphics-on-the-web/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdKn1aOP7IQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEoJ2ODOuQM
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=WebGL+demos
5. It is a great introduction to more advanced programming languages.
If you’re starting off doing HTML, you should start buy building something around what you like. Applying what you learn will get you confidence and experience to learn more. It will also make you more curious because you will want to learn more so you can continue you build!
As you master HTML and front-end development, it will inevitably lead to middleware technologies like Python, PHP, C#, Ruby, Java, or more. It doesn’t stop there, you’re going to want to learn how to persist your data somewhere so you will want to pick up database technologies like SQL or NoSQL technologies.
Just make sure you learn proper HTML and proper JavaScript; this will provide you with the intuition to learn the other layers of web development.
6. Build Your Website Exactly How You Want It! (While Judiciously hiring delegating responsibilities to your employees.)
There is nothing like being able to understand precisely what’s happening in your website. With the ability to understand HTML, you will be able to dig as deep into your HTML code as you want to figure out what’s happening. It is very convenient make a change that irritates you and not have to rely on others.
On the other hand, you will also be able to precisely delegate to others which features you need done. You can hire someone and understand their quality of work without taking their word for it. This would allow you to more judicious when hiring your employees.
7. Save LOTS of $$$
When you know HTML, you wont need to rely on Word Press and buying fancies plug-ins for them. You wont need to pay thousands of dollars for designers or web developers to build for you a website. You can simply do it yourself!
There are tons of templates, ideas, and inspirations out there on the web. Being able to take an idea and implementing it will save you lots of money on your budget. And if all is lost, you can always buy a professionally made website template that’s done by a professional UI Architect with very clean and high quality code from anywhere between $15–30.
8. Powerful Tool for Creative People!
Creative people have wild imaginations! They see things that don’t exist and they have this urge to make it happen. Of all the programming languages I’ve used, HTML has got to be the most simplest to use when it comes to UI. Nothing in my experience beats HTML’s robustness and reuse-ability. Whether you have a drawing you would like to share, a video, a song, an application, a blog, pictures of your family, an epic RPG, or literally anything in-between, HTML makes it possible!
The best part is HTML is one of the most simplest languages I’ve ever used. Possessing the ability to code with HTML in a creative way has so much potential for creative folks. And it’s only going to get better!
Moreover, there are very few differences between code and an idea. Code, however, can make your idea a reality. Learning how to code can exercise both your creativity and your logical problem-solving. You can get better at both creativity and problem solving simply by bringing your ideas to life by learning HTML!
