Suzza Silver
HTML and CSS book on a desk next to a laptop and notebook

Defining HTML and CSS For Blog Beginners

Category: blog design

TL;DR

  • The themes and templates you download aren’t unique.
  • They do not reflect personal branding like fonts or colors.
  • You can customize them by learning HTML and CSS

Design is an essential part of your blog. It provides the look and feel of your website. You may choose a theme or template for your blog design. These won’t separate you from anyone else using the same ones. You will want to add custom elements to make them more unique. You can do this with HTML and CSS.

HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. It provides the structure of your blog. We build everything upon the HTML of a website. It contains elements like headers, divs, and footers. Together they are the bones of your site.

CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. Stylesheets provide the decoration for your blog design. It represents things like the fonts you use or your background and text colors. Almost all elements of HTML can change their looks using CSS.

Why You Should Learn HTML and CSS

I started building websites back in the 90s. Long before we had divs! We had to use tables for everything. I remember cutting up images in Photoshop and using tables to make graphic menus.

Astro is my current tool of choice for building blogs. It uses a lot of technology under the hood. But it spits out a static website that is pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript like in the good old days. The more things change the more they stay the same.

A basic understanding of HTML and CSS is beneficial for several reasons.

Pride

Foremost for me is the feeling of pride it brings me. I like to show off my skills every time I build a new website. My blog is my home and I want it to feel welcoming to all the people who visit. I also want it to match my personality or what I would refer to as personal branding. Something that makes it stand out from all other blogs on the same topic.

Control

I am also into having control over my blog design. This means building things from the ground up. Coding is empowering to me because I don’t have to rely on anyone to provide a a theme or template. It is all on me and I love that responsibility. It feels good to be in charge.

Branding

As mentioned before, personal branding requires unique elements in your blog design. You want to use specific colors for example to represent who you are or what your website is about. They can evoke different feelings depending on your choices. You always want to customize a theme or template if you can.

Resume

Coding is something that you can add to your resume. There are a lot of transferable skills. For example, learning how to code takes self-discipline. It shows a willingness to learn new things that might be unfamiliar. A take-charge attitude and curiosity. It also shows that you can work alone and unsupervised. As coding is sometimes a solo project.

Hobby

Lastly, I will mention that web development is a fun hobby. That is why I started so long ago now. I wanted to learn something new that was challenging. Now, I use it to blow off steam. Coding requires an intensity for me that distracts me from my troubles. Problem-solving occupies my brain and feels rewarding when I succeed.

The benefits enhance my well-being in several ways. Mostly in stress relief and the pride it provides me. I don’t go in-depth here on HTML and CSS itself. My intention is to provide some tutorials in the future to teach you some basics. I will leave that for later articles.

Where to Learn HTML and CSS

There are many free tutorials available to you. Never pay to learn HTML and CSS. You should not have to do this with what is out there. The best resource in fact is a website called freeCodeCamp. They have certifications in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No payment required! It is a free service for all who want to learn.

There is a companion to the web development tutorials provided. It is the Bad Website Club. These recorded YouTube streams cover each segment and challenge that you will face. It is helpful if you need more instruction and they answer questions from the audience. you will be in good shape.

freeCodeCamp also has a YouTube channel where they provide coding tutorial videos. They have free web development courses taught by people working in the field. You can learn anything from that channel from HTML and CSS to things like TypeScript and Figma. I can go as deep into coding as you would like this way.

Conclusion

Don’t neglect blog design. Consider things like the customization of fonts and colors that make websites unique. You can alter a theme or template with HTML and CSS. There are free courses available like freeCodeCamp to teach you the basics.

What changes to your blog would you like to make? Tell us in the comments.