Philip TAYLOR wrote:
Paul B. Gallagher wrote:
Soon enough, we won't have to code HTML by hand, we'll just write
and format content the way we do in a word processor. We're not
there yet, but I can see it coming.
Then we won't be writing HTML, we will be designing a web page; two
entirely different things. Writing HTML is about semantics : "which
element best describes this stretch of text ?"; designing a web page
is about appearance : "How and where should this stretch of text (or
image, or table, or media element) appear".
Yes, but the two tasks are intertwined. The designer sets up a CSS that
defines the various elements and then uses those styles to mark his
content. Usually the designer tweaks the definitions to achieve the
desired look and feel; he doesn't just take them "out of the box."
Different users have different needs and different skillsets. A
professional web designer may have powerful authoring software and make
extensive use of scripts, dynamic content, multimedia, etc., whereas an
amateur may just want plain vanilla HTML to get a static page up; the
web is a mix of all the different types. Because of these differences in
purpose, I don't accept the premise that the web is only for the pros
and everyone should learn everything.
Although there's a skill and an art to coding well, much of HTML coding
is routine and mechanical tasks that software can do well. Certainly I
wouldn't try to hold back a professional who knows what's under the hood
and can make subtle tweaks that the amateur can't. All I'm saying is
that much of the mind-numbing routine, mechanical stuff can be taken off
our hands (especially the hands of the amateurs) so we can focus on
content and layout. And I predict this is coming, because there are
millions of users out there who need and want it. I'm not advocating for
the inelegant, inefficient M$-style HTML full of useless clutter, and
I'm not advocating for bad design. I'm just predicting that our
authoring tools will get better, and the web will become more accessible
to nonprofessionals.
--
War doesn't determine who's right, just who's left.
--
Paul B. Gallagher
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