The Basics of Coding
Eric Sanjuan Cuamacateco
Helping Accounting Firms automate, scale and standardize their FP&A/Advisory Services
Hey everyone, thanks for tuning into today’s blog regarding coding. Coding has been one of those skills that seem very difficult and daunting to learn. As a marketer, it’s important to learn the basics of coding to be self-reliant. When you have to edit HTML or reposition an element on a page via CSS you no longer have to wait for the development team to fix the problems. Let us dive into the world of coding (it’s not that scary, I promise).
Codecademy
As I mention previously coding can seem like a daunting task but websites such as Codecademy make the experience far less overwhelming. Codecademy has a free lesson titled “Introduction to HTML” to learn some basic terminology within the coding world. HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is used to give content to a web page and instructs web bowers on how to structure that contentment. Codecademy does a great job of breaking the lesson into manageable lesson plans with hands-on tutorials.
HTML Elements
HTML is composed of elements. The purpose behind elements is to structure the webpage and define its content. In the diagram below I have provided an example of a paragraph element. The example consists of:
- An opening tag (<p>)
- The content (coding is easy to learn when you have access to tools like Codecademy!)
- A closing tag (</p>)
The content between an opening tag and a closing tag is called an HTML element. In this scenario, we used paragraph tags to create our element, but there are many tags that we can use to organize and display our content.
HTML Body Tag
When creating a website one of the key HTML elements used is known as the body element. The content inside the opening and closing body tags is what is displayed on the website. Anything outside the tags will not be displayed on the website.
Within the body element, you can nestle multiple tags creating a family tree. There can be multiple levels of nesting using various tags and media. The family tree is also referred to as a hierarchy where the top tags define the preceding tags.
Summary of Codecademy
Codecademy is a great resource for individuals wanting to learn how to code. Codecademy is free! You can learn the basics of HTML, JavaScript, and other coding languages. The first lesson consisted of 16 exercises to learn the basic structure of an HTML document. I only provided a brief explanation of a few of the exercises because I want you to go check it out for yourself! Your future self will appreciate the effort you are putting into learning coding.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder designed to help creative individuals build their websites and showcase their work, no matter their technical ability. Squarespace provides templates for individuals with no coding experience to design elegant websites. The templates are user friendly with its built-in drag-and-drop features. The image below, displays an about page created on Squarespace.
Squarespace provides an interface that is clean and easy to navigate. The platform takes some time to get used to, but once you’ve had some practice, editing becomes a fast and easy process. Squarespace is a much more straightforward platform in comparison to WordPress. The platforms allow you to add text and images, and how your site appears on screen is how it will look once it’s published. Squarespace provides the most value to individuals who don’t know a single line of code.
WordPress
WordPress is software designed for everyone with an emphasis on accessibility, performance, and security. As I was exploring through the website creator, I found it more difficult to use because of the coding knowledge you must understand before starting to create a website.
Unlike Squarespace WordPress allows for a business to fully customize its websites. The importance of this aspect is unmatched because of the website being one-of-one. A business using Squarespace is limited to their “Award Winning Templates”, meaning that it’s simple to identify a Squarespace website (they all look alike).
37.6% of all websites on the internet are using WordPress, including well-known entities like the White House and Microsoft. WordPress is free and easy to install! If you have any questions, it’s easy to find WordPress help due to the number of people using the platform. I believe that the platform provides the most value to individuals who want the freedom to customize their websites. With the benefit of using HTML, your website can be one-of-one.
Importance of All Three
As a Digital Marketer, it’s crucial to have the skills to build an elegant and user-friendly website. Whether you start from scratch through coding or use platforms such as Squarespace or WordPress knowing how to create a functional website is a must for a Digital Marketer. Everything takes some time to learn, I encourage you to try out all three platforms and learn the basics.
Conclusion
Coding maybe something new and intimidating, but if you take time to practice it get easier and easier. This was my first experience with HTML, Squarespace, and WordPress and found it to be very valuable. I encourage you to try these platforms and figure out which works best for you!! Stay tuned for the next blog in #WWUDIGIMARK.