Coding: Going Through the Basics and Creating Your Own Website
Especially for digital marketers, coding is becoming a skill that many companies want them to have, as then you aren't as reliant on developers. I would have to agree. A marketer who knows more about HTML, CSS, or Javascript can spend less time waiting for the developing team for help and more time handling the problem on his/her own.
What is Coding and Why is it Important?
The simplest way to put it is coding is the process of using a programming language to get the computer how you would like it to. Every line of coding tells the computer to do something, which a document full of lines of code is called a script. It sounds easy to code, but it can be difficult to precisely tell what a computer to do, as a minor mistake can mess up an entire page.
Especially since we are in a digital age, coding becomes very important. We are surrounded by electronic devices every day, and most of our information comes from a digital source. But why should people be invested in learning how to code? Firstly, as previously said, it may come in handy for a career, especially one like digital marketing. Many companies are looking for people to hire who know how to code as much of what we look at online. Secondly, it can help you down the road when software and devices become more complicated. People who are not code-literate must accept the devices and the software they use and whatever limitations are built into them. Someone who knows coding has the ability to customize their website more than what cookie-cutter web developing software as Squarespace and WordPress provides.
The Big Three: Codecademy, Squarespace, and WordPress
Codecademy
Out of the three (Codecademy, Squarespace, and WordPress), Codecademy was the best site suited for me, as it was for a person who wants to learn code and expand their knowledge to potentially make a website from scratch. Codecademy lets users learn languages such as CSS, HTML, Javascript, Python, and lets users learn subjects such as Web development and code foundations. This week, I went through the HTML course, and it was beneficial seeing how the bones of the website are structured, which is one of the biggest qualities of using Codecademy.
The course starts by giving an overview of the basics while putting together a webpage of your own and the structuring of coding, which includes: opening and closing tags, body tags, heading and subheadings, breaks, and images.
Within creating the webpage on Codecademy, users learn the structure of a webpage such as any visible content easily should be placed with the opening and closing <body> tags or that headings and sub-headings have different tags ranging from <h1> to <h6> and these are used to enlarge text. There are also tags used to specify certain texts or blocks: <p>, <span>, and <div>. Additionally, there other ways to structure your webpage with numbered lists (<ol>) and bulleted format (<ul>, while also being able to do line breaks created with the <be> tag. Finally, users can also learn how to put images and videos by linking the existing source. Once you went through all of the steps of the HTML course, the result is a good understanding of basic HTML and a good start to a webpage.
Squarespace
Unlike Codecademy, Squarespace is not an educational tool site where they teach users how to create a website from scratch but is a place where users have access to pre-built templates to choose from for the website. From there, users are able to customize and the webpage to fit the needs of the company.
Firstly, Squarespace will have you go through a series of questions about your company and what the goals are for the webpage. Once the user has answered the questions, Squarespace brings up templates specifically designed or used by other companies in the same field for you to choose from. I chose to make a blogging website where users could upload blogs, podcasts, articles pertaining to marketing. I was able to add images, change fonts, try different layout designs, see what my website would look like on a computer or the phone.
WordPress
Just like Squarespace, WordPress is another online website builder; however, it differs in some distinct ways as it offers more freedom to the users to customize their website. When you first sign up with WordPress, you are prompted to pick a domain name, and then from there, you are taken to a page where you can start creating your companies website. There are no templates to choose from, as users are able to choose the layout format of their choosing, being able to rearrange content to different parts of the page. If you wanted, you could even use your skills used in Codecademy to code some things into your site.
Similarities and Difference
Codecademy Vs. Squarespace and WordPress
Now the biggest similarity is that each one of these sites offers the users to create a website; however, they have different ways of going about it. The biggest difference is how Codecademy operates compared to Squarespace and WordPress. Codecademy is a site that doesn't give you any templates to choose from but offers the users the to build their site from scratch. It is an educational platform that gives the users skills of HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and to create their own site how they want.
Squarespace vs. WordPress
I think it is fair to say that both sites exist for users with some or no web development skills; however, Squarespace and WordPress differ in some ways. The biggest difference is that WordPress is a website builder, whereas Squarespace is not. This means that users of WordPress have the ability to customize their website more freely than with Squarespace. Another bonus for people using WordPress is that if they want to incorporate some coding in the process, they have the ability to do so. On the other hand, Squarespace is that site where there is absolutely no coding experience, offering an easy-use interface that gives the user the ability to customize their webpage but not so much to where they manage to break an aspect of their site. Squarespace offers easy-use features such as drag and drop and guides to helps users navigate the site with ease.
Which One Should I Use?
Anyone thinking about creating a website and wondering which of these three sites should use to create it should first evaluate their skills. There are many benefits and drawbacks to these sites and depending on your coding skills, these sites benefit or deter users. For people that are not confident in their coding skills, Squarespace might be the site that suits your needs as it requires no coding skills. For people that have some coding skills and wish to have some more customizable features, users might want to try WordPress. For those that have extensive coding knowledge and skills, Codecademy may be a site worth looking into more to help you along the way as you create your webpage from scratch.