One of the things that makes this industry so appealing to new webmasters is the fact that they can enter it without dishing out too much cash from the get go. Even the basic tools that a person needs to build sites are free. So with only a minimal investment, a person can be well on their way to making career out of this business.
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"You're porn empire is built on those funny little tags that hide behind the glossy exterior of a website." |
Unfortunately, the apparent ease with which people can make a start actually hides a nasty trap for the brash newbie. Some webmaster tools are a must and you just cannot survive without them. Image editors are a prime example - Who has the time, patience or ability to open up the code behind a jpeg and resize or manipulate the image by hand?
Many new webmasters say the same thing about HTML. With so many good and free html editors out there - Who has the time, patience or need to write code by hand? There's the trap, right there in that reliance on a tool to do something as basic as write the code for your HTML pages. You're porn empire is built on those funny little tags that hide behind the glossy exterior of a website. If you don't know how they work what are you going to do if a problem arises?
I am not suggesting that you shouldn't use a tool to write HTML. I personally use Dreamweaver to write the code for my pages because I want to be able to work and build quickly. However, someone could take that software away from me tomorrow and I could still go on building and making money.
When I first started building websites back in 1996, I took the time to learn HTML from the Geocities tutorials and I coded by hand in Notepad. I kept on reading and expanding my knowledge of HTML from other tutorials and kept on building by hand for more than two years. Even the genesis of my partner's paysite was coded by hand using Notepad.
I still occasionally go back to Notepad and hard-code a few pages just to keep the various aspects of HTML fresh in my mind. I also know very experienced webmasters who do nothing but code their sites by hand. One guy can turn out a free site from start to final submit in just three hours and write every bit of code for their site by hand.
Many new webmasters scoff at the idea of coding by hand. They see no need to spend hours learning the basics of HTML. I even see some who say that looking at basic code gives them a headache. Learning basic coding skills does take time. However, the time spent learning basic HTML code is an invaluable investment in your business and its future success.
There comes a time in every webmaster's career when a coding problem arises. It really is inevitable and it does happen to everyone. If you are using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor like FrontPage or Dreamweaver you may not even be able to see the problem on your own machine but as soon as the site hits the Internet it's there for everyone else to see.
At times like that, you will probably need to be able to go to the basic code yourself to correct the problem. If you can't read the actual code, what are you going to do? What tag is causing the problem? Where in all that code is the problem? If you don't know basic HTML, you won't even know where to look on the page of code to find the problem.
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Then there is the HTML code that your editor produces. Some editors such as Dreamweaver write code in easy to follow lines that flow neatly down the page. When you code by hand you should write your code in an easy to read format as well. Finding a problem in code that is written neatly is easy, you just scroll through the lines of code down the page till you arrive at the general area where the problem appears. At that point you follow each tag and word more closely till you locate the problem.
Other editors produce code in great big blobs. Blocks of code that are almost impossible to follow as one line of code blends into the next. Web browsers have no problems reading a page of code like that but it is a nightmare for a webmaster that has to decipher the problem with the naked eye.
I can't stress it enough: You need to have a basic understanding of HTML to fix problems! Seriously folks, it won't give you a headache, it is not difficult and anyone can do it. I know kids as young as 7 and 8 who can write basic HTML. If they can handle it, then anybody can.
The learning curve for HTML is easy, it is a logical flowing language that is simple to learn and once you know it you can fix your own coding problems without having to plead for help on a newbie board. Knowing the basic code can actually save you money so it's cost-effective to spend some time learning to code by hand.
There are plenty of books and online tutorials that will help you get started. Here are some useful Cozy Links to get you moving in the right direction:
Cozy's Code Professor
http://www.cozyfrog.com/guides/12-code-professor.aspx
Also make sure to check out the links at the bottom of Frog's Code Professor...great resources with all the HTML you can eat! :)