Coding HTML/CSS by hand?
When you’re trying to get that new job, contract or freelance gig, you have probably seen a requirement of having to know how to hand code HTML/CSS. Sure, many of you are wondering why this is a requirement. I have thought that many times in the past when applying for jobs. It wasn’t until the past 5 years that I began to really understand why.
Back in the earlier days of the dot-com, it really wasn’t a big deal to rely on applications like FrontPage or Dreamweaver. To be quite honest with you, it’s pretty standard to use software like Dreamweaver in current times. The whole issue with needing someone to be able to hand code HTML/CSS is not because the company is too cheap to purchase software (in some cases they are). Instead, it’s more about productivity, proficiency and skill level. Some people can pick it up pretty fast, others need to rely on software to help them build the bulk of code being produced.
If you’re working for an agency, you know that your chance of survival in that position won’t last very long if you aren’t able to be proficient. It is extremely important to have the proficiency or you will get eaten alive. When a client needs a change YESTERDAY, there isn’t time for you to figure out how to figure out how to take a HTML table and make it table-less. What if you ran into a scenario where you had to edit the file live on the server and you only had access to Notepad or something like vi?
In my opinion, knowing how to code by hand can only make you better and faster. This reminds me of a small conversation that came up in a meeting the other day. We were talking about knowledge transfer and how we can ensure that our team(s) are able to adhere to the same rules/practices. It led into me talking about how I learned Visual Studio (C# .NET) by using the UI to implement controls and other elements. As I gained more experience with using Visual Studio, I realized the advantage of using code behind and other methods. Everyone has their level of knowledge and it will only get better with exposure, opportunity and patience.
How do you feel about all of this? I am sure there are plenty of you out there that wonder WHY it’d be a requirement to know how to code by hand.
To put it simple and to the point, “Why not?”.
