So someone once told me that a web page I had made looked like it was “from the 1980’s school of web design.”

“There wasn’t a web in the 80’s,” I said.

“That’s my point.”

OK, it hurt, but looking at the page I had to admit she was right. It wouldn’t have been pulled out of the GeoCities archive for mocking or anything, but there were probably lots of pages that looked like it in there.

Since then, I’d stuck with tinkering with WordPress themes, but after the lovely wife came up with a couple website ideas, I’ve revisited HTML and learned a bit of programming (and then a different bit of programming as I realized the first plan wasn’t the best one, and then more as the technology changed underneath me….) One of the frustrations I’ve run into is that a lot of stuff assumes a level of skill that isn’t quite there yet for me; I’m at that point where I can look at examples and follow along, even spot errors in production code, but when I try to write something from scratch, I stare at the editor screen, with no real idea of where to start. It feels like the difference between being able to read a language, or flip through a phrasebook without too many embarrassing pronunciation errors, and actually being able to speak it. Continue Reading