HTML, CSS, & JavaScript All-in-One For Dummies

Introduction

Let me start off this book by letting you in on a little secret. If you talk to or read things written by people who make websites for a living, it’s all “HTML this” and “CSS that.” They go on and on about “tags” and “properties” and “collapsing margins” and blah blah blah. It can be more than a little intimidating, so you can easily come away with the idea that crafting a web page is really hard. You may end up believing that creating stuff for the web is a for-geeks-with-CS-graduate-degrees-only business.

Okay, it’s time for that secret I just promised you. Ready? Come closer. Closer. Okay:

*whispers* Learning how to build web pages is not hard.

Sure, it sounds hard; and if you’ve ever taken a peek at some web page code, it certainly looks hard; and, I’ll admit, building a huge and insanely complex site like Amazon or Instagram really is hard. But creating a personal website? Not hard. Fabricating a site to showcase a hobby? Not hard. Crafting some pages for a local charity, team, or small business? You got it: Not hard!

Still don’t believe me? That’s okay, I get it: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript — the technologies that enable anyone to assemble web pages — have a reputation problem. After all, so the thinking goes, people have used HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to sculpt some truly sensational sites, so of course such sophistication must come with a near-vertical learning curve. Duh.

For years now I’ve talked to many smart people who believed all that and who therefore ...