Why Learning HTML Is Useful: 7 Practical Reasons to Know the Basics
HTML—it‘s the foundation that all websites are built upon. While you can certainly build a website without ever peeking at the underlying HTML code, having a basic understanding of HTML is still incredibly useful for marketers, content creators, website owners, and really anyone who works on the web.
"But I‘m not a developer!" you might be thinking. "Why should I bother learning HTML?"
Here are 7 practical reasons why it‘s valuable to know some HTML basics, even if you never plan on becoming a full-fledged web developer yourself:
1. Make Quick Formatting Changes in Your CMS
If you‘ve ever wrestled with a WYSIWYG editor that just wouldn‘t cooperate, you know the frustration of wishing you could just edit the dang HTML directly. When you‘re writing a blog post or laying out a landing page and the formatting looks wonky, knowing a bit of HTML empowers you to pop open the code view and fix it yourself.
Things like adding links, formatting headings properly, and styling text are all common tasks that sometimes go awry when relying solely on the WYSIWYG interface. With some HTML knowledge, you can quickly clean up messy formatting without pulling your hair out fighting with the visual editor.
2. Clean Up Content Pasted From Word or Google Docs
Copying and pasting content from Word, Google Docs, or other word processors into your CMS is a recipe for an HTML headache. Those programs often include hidden formatting code that can wreak havoc when pasted into your website‘s HTML editor.
If you understand HTML, you can easily spot this extraneous code and remove it to ensure your content looks clean and consistent when published. Some find-and-replace magic can strip out unwanted tags and tidy up your code in a snap.
3. Tweak Email Templates Beyond Basic Options
Want to change the color of your email headlines? Adjust the positioning of images? Spruce up the design a smidge? If you rely only on the WYSIWYG options of your email marketing tool, you may be out of luck.
But with a dash of HTML savvy, you can make these kinds of tweaks directly in the code of your email templates. Knowing what to look for and how to adjust it means you can customize emails to your heart‘s content without being limited to the basic design options.
4. Properly Embed External Content
YouTube videos, tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram photos, SoundCloud audio… Embedding content from other sites into your web pages can add visual interest and interactivity. But if you just slap in the embed code willy-nilly, you might end up with some unwanted quirks in how that content displays.
Understanding how to properly paste embed codes into your HTML ensures external content shows up the way you want. You can also troubleshoot if something looks off or an embed isn‘t working at all.
5. Investigate When Content Looks Wrong on the Live Page
You put the finishing touches on a new webpage, hit publish, and excitedly open it up in your browser only to find that something looks… not right. Maybe the formatting is wonky, the images aren‘t showing up, or the text is a garbled mess.
When the live page doesn‘t match what you saw in the editor, it‘s time to roll up your sleeves and dig into the HTML. By knowing what to look for, you can hunt down the problematic code and get things looking ship-shape.
6. Provide HTML When Pitching Guest Blog Posts
If you‘re trying to beef up your brand‘s authority and reach, pitching guest posts on other relevant blogs is a smart strategy. One way to make your pitch stand out and get accepted more often? Offer to send your post in HTML format.
Most guest post editors are accustomed to receiving pitches as Word docs or Google Docs. By taking the initiative to send over an HTML file as well, you save them the step of converting your content and make their job easier. You‘ll quickly become one of their favorite contributors!
7. Create Content With Accessibility and Usability in Mind
It‘s not just search engines and browsers that read your HTML—assistive technologies like screen readers do too. Knowing how to structure your content with semantic HTML is key to ensuring your web pages are accessible to people with disabilities.
Proper use of heading tags, alt text for images, descriptive link text, and other HTML best practices all contribute to a more accessible and usable experience for your audience. Plus, with the growing focus Google and other search engines are placing on these factors, your SEO can get a boost too.
You Don‘t Need to Be an HTML Master
The good news is that you don‘t need to become a full-fledged web developer to reap the benefits of HTML knowledge. Gaining a solid grasp of the basics will give you the skills and confidence to handle common website tasks on your own.
There are tons of great resources out there to help you get started:
- Free online tutorials and courses (Codecademy, freeCodeCamp, etc.)
- HTML references and cheat sheets (Mozilla Developer Network, W3Schools, etc.)
- Browser developer tools to inspect and play with the HTML of any page
Start by learning core concepts like tags, attributes, and HTML document structure. Inspect the code of pages you visit to see how it‘s put together. Practice by making small tweaks to your own site‘s code.
The more you use HTML, the more comfortable you‘ll become. Before long, you‘ll be zipping around your site‘s code with confidence, wondering how you ever got by without it!
Empower Yourself and Your Website With HTML
Whether you‘re a marketer, content creator, small business owner, or anyone else who works with websites, adding some HTML to your skillset is endlessly useful. It will empower you to:
- Make content updates and design tweaks without having to rely on developers
- Communicate more effectively with your web team and know you‘re speaking their language
- Create accessible, user-friendly, and SEO-optimized content
- Stand out from the competition when applying for marketing jobs
- Feel a sense of pride and ownership over your little corner of the world wide web!
So go ahead, take the HTML plunge. Your website (and your career!) will thank you. Before long, you‘ll wonder how you ever managed without this essential digital literacy skill. Happy coding!
