I became interested in Web Development as a matter of personal interest and as a way to move to a better job. The first reason still remains the strongest motivator for me, although the time I have given to learn web development has served me in both areas. After all, don't we all want to get paid to do something we like to do anyway?
Since naturally one of the most widely available categories of information available on the internet (next to pornographic material) is information about how to make web pages, it would seem that another guide to web publishing would be unnecessary. This is quite possibly true.
This section on web development, therefore, consists primarily of links to other resources which I have found to be particularly helpful as I have learned about web page design. It is true, however, that I have found that although there is no lack of information available on these subjects, it can be difficult to find much of the information presented in an easy to understand format, which is why I have made the decision to add my bit to the collection. This is not HTML for dummies. This is web page design for writers, publishers, and communicators--In other words, for anybody who has something that someone else may want to know. This is how to use the web for your purposes.
You may notice that I use the words design and develop rather than the word program when referring to web pages. Consistent with my theory of web development (explained in greater detail below) I think that one of the most critical issues in the study of HTML and creating internet content is the issue of style: not so much what the command is to make certain information appear but how and why to make that information appear. The reader may note that style issues are the first ones I address in my Letters to Tamra, before I ever mention what a tag is or how they are used, which in turn comes before my presentation of actual tags to use.
This does not mean that I think coding is unimportant or that every page should be made using Microsoft Front Page (I have my own opinions regarding the use of WYSIWYG page creation tools, explained in my Letters to Tamra). On the contrary, I believe that clean code is the essence of a well designed web page. In my view, both the page output in the browser and the code itself can and should be a creation, a work of art. So that you can decide if you agree with me, you can visit my list of pages I have designed that I feel are good examples of the idea of good web presentation.
The key elements of my theory of web design are the following:
I love the internet community because there I have found a group of people who go against most everything that contemporary society judges to be "correct" or "normal." This internet community, sometimes dubbed "good netizens" provide information that they have and that others may want to have, without cost except to themselves. Their motivation is unselfish. Their efforts are often unrecognized and unrewarded. They do it because they love it.
My goal in providing these web development pages is to encourage and promote this type of cooperation. I realize that "normal" people also design and build content for the internet, people who will do anything they can dream of to improve their own status (as they view it) and feel that there is no wrong except in getting caught. That doesn't mean I am going to stop encouraging people to use the internet for honest purposes.