DECODED [confessions of a coder]

Teaching HTML

Recently in the MDC, pure HTML teaching threads have been popping up like crazy with exciting new teachers and totally original lesson plans and everyone is so thrilled to be learning from "coding masters". But just about every time I check out one of those threads, and I do look at them often, I can't help but sigh in exasperation because some teachers honestly should not be teaching. Maybe this makes me a know-it-all bitch, but I have my reasons, all of which, unfortunately, have been things I've actually run across in teaching threads.

If you don't know what HTML stands for, then you probably shouldn't be teaching HTML.

If you think "sup" and "sub" are actual nouns that apply to coding and don't know they are a shortened version of the words "superscript" and "subscript", then you probably shouldn't be teaching HTML.

If you think the ability to code double columns makes you a coding god, then you probably shouldn't be teaching HTML.

If you think letter spacing is a rare lesson nobody knows about, then...

If you call the number/pound sign that comes before a color hex code a hashtag, then...

If you have to use asterisks or extra spaces so you can let others copy and paste example code, then...

If you don't know the maximum number of characters per post, then...

If you announce at the beginning of your lessons that you have no respect for the mechanics of the English language, then...

If you think neon green makes a good background color for an easy to read thread, then...

If you're currently 'enrolled' in an HTML school at the same time you're hosting a teaching thread, then...

If you don't know what websafe fonts are, then...

If you think using an abundance of gifs that threaten to give a seizure to those who look too long is a good thread design, then...

If you don't know that you can omit the pound symbol before a color hex code to save character space, then...

If five 10px borders nested into a rectangle counts as an advanced pure HTML thread in your mind, then...

If you don't know about three digit hex codes for colors, then...

If you don't know the width of a Wattpad post in pixel values, then...

If you don't know how to format links, then...

If you think "pure HTML" means you can use a background image, then...

If you didn't know you can put borders around images, then...

If you fish for compliments by talking about how crappy your threads are while you are teaching, then...

If you don't know what a direct link is, then...

If any one of those things I've mentioned above  applies to you, then you probably shouldn't be teaching HTML!

I understand we're all here constantly learning new things to work into our art, but there is a line between teacher and student. Oftentimes the line is crossed, sometimes for the better, but every now and then I believe we should have a good reminder that a line does exist.