Harnessing the HTML Beast

I'll let you into a little secret. I'm a bit techno-challenged! I love gadgets and gizmos. When a new electronic thingamajig comes onto the market, I can't wait to go to the store and have a fiddle with it. Unfortunately my understanding of the thing usually doesn't go much further than finding the on/off switch. When I have something electronic that goes wrong, my fix-all technique is usually as technical as switching it off, offering a small prayer for assistance, and switching it on again! Nine times out of ten it works - but not always, and those times are the ones that a little plaintive voice squeals out of me "What's it doing now Mikael?" 

I hate being so useless. I'm a modern woman. I ought to be able to handle anything a man can. Unfortunately for me, I'm married to Mr. Techno-whizz! This adds to my inferiority complex about my inability to tame the technological beast. So it was with a firm resolve and a deep-rooted fear of failure that I signed up for a course to learn HTML. To my horror, I soon found out that the coursework consisted of building a website from scratch over the period of a few weeks.

I'm now into week 3 and guess what? I can do this! It's not like learning some impossible language, or having to recite the entire works of Shakespeare from memory. It's actually very logical and as long as you remember that your coding must be pedantic because although the computer (unfortunately) might be intelligent enough to smirk at what you write, it is not capable of inserting what you mean, it creates what you tell it. My page is nowhere near as good as I envisage it, but I now have the confidence in my skills to complete it. I actually understand what I'm doing and why. There are some things I don't understand, such as why, in some cases, Explorer can do what I want but Netscape seems to interpret things differently - and vice versa. But these things I really don't need to know. I'm not looking for a PhD in Geekdom! 

If you have your own business, and no website as yet, why not take the plunge. Honestly, it isn't half as bad as it looks. It could do wonders for your business, and looks great on your business cards. Just pick a snazzy domain name, find yourself a cheap class, and start on a fast road to self-promotion. If I can do it, anyone can. Ask my husband! 

If you'd like to track my progress as my page grows, please visit: http://www.katie-anne.com   Remember it is still taking baby steps and has a way to go before maturity, but comments are very welcome.

Katie-Anne, 2001

Update: The laptop finally made it home on Friday! 6 weeks to replace a hard-disk. The wonders of modern technology will never replace the snail's pace of productivity as long as there is manpower to prevent it!