Has a lack of HTML knowledge held you back on developing your category and product pages? Visit 3 resources to help make the learning process a simple one.
Every ecommerce merchant has encountered a situation where a knowledge of HTML would have helped them better design a landing page or fix issues that a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor can inadvertently introduce. Or course, with all of the complexities that already exist in running a business, that sort of knowledge may seem like more effort than it is worth.
Before you rest on that conclusion, however, consider this: HTML is not a programming language, it is a markup language. All it does is tell a browser what to do with text by using different marks. If you’ve ever used multi-colored highlighters or sticky notes when you were studying in order create a sort of shorthand for yourself, then you’ve created a sort-of markup language of your own.
We’ve put together a few resources for exploring HTML further, so that you don’t have to feel like you are diving in all at once.
Tuts+: Tuts+ is actually a site devoted to full-time web development, but that’s not why we are recommending them. You do not need the full website or even a full article. It just so happens that the first few paragraphs of one of their articles is a great introduction to the concepts of HTML.
Read The Best Way to Learn HTML, but stop when you get to the assignments. These concepts are all you need to decide whether or not you would like to explore further.
Codecademy: Codecademy gives you some basic HTML experience, allowing you to code on one side of the screen while seeing the result on the other. It is one of the more enjoyable sites for learning code, but keep in mind that HTML is all you need for now. The other lessons here are better suited to amateur developers. Once you are done with these lessons, you will have most of the knowledge you need to edit your page content however you like. If you’d like to dig deeper, however there are other options.
W3Schools: Several sources suggest that you start with W3Schools, but it is easy to get in over your head here. The links above will get you acquainted with the basics of HTML, and you will see these concepts repeated at W3Schools, but the site’s navigation and language options make the whole coding experience intimidating for a new learner. Save this site for after you have finished your Codecademy lessons. These lessons will give you a much more comprehensive toolbox of markup options, allowing you to do more with your landing pages.
New HTML skills will empower you to have more control over your product and category pages. Should you need help with Volusion-specific questions along the way, be sure to visit our support Knowledge Base.