Zen and the Art of HTML Coding

Part of the course I’m currently doing involves editing content for digital media, and a component of this has been to examine/experiment with some HTML and CSS coding.

I remember learning a bit about this as a kid. Dad showed me how to make a really basic web page and to jazz it up with some colour. It was fun because it was a bit like playing with Lego – you’ve got certain finite elements to use but you can combine them in pretty much infinite ways.

Don’t believe me? Check out the CSS Zen Garden. It shows how different designers can create hugely unique webpages with the same building blocks. It’s awe-inspiring to see how many different ways the elements can be combined. 

The idea that so many different designs can come out of one set of building blocks is appealing, for it mirrors nature. Think of snowflakes, or even human beings: all made up of the same basic elements but no two are exactly alike.

It’s not a coincidence that only recently I have come to find the ‘art’ of HTML quite profound. I’m currently reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance which (among many other things) talks a lot about the inherent beauty of the structure of things, even seemingly ‘scientific’ things, and how art and science really aren’t as far removed from each other as some people like to pretend.* Good web design is an art form – a highly technical, specialised one, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any less artistic.

I like the idea that creativity is an expression of each individual person, and this can be found through a Renaissance painting or a website. In every web page a small part of the web designer’s worldview is expressed.

With a basic understanding of HTML you can view the source code of sites and begin not to see just web pages constructed by strings of code but choices. Every page element has been deliberately placed and coded by somebody. There is a reason that a search box is placed where it is, and why it has a grey border instead of a pink one.

I’ve made an effort to be more mindful about encounters with art that I’m having every day. The Google homepage, from a design point of view, is a thing of beauty. Twitter’s ability to present so much information in such a clean format is elegant. The fact these sites just ‘work’ without us ever really thinking about it, is a credit to the designers and their ability to harness the craft of quality HTML coding.

*Apologies to Robert M Pirsig for distilling one idea from a quite complex book for my own purposes. And for stealing his title.

Me Fans Are Stupid Pigs

Of course you aren’t. I would never really say anything like that about my reader(s). But the fact I can offend you in the post title shows how solid our relationship is. We joke, we have fun, we’re striving for a better future. It’s as if we’re characters in a New Radicals song.

What I’m trying to say is that August marks three years of this blog. That equals 40 posts of me trying to put into words how I feel about the internet and digital culture in general. How was it for you? I thought it was okay, and am rather surprised I’m still at it. Granted, during the three years there have not necessarily been three years’ worth of posts (2012 is devoid except for an excited mid-winter three post flurry) but there’s hopefully been something that you enjoyed, or at least read past the first sentence before spending six hours on Buzzfeed instead.

So, three years, and what do I have to show for it? Well, according to the ever-reliable Blogger stats, during that time the blog has had 4,147 pageviews. I was going to look up the Alexa ranking for this but apparently they don’t have enough data to rank the site, which is fairly telling in itself. Also keep in mind that the reality is probably bleaker than that: for some reason there are page hits from May 2007 (i.e. three years before I started the blog) and there would be many times when, despite me checking the ‘don’t record your own pageviews’ box, I have definitely inadvertently inflated my own numbers (logging in from other computers etc.) Don’t feel bad for me though, this is the life I chose.

It was a little cringeworthy reading through the old stuff. Partly because most of my writing back then makes me sound like a pretentious wanker, but mostly because it reminds me that in three years I’ll be looking back on this post and concluding that I’m a pretentious wanker. In any case, the archives are open. Go for a browse if you need more proof.

Before I let you go, let me just have an attempt at explaining the name. ‘The Digital Printing Press’ is meant to refer to the internet itself, rather than my blog. I don’t see my blog as the defining disseminator of information in the digital age (4,147 pageviews), but obviously the internet is going to have incredibly long-term social, cultural and even political implications. That’s what I’m trying to get at. I’m not much of a fan of the name anymore, but since I can’t think of anything else to change it to, for now it stays. I at least hope you enjoy the new banner photo. Maybe one day I’ll go all Kentucky Fried Chicken and change it to ‘DPP’ and hide my shameful beginnings under the soothing power of the acronym.

Fun Facts

Most popular post: Macquarie and Me – I would never have thought a shoddily composed ‘scientific’ dictionary test would be so engaging.

Least popular post: Let’s just say it only had five views. Try and guess. That’s a fun game for you.

Most popular tags: ‘internet’, ‘social’, ‘Facebook’

General highlights

-I used the word ‘conformance’ exactly once, with devastating effect.

-I implied the headquarters of ‘Powerband’ were in a dilapidated Quonset hut.

-I wrote a love letter to my Blackberry and have since dropped it in the toilet (it still works)

-I pretended I was William Randolph Hearst and didn’t get sued by him or Orson Welles

-I edited/vandalised television actor John Howard’s Wikipedia page to make a point.

-I didn’t make a single typo.

Three more years! Three more years!