[Daniel] "..I was the learner. Now I am the master."

Despite the title, I don't claim to be a master. Recent debates online about CSS selectors have shown me that, even now, I have more to learn. But at Moriah's request, I've begun teaching her XHTML 1.0 & CSS. It's kinda funny and very interesting, considering I've been working with HTML for almost 10 years now and CSS for 6 years of that time. It's like trying to teach someone something that just flows naturally to you but is totally foreign to that person. I suppose it's akin to teaching someone how to ride a bike, only much more difficult and less painful.



The most difficult part for me is trying to put myself in her shoes and find the pitfalls I hit before she hits them. Teaching from the ground up where these things came from, how the browser interprets the code and the syntax you use are the hurdles we've started to clear thus far. Obviously, she's on a long, sometimes winding, path but one that will definitely help both of us.



I envy her in a way. When I started with HTML, it had only just reached version 3.0 and the major browsers were Netscape 4 and IE 4. It was all tables and frames and hack-after-hack-after-hack. Anyone remember invisible 1px .gifs? The stupid animated E-mail icons? Endless page after page proclaiming the fact that it, indeed, was truly under construction?



Now, the best practices are beginning to become obvious. It's pretty clear to most designers/developers who care about their craft that XHTML for content and CSS are the way to go. Lightweight, flexible and very standardized, they are the tools wielded by the skilled and the devoted, yet simple enough that most anyone can muster.



Moriah's learning in a time without the cruft of days gone by and can see afresh how things are done best. No unlearning and relearning, no dangerous slips into old habits, no memory slips of how it's supposed to be done now. It's a fine time to start in my opinion.