Transitioning from Ruby to HTML

Introduction

In this course, we will take a short break from Ruby and will focus on HTML. You might wonder why we're changing from programming in Ruby, which feels like "doing programming," to focusing on HTML which feels like "writing words." Let's address that concern.

At some point, we will want to share our code (written in Ruby, Python, Go, etc.) with the world.

Is there a way to share your application with everyone? Not just Android users or iPhone users? What about users with auditory or visual impairment? What about users using the program from an internet cafe, or cheap phone handset, or a kiosk on a city corner? How can we ensure that your application will have the widest audience possible?

Your application can maximize its reach by "standing" on the most powerful publication medium ever created: the World Wide Web. To benefit from the Web, your application has only to honor one rule: all screens it provides must be described in HTML. Regardless the programming language used (Ruby, Python, the NodeJS JavaScript environment), if the application presents screens, or "interfaces" in HTML, it's ready to share its capabilities with billions of people on the Web from its very first moment "out there!"

The web is an amazing creation! As you learn to write clean, conscientious HTML in this course, each document you create will help make the web even better! Our web grows in size and quality when more voices are able to share and advance their perspectives on it. But you need not be intimidated! Unlike Ruby or Python you won't have to learn a new English-like vocabulary (elsif is not something you use in daily life, nor in HTML!).

Creating Web Applications Is the Art of Generating HTML "Interfaces"

Given that the Web will be our publication mechanism for our "interfaces," our code will need to generate the "right" HTML. Therefore, you will need to be able to "write" the desired HTML and then work backwards to "teach" your application (something in a programming language like Ruby, Python, or Java) to generate that same content.

If you're not confident both with reading and writing HTML, you won't be able to develop and debug your application. JavaScript rests upon the HTML structure of a page. If you're unable to write or reason about that structure, you will encounter great frustration with JavaScript. All pathways to web programming success rely on strength in HTML. It merits repeating:

All pathways to web programming success rely on strength in HTML.

In the upcoming Object-Oriented Ruby section, you will put into practice the HTML and CSS skills you will acquire in this section by learning how to 'scrape' (programmatically extract data from web pages) the web.

Let's get started!

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PHRG Transitioning from Ruby to HTML