I learned HTML in high school and then graduated to CSS. It's a great way to exercise my mind. But it's frustrating as hell.
I fix things now and then, more often tweak HTML and make scripts to do things.
If someone had protected the HTML language for making Web pages, then we wouldn't have the World Wide Web.
The mass culture of childhood right now is astonishingly technical. Little kids know their Unix path punctuation so they can get around the Web, and they know their HTML and stuff. It's pretty shocking to me.
I like files. I like editing a CSS file without necessarily having to edit an HTML file. I like fixing a problem by replacing a corrupted file with a clean one. Maybe I'm set in my ways, but I don't consider it a hardship to open a folder or replace a file.
I was in love with HTML and certain that the whole world was about to learn it, ushering in a new era of DIY media, free expression, peace and democracy and human rights worldwide. That part didn't work out so well, although the kids prefer YouTube to TV, so that's something.
Flash and HTML have co-existed, and they're going to continue to co-exist.
It's not about HTML 5 vs Flash. They're mutually beneficial. The more important question is the freedom of choice on the web.
The productivity and expressiveness of Flash remain advantages for the Web community even as HTML advances.
Writing old school HTML code was never very much fun but now it's getting downright tedious for most people.
