As our world becomes progressively digital, a lot of the work that editors do involves online content. This means that editors may need to develop a few skills that lie outside the realm of Merriam-Webster and Microsoft Word. In particular, it is extremely helpful for editors to learn how to code HTML, CSS, and XML. Learning how to code on webpages will make you a be well-rounded editor, open up more job possibilities, and allow you to offer more services if you work in freelance.
Learning to code might seem like a scary concept, but for editors it’s actually quite easy. Writing code is about following a certain style, maintaining consistency, and watching for the little errors that pop up in a document. Sound familiar? The principles behind writing code are some of the principles you follow as an editor. Let’s look briefly at each of coding languages and why they are important.
HTML
If you are editing online content such as blogs, magazines, marketing, webpages, etc., knowing HTML will let you adjust and format content on your own. Using HTML you could even create a webpage if needed. Knowing HTML and CSS can help you fix formatting and design on a pre-templated site like WordPress site. If you know the code, customization options are endless.
HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language. In English, this means that you can control the layout of a webpage. For example, you can make text bold with the <strong> tag:
Written Code: <p>I love <strong>cheese</strong>.</p>
(<p> tags designate a paragraph of text)
How it Appears: I love cheese.
And that’s the just the very basic.
CSS
CSS is a coding language that goes hand in hand with HTML. CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets, and it allows you to control the design of your HTML webpage. For example:
If the HTML text looks like this: <p>I love <strong>cheese</strong>.</p>
The CSS to control it could look like this: p {color: blue;}
The result? Anything enclosed by <p> tags would turn blue.
I love cheese.
Again, that’s just one basic example of what you can do. It is really fun to build a design with CSS and HTML. You can import fonts, images, even play music—the options are endless!
XML
XML stands for Extensible Markup Language. This language uses tags to encode document and program information. Publishers use XML to transport metadata about books and products. See here:
<title>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone</title>
<author>J.K. Rowling</author>
<publisher>Bloomsbury Publishing<publisher>
XML is less focused on design and more on transmitting information that a website could import and store for you. If you’re looking into traditional publishing, XML is really useful to know!
Resources
Now that you’ve had a taste of what HTML, CSS, and XML can do, it’s time to start learning to code. Here are a few ways you might start learning:
- Take DIGHT 250: Web Publishing, a class on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It is offered fall and winter semesters. Even better, there are no prerequisites!
- W3Schools is an excellent free resource for HTML, CSS, and XML. It breaks down each language and provides helpful practice exercises.
- Khan Academy has an introductory course in HTML and CSS.
- Code Academy provides free training in HTML and CSS.
Wherever you end up in your editing career, knowing how to do use basic code will never hurt. Best of luck in both your copyediting and coding adventures!
WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW: Enroll for DIGHT 250 or choose another website to start learning on! You’ll be an expert in no time.
Written by Hannah Mortenson.
