Discussion: Should Headway Users Learn CSS?

CSS is a must know if you want anything other than boxes on your site. Headway is an incredible tool but so is a pen and paper. I draw and paint very well. The entire toolset is just pen and paper, or paint, a brush and canvas. Not everyone can draw and paint even though these tools are given to you as a child.

The internet, with its many fascinating sites, is filled with people that do not have the ability to do layouts, write HTML code (let alone PHP), or come up with a fascinating enough story to keep a readers attention. Fortunately, we all have the ability to learn. In purchasing Headway, I'm sure that most of you didn't think that you'd have the replacement for Amazon done over the weekend. You bought a product that is not only an incredibly advanced piece of software, but one in which you will need to learn.

If you already know and understand CSS, great. If not, it's really not very difficult once you figure out that it just describes the elements you have on your page. CSS is the next logical step in creating a more elegant representation of yourself through your personal website. Now check out http://www.w3schools.com and find out what a selector, id and class are.

Later...

If they are wanting to make a basic or even more than basic "blog" looking wordpress site that is comparable to most of the wordpress sites out there that even have premium, but non-massive CSS, themes, then I would say no. Why? They don't have to. If I wanted to recreate any one of the mostly blog looking (even major) sites out there, I could probably do it straight from the Visual Editor (with a few additional widgets and plugins), without touching a lick of CSS coding, hooks, custom_functions, or what have you.

Now, if they want something far beyond that, then either yes, they need to learn CSS or hire a designer. My belief for people that don't now CSS/PHP/wordpress/etc is with a tool like Headway available:
1) Buy it
2) Install it
3) Use the visual editor, plugins, and plugin widgets to make a pretty good blog
4) Start blogging and building your site, your niche, your subscriber base
5) Learn the skills of CSS/PHP/wordpress/etc via the web via sites like this as you go and decide you need to add more functionality to enhance your user's experience or for whatever reason

But, the fundamental concept, it get Headway, and use it to build a build that is comparable to 70% of the blogs out there, blog, and THEN see what you need. People who don't have these skills don't need to go out there learning everything about them, and either (1) mucking up their site entirely or (2) adding a bunch of functionality that they don't need and don't yet have the "web know-how" to realize.

I am not fab with CSS, better with PHP, and just getting my feet wet on wordpress, but I am putting a lot of functionality in my site before I go forward. BUT, I have 15 years experience as a software engineer in web development (web development not web design, which is why my CSS skill is as-needed, LOL). I know the concepts, I know the features, I know the technology and what it can do (and shouldn't, LOL), I know the users and what they want and what I want to provide them and don't. And, at the same time, even I am at a huge learning curve; even I am almost in the category of knowing enough to be dangerous.

Headway is not a developers replacement for Thesis. Trust me... The basic CSS file has every letter and number themed. There is virtually no ability to use the custom_css and override the default CSS via inheritance (actual element inheritance, not the inherit value), you actually have to redefine and override nearly ever available class in Headway. I would assume Thesis's default CSS would allow for more global styling and inheritance of styles given its rather basic and horribly bland default look, but I do not know. That being said, a non-developer cannot whip a site in Thesis anywhere comparable to one that they could in Headway. And that is the beauty of it. For all the pain of having to redefine
94 different classes (so far), I still believe in the Headway concept.

And... Hopefully, one day Headway will come up with a "thin" default css for those that choose the "developer" option.

So I guess the question would be . . . . where can one go to learn CSS fairly quickly ?

Books ?

Online ?

Any recommendations ?

Thanks ;-)

JC

My answer is Yes. Headway users have to learn CSS to build a customize site/blog. Before I use Headway, I had high hope as it said it was meant for non-coder but after using it, I realized I still need to tweak the CSS to build a decent blog. Simple things like spacing between placing text and image still need to go back to CSS.

Nevertheless, it still a good tool to start with especially you will have more control over the look and feel of your site/blog. Hopefully, the next version will have more robust features adding to it.

Hi Corey,

Absolutely agree 100%. Headway's functionality is great for non coders/ designers. But if you need to make a custom design for a client, you should be able to do a proper job of it.

I would personally go so far as to say a working knowledge of php and JavaScript are a must have too. As well as good Photoshop skills.

But to clarify - this opinion is, as is Coreys - entirely for people who sell Headway Design to others. You don't need any of this to get a Headway site up and running and looking good.

Just to make it individual and give it that professional edge.

I think you DO need to know CSS if you want to do anything more than the basic-basic stuff. I don't know CSS and have struggled to make my site what I want.

I agree with Corey. You've got to know CSS. Absolutely. Not perfectly and completely and off the top of your head, but you've got to be able to make elements align and do what you want them to do. Especially if you're converting a design from PhotoShop, Flash, or a static website. I rely on the W3 reference pages and can generally put together the code I need (it ain't that difficult).

Of course, when I'm really stumped, I post a question on the Headway forum -- and usually an angel named Corey gives me the answer I need.

Personally, I just merged over to Wordpress from Blogger and I am using the headway theme. I designed my own blog on blogger and learned all about HTML code for that. There are so many things I want to do to my blog on it's new domain, so learning CSS seems crucial. And so now, it is time I start learning! Unless, I plan to hire someone, but right now, my funds are tapped out!

Id generally agree with Corey. If it's for a client, you will probably need custom css at some point, along with some basis photoshop skills for things like headers, gradients and shadows etc.

I think it would be good if he/she can learn it but is not essentially a requirement

To my opinion, generally no. Headway users need not know any CSS unless s/he wants some customization like adding a hover effect or changing text case for which knowing CSS is necessary.