Don’t Fear the Internet

BASIC HTML & CSS for NON-WEB DESIGNERS

by Jessica Hische & Russ Maschmeyer

Are you a print designer, photographer, fine-artist, or general creative person? Do you have a shitty website that you slapped together yourself in Dreamweaver in that ONE web design class that you took in college? Do you not have a site at all because you’ve been waiting two years for your cousin to put it together for you? Well, we’re here to help. We know that you have little to no desire to do web design professionally, but that doesn’t mean that you want an ugly cookie-cutter site or to settle for one that hasn't been updated since Hackers was in theaters. Through short tutorial videos, you’ll learn how to take a basic wordpress blog and manipulate the css, html (and even some php!) to match your aesthetic. You’ll feel empowered rather than crippled by the internet and worst case scenario you’ll at least end up having a better idea of how professional web designers turn your design dreams into a reality on screen.

About the Authors

Links and Resources

Do the fonts look kind of weird? Switch to Safari or Chrome as your browser. You’ll thank me later.

Fear Not! We’re Here to Help

Introducing “Don’t Fear the Internet”, a new resource to help demystify html and css coding so you can prettify your blogs and quit asking your nerd friends for freebies!

Hey there not-yet-web-savvy folks! It’s high time to ditch that janky Flash website for good. Your web designer friends will be so proud and so much less likely to stab you in the face because of your frantic 3am IMs about how you “broke the internet”. Russ and I (Jessica) are about to take you on a journey of discovery through the wilds of web-nerdiness. Russ is a self-taught web designer operating professionally as Strange Native. He just finished a MFA in interaction design at School of Visual Arts and is ready and raring “to teach technology how to use people”.

I (Jessica Hische) was trained primarily in print design, draw fancy letters for a living, and only mess around on the internet for her personal projects such as this handy twitter guide or my Should I Work for Free? chart. I never thought I’d be as interested in web design as I am (and still have absolutely no desire to do web design for clients), but thanks to webfonts and the sweet draw of instant-gratification, I’ve become increasingly excited to learn web design for personal projects. I hope my non-web background shows that you don’t have to be an evil nerd genius to learn this stuff!

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Jessica Hische is a letterer, illustrator, and avid internetter in Brooklyn, New York. You may have stumbled across one of her side projects such as Daily Drop Cap or the “Should I Work for Free?” flowchart. Jessica and her work have been featured in many publications, she has traveled the world speaking about lettering and illustration, and she has probably consumed enough coffee to power a small nation.

@jessicahische / portfolio

Russ Maschmeyer would like to think of himself as a digital craftsman; a dyed-in-the-wool maker. He’s a web designer, inventor, musician, writer, DIY enthusiast, and champion intramural collegiate ping-ponger. He’s just about done with a two year stint at The School of Visual Arts earning an MFA in Interaction Design and learning from some brilliant folks while pursuing personal projects and freelance work.

@strangenative / portfolio