Hmm, Use the car or ride the bike?
04 Oct 2018
Let’s say that you need to run errands. You have a choice to either ride a bicycle, or use a car. On one hand, the bicycle is simpler, you are not required to have a license to ride one, and runs on whatever you had for lunch. But, you have limited cargo capacity and range. On the other hand with a car, you have a far larger capacity for cargo and can run errands that are much farther away. Only downside here is you need a license, and need to buy gas. For some people, especially those who live in town where most things are closer to them, it would make more sense to to use a bicycle. For others it makes more sense to use the car. But even for those who live in town, at some point, they too will have a need for a car.
Pedal Power
Raw HTML and CSS is like a bicycle. Due to its simplicity, it’s easy to design basic web pages very quickly. However, the key word here is basic. Just like using a bicycle to run errands if it doesn’t require you to carry around a lot of things, or travel a large distance. Using raw HTML and CSS is just that, for basic web pages that don’t have a lot going on. As soon as you have the need for a sleeker, more interactive web page, raw HTML and CSS are no longer simple to use and quick to design with. At that point, you’ll probably want to use a car.
Piston Power
Semantic UI is like a car, better used for more complex web pages that have much more going on on them. A far more powerful platform to use. But great power comes great responsibility. Just like learning to drive, then getting your license. Learning to use Semantic UI requires work, maybe at some point you’ll even think “I should’ve just stuck with raw HTML”. But rest assured. Once you get your license, you’ll start to prefer the car. Learning to use semantic effectively is fairly difficult, understanding what each element, collection, and modules does can be frustrating. Implementing these into the code can be even more so. But once you get the hang of it, it’s well worth the effort to learn.
Power is Addicting
Once you get a feel for semantic, going back to raw HTML will never be the same. The same web page that would take 40 minutes to design using semantic, I don’t even think I can fathom how long it would take with raw HTML. Not to mention it would probably not look, nor function as good. If my commute was more than 5 miles, and I got a licence and a car, you can bet I wouldn’t use the bike to commute anymore.
But..
Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying that raw HTML is inferior to semantic, or a bicycle is inferior to a car. For different situations, the choice would be different. But taking the time to learn semantic is much better than not learning it at all. What do you get in return for your time and frustration? A very solid plan to fall back on. Because more than likely, what you can’t do with raw HTML, you can do with semantic. Just like having a car on hand for when its too far, or you need to carry more than what you can with your bicycle.