When a developer is first starting out, the first things learned are almost always basic HTML and CSS. To be fair, that’s all you really need to know especially if you’re on your way to learning additional skills. Once you have the basics, increases in skill levels comes through the job. Unless a developer deliberately makes a focused, long-term effort to become truly advanced, they’ll probably reach an intermediate level and stay right there. I consider these skills to have four levels; beginner, proficient, intermediate and expert/advanced.
Even though I’ve been a developer/technology manager for nearly 17 years, I’m admittedly an intermediate level in the two. I must acknowledge at one time I thought of myself as advanced in each until I had to eat some humble pie. The truth is both HTML/CSS are much tougher to master than even many developers think. Most developers get to the point where most of the HTML/CSS they write is pretty solid, but it’s usually limited in scope. In other words, they do very well with what they know but are far from knowing it all to the point they can be considered expert/advanced.
In the case of CSS, just do a quick search for amazing CSS animations or designs. It’s gotten to the point where CSS is almost a programming language in its own right. Some of the CSS is so advanced, I don’t even know what I’m looking at and I’ve been using it for years! Most of the advanced designs center around CSS transitions (animation), but not everything. On many of the instruction videos I’ve often seen people demonstrate better ways of doing things I never knew. It doesn’t mean I’m clueless, it just means I’m not as knowledgeable as I thought. I just know what I need to know quite well, but there’s always room for improvement and more to learn.
The same holds true with HTML 5. It now has things like Web Storage, Web Workers, Canvas , Geo-Location tools, Drag & Drop and many more. I’ve only used one of of the features I just mentioned even though I’ve used HTML for all these years. I simply never had a need to know any of them. No project I ever worked on required most of them. So, you can see why most developers aren’t truly HTML5 experts. Even thought it’s not an official part of the HTML5 spec, a new development tool called HTMX is slowly gaining popularity.
If someone ever claims to be an expert in HTML/CSS, they’re probably more of an intermediate level. To be fair, intermediate skills are all they need to know in most cases. Also, I would never call out a developer for calling themself an expert in either or both. I know what they really mean.
The true expert/advanced people are those who use both as their primary focus on a daily basis. This is especially true of the online training gurus. In my case, I’ve always had entire separate technology stacks demanding my attention. Unless a developer’s job requires they focus at least 90% of their time to becoming expert/advanced at HTML/CSS, they’ll probably never get there.
There’s usually a better way to use HTML/CSS than even a lot of experienced developers know. Most of the time, advanced programmers don’t care to seek extra training on something they feel is a beginning skill. That’s where the humble pie is served.
Check out YouTuber Kevin Powell’s channel to humble yourself in the face of what you thought you knew well enough.
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