It tells my blog what the words and pictures will look like. For example, I want the header to my business blog, Plumbline1, to have the core posts centered on at static front page, at plubline1 to look like this:
But if someone wants to read about social media, then the other posts will disappear, and simply show the text for social media: 
I can write and blog freely, and so can you, without knowing a stick of code. There are themes that make all of this possible, that run behind the scenes. All you really need to do is pick a color, add some photos and write. Literally, no CSS training is necessary. But sometimes, you may want to personalize your blog. Change the colors, or add a slider, or feature your most popular posts. This is called customization, and it’s the one thing that all bloggers find they need, sooner or later. When the itch to customize hit me several years ago, I picked up a book on CSS and learned to write some code to make it happen. It was elementary at that… but it worked.
I also ghost-write blog stories for several other clients (sorry, can’t reveal who they are, because then I would stop being the ghost!). Soon, they started asking me to customize a few things. I picked up my CSS book again, and started to learn more things. Now, my clients are asking for more complex coding customizations. And, they’re willing to pay for it too. There are the basics, like updating themes using a file uploader like Filezilla. But then, there are more important tweaks, like how can I get the slider at top to show my five most popular posts? How can I make the sidebar show thumbnails of specific categories, and rotate them so that the last one is shown first? After scratching my head, I realized that not knowing how to do these tailored customizations for my clients was silly. But who knew that a journalism degree wouldn’t be enough to carry me through my career? I need training. Official training. Where am I going to find the time for that?
Online, of course! There, I can find classes with basics on IT, HTML and CSS can teach me the ins and outs of code, tweaking and customization. Plus, because the courses are online, I can take them at the times that are most convenient for me (like midnight, when the kids are asleep, and the dishwasher is cleaning my dishes.). The best part about making this investment in IT training is knowing that I already have clients who are “demanding” this service from me, and I know these are skills that will serve me well for a long time to come.
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