This doesn’t mean I’m blind to the developments in the software environment; I’ve been dabbling with Java, learned PHP to be able to work on some database driven sites and mean to seriously get involved with Java once the opportunity arises. It’s just that it takes a lot of time and effort to keep up, and learning becomes harder as you get older; I have to be selective with what I chose, I can’t affort to jump on any wagon that happens to pass by.

The Web site I produce content for was a mess of tables and font tags until a few months ago. In fact, they would have continued to use this outdated layout method if I hadn’t pushed for the use of CSS — the simply had not updated their skills to remotely understand it.

Take a look at nearly any local newspaper site, and you’ll undoubtly see what I mean (with exceptions, of course).

Trouble is, the folks that refuse to update their skills seem to lack incentive to do so. They seem content to fuddle with spacer .gifs and table cells.

It’s also hard to attract new employees that have the updated skills because college new media programs aren’t teaching CSS and Web Standards.

It’s often left to the few to teach the many.

I’ve been working with CSS for layout for five years now. About a year ago I had to update some html which was originally written using tables for layout. Granted it had a few nested tables, but it took me a long time to wrap my head around that markup and figure out what I was doing.

It is just ignorant to be in the tech/design industry and not want to at least try and keep up with what the people around you are doing. I’d think that I would have a fear of job security.

However, one must also understand that technology is insanely difficult to keep up with. It’s true CSS is easy to pick up, I’ve learned it solely by viewing the source code on many sites. But for hobbyist bloggers who are focused more on their content, then having to keep up with all this newfangled coding can get very tedious.

I don’t understand people who don’t want to expand their skills. I don’t know why people would want to supress their natural creativity and their passion for learning new and exciting things. Are they lazy or scared of failure? It’s not as if CSS is a bleeding edge topic any more, it’s a widespread technology with plenty of areas of help. I hope your article inspires people to learn the things they always wanted to but were too afraid because they think it’s too hard.