Should blog writers know about coding languages like html and Java?

Yesterday I had quite a new experience as a blogger and I’m wondering how I feel about it. Friends of mine wanted me to try out some new software on my blog, and they’d said it would be simple and easy. It wasn’t. You see, I may have a blog, but that doesn’t mean I know too much about technology – in particular computer programming, code, etc. I have a blog so I can write about my thoughts; I don’t want to have to spend too much time figuring out how things work – I just want to be able to spend my time (which I believe is quite valuable no matter who you are) doing the things I enjoy. My friends are computer programmer – types who just can’t seem to understand this distinction. They think that ‘serious bloggers’ should all have web-developing skills and that all it takes is a bit of curiosity to figure things out like pasting some Java code into your blog. Sorry. I disagree.

Bloggers want to write. They are passionate about what they write and because in modern society we often have busy lives, they like to blog any chance they can get – that is of course assuming they’ve got something new they feel they want to share with the world. I don’t know about other bloggers, but from my research and reading of hundreds or even thousands of blog posts since I started the MiContent Blog, I’ve made one simple discovery – or at least a hypothesis. Bloggers are normal people. Bloggers are mothers and fathers, business people, hobbyists, sports lovers, political enthusiasts; you name it, when it comes to bloggers, there’s room for every kind of person on the globe – and that is how it has evolved. A recent comment on this blog mentioned that no two bloggers are alike. How true, how true this is.

I think sometimes the people (the very small fraction of the one billion people currently on the Internet, or 55 million bloggers) who create information technologies often have a little trouble seeing outside the technological box that has become their place of existence. They use html and Java code so regularly that it has become a language for them, just like learning Japanese has been for me. However, I don’t make the assumption that anyone else wants to learn Japanese, and rightly so, for when I mention that I’ve been learning the language people are often greatly surprised or impressed. They know or imagine learning a second language as being extremely difficult. Science has even dictated that one needs to develop a certain part of the brain for language in order to speak in multiple tongues.

So why do software developers presume that the average everyday blogger wants anything to do with writing, copying, or pasting computer language code? For them it may seem simple and easy; they speak the language fluently. All it takes is a bit of ‘curiosity’ and reading/research/tweaking with things…but for me, and I presume for most bloggers who simply want to write – they don’t want to have anything to do with the codes behind the technology. What do you think? Do you think all people on the Internet should know how to use computer languages? I think it is definitely near-sighted and presumptuous to believe so. If we want to know this stuff, we’ll go study it at school. For now, we want to blog – and we want it to be a simple and easy process.

I’ve seen blogging grandmas out there. Do these tech-people really think Granny wants to have to learn anything even slightly complex or new just to write, put photos up, and communicate with the world? No way, and guess what? I don’t really want to either. Leave that to the tech-heads…us normal humans need things to be simple and easy. We’ve got enough on our plates in this modern, contemporary life as it is. Web developing and blogging are two totally different games. Hey, honestly I’m a little proud I even attempted to work with code…in the past whenever I saw the stuff I got itchy and nervous.

Jesse S. Somer says leave computer code for the developers. Bloggers just want to blog.

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