Why learn HTML/CSS?

Why should you learn HTML and CSS when you can click something together in a website builder, or tell an AI tool to just generate it for you?

What your web browser (Safari, Firefox or Chrome) understands is HTML, CSS and JavaScript. HTML is for text and structure, CSS for looks and styles, and JavaScript for interactivity (should you need that).

In the end, all options discussed in the previous chapter send HTML and CSS to the browser. But the way they go about it is very different. It’s up to you to choose the right tool for the job.

But if you want to end up with a truly great website, that loads fast even on mobile phones, and that looks exactly as you want to, then you should take a couple of hours to learn the formats in which your website ultimately will arrive in the browser: HTML and CSS. This will enable you to debug your website in the browser and understand what’s going on.

The story is similar for AI tools like Claude Code, Cursor or Codex. To tell whether their output is any good, and to instruct them effectively, you need to practice the basics first. Before using a calculator, you need to be able to do basic arithmetic yourself. Once you have a basic understanding of web development, you are better equipped to use an LLM as an effective learning aid.