Girl coder meets web divaYesterday I discovered Code like a girl, and have been dancing on air ever since. I’ve always, since just a baby web diva, fiddled with code until it looked just right, picking up after the likes of Dreamweaver, not to mention Word. Until yesterday, the closest I’d come to affirmation of my seemingly compulsive tendencies to tidy code was an absolutely astonishing book on Internet Art. It’s filled with wonders such as code that shapes and mailing lists to counter the “unbearable lightness of Wired.” But that’s art.

For those like Mr. Web Diva who don’t program, and say, “Huh? What are you talking about?” … this has to do with how one arranges one’s source code – the characters and computer files that drive not just web pages, but computer programs. Some programmers arrange things like if/then statements in tidy rows and columns with consistent indentations. Those are girl (or meterosexual) coders. Other slam code out at a furious pace, unfazed by how it appears. Those aren’t.

One added and not-so-minor point: a user can’t usually see this code (even with a browser’s “View Source” command, although it comes close). That’s because the source code gets compiled in the case of programming and dynamically rendered in the case of scripted web pages.

And what, you say, does this have to do with excellent church websites? Well, aside from the obvious making of a happy webmaster, I like to think a clean source goes hand-in-hand with standards-compliant valid code and accessibility. The latter is especially important for great congregational websites. Churches and church websites aren’t there just for the young with perfect vision and health. They are there for the broken, be it broken in spirit or broken of body.

Of course, it’s possible to have valid code that’s messy and renders a completely inaccessible site, etc., etc., but still…. For those of us who aspire to the highest quality code, tidiness makes life so much easier. Now I’m proud to know I’m a girl coder. And for those who are of a similar persuasion, here are a few great resources.

Girl Code Tools