A friend (Paulo Andrade) asked me about teaching HTML/CSS this semester. My answer shocked even me.
The question: “With all the AI progress, should I still teach students to hand-code HTML and CSS? Won’t they just ask why not vibe code everything?”
Here’s what I told him, and it’s tough to say out loud:
Hand-coding HTML and CSS is virtually worthless now.
I know. I’ve taught millions of people web development. This feels like heresy. But the math is brutal. On The All In podcast, Jason Calcanis said people who leverage AI are worth 200 people who don’t.
That’s the new reality.
So What SHOULD We Teach?
NOT SYNTAX. SYSTEMS.
Students need to understand:
- What’s possible (capabilities, not code)
- Design principles (UI/UX, accessibility)
- How the blocks work together (structure, not implementation)
- How to get AI to generate good-looking, functional sites
- How to evaluate and iterate on AI output
The New Curriculum
- Week 1-2: What can we build? (Design thinking, not div thinking)
- Week 3-4: How do HTML/CSS/JS work together? (Concepts, not memorization)
- Week 5-12: Build with Chatbots first, then Lovable, Bolt, maybe end with Cursor, Claude. Real projects. Ship them.
Teach them to be ARCHITECTS, not BRICKLAYERS.
The bricklaying is automated now.
Does this mean the fundamentals don’t matter? No. Understanding structure, semantics, accessibility — those matter MORE. But spending weeks memorizing flexbox syntax? That’s like teaching typewriter repair in 2026.
I built a Gemini glossary of AI development capabilities with sample prompts (link in comments). It will help with vocabulary. Use it. Let students play. Let them BUILD.
The goal isn’t to write perfect HTML. It’s to ship products that solve problems.
Am I wrong? Tell me. This one keeps me up at night. But I’d rather be wrong out loud than quietly obsolete.
