HTML is the ideal computer language for beginners to learn.

However, there are several factors which keep beginners from dipping their toe in the HTML waters.

Computer Phobia - You surf the web, but fear the computer blowing up at any time. You turn the computer on and off with one eye closed just in case. Frankly, it is all a matter of comfort. Use your computer every day. Turn it on, write something in Notepad, save it, change it, write some more. Surf a little. Surf a lot. Turn off the computer. Next day: Repeat. The more you use it the more at ease you will become.

Intimidation - Most potential web programmers already surf the web. They see all the cool stuff that can be done in web development and web design. Since they don't know anything at all about the code behind the scenes they feel they can't do it. Those fancy schmancy sites can be intimidating for sure. But with time and practice a nicely developed basic website is within most beginners grasp.

Fear of the new - Some people don't touch anything new. But if you don't touch it, how do you know you can't do it? Did you learn to tie your shoes? Did you learn to drive a car? If you never touched shoelaces nor a steering wheel chances are you are barefoot and walk most places. But I bet that does not describe you. Let me put it this way, if you learned to drive a car, you can learn the most basic HTML. If you screw up some HTML the worst that can happen is absolutely nothing. That can't be said for driving a car.

The learning curve is too great - This is a combination of the previous two fears. You've played around with HTML, created a few simple pages, but feel the learning curve is too steep to master the skills necessary to create something worthy of putting on the web. While the web is riddled with junky websites, YOU can do better. Honestly, it doesn't take much for a website to look better than 75% of the websites out there.

The web is where the action is and you can take part by not only being a participant but by creating your own little corner of it.