I think CSS is by far more worthy to be learn than HTML. The only important thing about HTML are forms, which you are usually validated with Javascript.
CSS must be used to anything related to design, while HTML is as a XML is to data (just descriptor).
CSS is not as boring as HTML, so I recommend you to start with CSS. So, for example, if you want to create a page with a header, center and footer, this is the only HTML you need:
[HTML]<html> <head> <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css"></link> </head> <body> <div id="header">This is the header</div> <div id="center">This is the center</div> <div id="footer">This is the footer</div> </body> </html>[/HTML]
Then, create a file named style.css and paste this:
body {
background: #D2C9AA url("http://ubuntuforums.org/images/misc/bgrepeat.jpg") repeat-x;
}
#header, #footer {
height: 75px;
background-color: #3D2E14;
border: 1px #000 solid;
font-size: 14px;
color: #000;
text-align: center;
padding: 10px;
}
#header {
background: #FFF url("http://ubuntuforums.org/images/misc/ubuntulogo.png") no-repeat center;
}
#center {
height: 600px;
border-left: #000 1px dashed;
border-right: #000 1px dashed;
text-align: center;
font-size: 18px;
text-decoration: underline;
padding: 30px;
}
You can start with that... This is only to show you that HTML can be really simple and leave the design complications to be fixed in your CSS.
Just play with it... and have fun.