11 replies to this topic

[ahmed]

It's summer break though i am having summer semester but I have like wayyyyyyy tooo much free time and I am mostly bored all the time so i wanted to ask here that which web language should i start with ? I just want to learn web development and earn little $$ :( , so what do you people recommend ?

HTML >> XHTML >> JAVASCRIPT >> PHP ?

[Orjan]

I'd go with PHP before Javascript. HTML and XHTML is'nt a big difference, so those you learn at the same time. but I'd add CSS before PHP.

[relapse]

HTML isn't a language. You might want to learn CSS also.

[BlaineSch]

The way I went would be

HTML > Photoshop > CSS > PHP > Javascript

[NatalieM]

HTML/XHTML --> CSS --> Javascript --> PHP --> MySQL

and also you need to learn about:

Ajax techniques
taking/sourcing pictures
editing pictures (Photoshop, Gimp etc)
SEO
monetization strategies (if you get paid for a website, you might be expected to provide advice on monetization; or you might develop your own website and try to monetize it)

[Hignar]

I'm currently in the same situation as OP,although a few steps further along. I'd previously tried learning HTML a number of times and,while I had no problem understanding and using the code, I never found what was being taught to be that inspiring. This was probably due to the fact that plain html isn't that exciting.

However, in a renewed effort to learn some useful web development skills I picked up this book. It moves through the html material fairly rapidly but there is enough there to get you going. Next up is CSS, then javascript and finally php and mysql.

As the title of the book suggests you will learn just enough to do something useful. If you want to learn about any given topic in more detail then there is more than enough info on the web. It's definitely the best book I've seen for starting web development. I just don't see the point of the 300+ page books on html for a beginner. The mark-up just isn't that complicated.

[jpiche]

For learning about programming in general, I would learn Python instead of PHP since it will quicker teach you about general programming concepts. If you are going to be designing, just design and use google when you need html. For example, my blog has kind of a simple design since I am not a designer, but when I write code, it's pretty solid. I would not try to do both.

[MrJoey]

I'm currently learning HTML and CSS side by side.. I was told that it's probably the best way to do it (probably very arguable) and so far all is going well. It's all very boring for me though.. I don't know what to learn for when it comes to implementing templates and the features behind the website, as the book I'm reading only goes as far as explaining everything there is for very basic HTML pages, which look very dull indeed.

[njr1489]

MrJoey said:

I'm currently learning HTML and CSS side by side.. I was told that it's probably the best way to do it (probably very arguable) and so far all is going well. It's all very boring for me though.. I don't know what to learn for when it comes to implementing templates and the features behind the website, as the book I'm reading only goes as far as explaining everything there is for very basic HTML pages, which look very dull indeed.

Once you fully learn HTML and how it works, try learning CSS not only to style web pages, but present them too. One book i've read, CSS in Easy Steps taught me that there are a lot of tricks that many people use today as far as creating web pages. The most important point I learned in the book is that tables aren't used in today's sites to present the page. My advice is to learn CSS positioning and all that goes hand in hand with it.

[sdavis2702]

BlaineSch said:

The way I went would be

HTML > Photoshop > CSS > PHP > Javascript

I took this path. Actually I learned photoshop before HTML but I wasn't into the internet like that yet.

[ruskin012]

My suggestions is to learn HTML with CSS first then switch to the JavaScript.