Getting into Web Development - Advice?

[Baston]

Hi,

I was wondering whether anyone could offer me some sound advice as to how to get involved in web development a little more intimately. I have only ever gone as far as installing forums, blogging, and periodic use of HTML tags in various places. I am keen to understand other technologies surrounding this and those supporting the web. I also want to ensure that these are the most relevant of technologies so I don’t "waste" time concentrating on something that I will never use or need to know.

Does anyone have any good links, books, advice regarding technologies and their study and implementation. I guess I am thinking of PHP, CSS, XHTML and such-like.

Any pointers would be gratefully appreciated

 

[aus_dave]

That's a question that covers a large area . I'll attempt to give you some pointers (I'll leave the links for you to search on Google):

- WebmasterWorld is a good general forum to learn about all aspects of web design, very friendly forums and strictly moderated (no site reviews etc).

- some people say good things about Sitepoint but I've never really hung out there. They do have some good intro books.

- 'PHP and MySQL Web Development' is a good book, about $40 US at Amazon I think.

- if you are just starting out you may as well learn as much as you can about CSS for positioning and stay away from table-based layout - CSS is the future .

- get familiar with the W3C validator and run your XHTML pages through it to learn more about coding and how to do it properly.


That's a random collection but I'm sure someone will add more to it. Good luck!

 

[Baston]

Thanks.

In the last few hours i've gotten to grips with XHTML and CSS... which is pretty good... and im definitely interested in getting some useful reading material.

 

[wiSeZo]

Well, you can try http://www.w3schools.com/

and if you're going to plan to make a site of your own. You should learn photoshop. Not just manip an image. But, just start from a blank white file.

PHP is the way to go. CSS is good as well. But, I'm mostly in graphic design and I only know alittle of web development. I'm sharing my little knowledge of web development with you which may help.

 

[jeremy.king]

- 'PHP and MySQL Web Development' is a good book, about $40 US at Amazon I think.

I'll second this recommendation and also add This one as it has full references for HTML 4.01, CSS Level 2, DOM Level 2, and JavaScript 1.5

Also, are you looking to self employ or score a job with a firm? I recommend the latter (even if its not the best paying) to build a portfolio and then going out on your own.

 

[Baston]

Also, are you looking to self employ or score a job with a firm? I recommend the latter (even if its not the best paying) to build a portfolio and then going out on your own.

I doubt that i'll ever get that far - but to be honest i hadnt really considered it. That's an interesting idea. Its encouraging that, as of tonight, and after only a few hours - i have quickly built a validated an XHTML/CSS complaint web page with some clean looking text -- nothing mindblowing, but encouraging for a new learner. Thanks for the heads-up on the books

 

[Baston]

Well, you can try http://www.w3schools.com/

and if you're going to plan to make a site of your own. You should learn photoshop. Not just manip an image. But, just start from a blank white file.

PHP is the way to go. CSS is good as well. But, I'm mostly in graphic design and I only know alittle of web development. I'm sharing my little knowledge of web development with you which may help.

That was the site i began reading and implementing the basics on - its really good. Actually creating a site, graphically, isnt of primary importance to me - but i do have photoshop and its on my "to-do-list". Is there a rule-of-thumb to follow when creating this?

 

[Rower_CPU]

I'd also recommend checking out Jeffrey Zeldman's Designing with Web Standards - it's a great primer on web standards and using them effectively in your designs.

Welcome to the club!