Self training - where to start

brinepacer

I've decided i'd like to design and build websites for a living, but can't afford to go to college so plan on training myself using the lynda.com tutorials and whatever else i can find online while i work my present 9-5. I've done a good few websites in the past but i'm out of touch. Back when i was doing them we were still doing tables in HTML. My question is, what's going on now? Is it worth learning PHP? Seems more programmy than designing. What about ajax? XHTML? How prevalent are flash jobs?

I'm guessing i'll need most or all of the following, but in what order should i learn?

XHTML
PHP (some needed i'm guessing)
Javascript (did some aeons ago)
ASP.NET (did some in college aeons ago)
SQL (again, did some in college aeons ago)
CSS (Did some basic stuff about ten years ago)
Dreamweaver (I used notepad but i'm guessing that's not an option anymore)
Flash (i had a load around flash 4. I'm guessing it's completely changed)

ALso, can anyone reccomend books or similar about design principles?

Thanks in advance for any help anyone has.

louie

I'll put CSS at the top of the list for layout.
A database interacting language (PHP, ASP, .NET)
JavaScript

very good tutorials to get you started can be found at http://www.w3schools.com/

DonkeyStyle \o/

brinepacer wrote:

Dreamweaver (I used notepad but i'm guessing that's not an option anymore)

Sure it is.
Or use notepad++ ... it has excellent syntax highlighting and a tabbed interface.
Though I suppose if you want to have dreamweaver on your CV, it'd be worth getting familiar with it.

Ph3n0m

Personally I would go for

html/css - standard compliant, etc
javascript
php/mysql and/or asp

Anima

If your gonna go the notepad route, you might try HTML kit.

http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

brinepacer

louie wrote:

very good tutorials to get you started can be found at http://www.w3schools.com/

Wow, that's a great site. Made my way through the HTML section this morning, nothing new there except finding out the font tag is depreciated now. Having a look through the CSS stuff and so far so familiar. Thinking i'll take javascript after that, followed by asp. Thanks!

By the way, does anyone have any resources relating to design and design theory? Everything from accessability to typography to color schemes and that kind of thing.

randombar

The debate goes on PHP vs ASP, I'm sure there's a thread about that! For me it's PHP all the way!

colm_c

If you're serious about going down the web development route you should start of with frontend development - CSS/HTML/XHTML/JS/DOM and learn that before touching any backend stuff otherwise you'll be lost when you go to output an interface.

For the backend stuff get the basics of programming right in a single language first - php/asp/perl/ruby/vb/java etc, and from that you need to be able to abstract common programming techniques and objects (arrays, variables, functions, loops etc), once you have a good understanding of these any programming language is a piece of cake, the only difference is the syntax (which can be googled if needs be).

Then move on and try to dabble in as many languages as possible - experiment - just relying on a single language isn't enough these days.

Take ruby for example the ruby on rails frame work is making huge trends in the web development area at the moment, at least knowing what it is and how it works is quite important for any developer worth their salt.

brinepacer

Ah yeah, i actually studied programming in college - C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, VB.NET, Java - all that ****e. Hated it so would like to avoid getting into programming too much, just looking for something that'll let me do databases if needed. PHP seems very popular from what i can see, but that seems to hedge on it's open source creds and the fact that it's free. I suppose i'll end up getting a working knowlege of a good few anyways so i have them on the CV...

Still nobody with any design reccomendations...?

colm_c

Depends what you mean by design?

- graphic design?
- interaction design?
- information design (ID/IA)?
- user-centered design (UXD/UCD)?
- usable design?
- accessible design?

These are all common factors in web 'design', you need to know most of these to be a competent web 'designer', the very best designers will know all of the above, but these are a very rare species indeed.

brinepacer

Colm, if you have links for any, i'd be happy to take a look at each, and i guarantee i'll look at each (i'm a curious guy). At the moment though, i'd be most interested in graphic design links.

Seachmall

Pagetutor.com is a pretty good tutorial site. Its not fee (€12 roughly) but it covers the basics of html, CSS, javascript and more. It can be a bit outdated but you'll pick alot up from it.