New To Web Development Forum

I have taken over the website at my work (a small non-profit) and we're going to be migrating the HTML-based site into Drupal. I also work a lot with Wordpress (and crappy plugins), and we're starting to desire some API development. A small problem with all of this is that no one on staff is a programmer. I got the website because I was the only one interested in learning how to make it better and generate online programs, but I only have some HTML knowledge and very, very little of CSS. PHP makes me tilt my head sideways and run for the hills.

In my defense, I'm very good at looking at an existing, working piece of code and comparing it to my crappy code and figuring it out that way. But that methodology, along with scouring the web for answers, is very inefficient and I don't really know what I'm doing.

So, I'm trying to figure out how to get better at this and learn the things I need to know. I'm a visual learner, which is why most programming scares the bajeezus out of me, like looking at Sanskrit. So I'm nervous.

Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations about the best way for me to proceed here, in a way that won't a) break the bank and b) be way over my head at the outset? I'm specifically looking for courses, books, websites, tutorials, support groups (who don't mind complete innocents), and the like. I'm in the Bay Area (California), Oakland/Berkeley area.

[snip]

Many, many thanks in advance for your advice!