Introduction to WebDevelopment

[zulufox]

I was wondering if there was a online introduction to websites and web development out there for me to read.

I am getting more deep into website making and am finding I dont know jack about it... SSL... DNS... etcc.. etc... it might as well be in german...

Anyone know of a good site with all that jazz?

[ganderla]

You are already here.
Just take a look around and do some searching and I am sure you will find everything you need.

[ergophobe]

also

- devshed.com
- webreference.com
- www.w3schools.com
That one with school in the name (like w3c.school.com but that's not it)

Tom

[photon]

I spent a lot of time at webmonkey when I was first learning.

[Gunner]

Zulufox, I'm with you....you took the words right out of my mouth...I don't know JACK!

I have Dreamweaver MX and have a few publications but sheesh....where does one start? A whole new language. I'm pretty computer literate but this seems somewhat challenging. I've never been on the development side. I'm a mortgage banker and want to begin branding myself with a website. I'm considering having a freelancer do the site for now and I'll continue learning so I can manage the site. Suggestions are welcome.

Thanx,
Gunner

[martinibuster]

>>I'm considering having a freelancer do the site for now and I'll continue learning so I can manage the site.

Best decision you can make. Make sure they write clean code. I know a dot com casualty who took his stock option funds and bought a brick and mortar business from an acquaintance in San Francisco.

The new owner thought the existing website looked unprofessional so he redesigned did it himself. His current website blows up in 800x600 and has the garish colors of a late-nineties crack site. I've been told that new clients have virtually disappeared, and the business is limping along on past clients.

Amazing how fast someone can come in and destroy a 25 year old business with a highly visible brand name by "doing it himeself."

Be wary of graphic designers who also do web design, as their methodology often revolves around comping something in Photoshop then slicing it up into a graphics heavy disaster.

The sad thing about the more expensive web design shops is that these people are trained for PRINT, not web. Even worse, pick up most any web design or web redesign book today and it's quite often written by Graphic Designers who were trained for print design.

A florist came to me last year. She had a beautiful website- trouble was, all her text was in gifs. I told her to demand a refund from the GD or have him redo it at his expense. The graphic designer redid the entire website.

[balinor]

My first suggestion to you is learn HTML and CSS. Learn them so that you can code them by hand, without the help of Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG editor. Don't get me wrong, Dreamweaver is great, but if you know the actual code, your life will be MUCH easier down the road. I use Dreamweaver for most of my work, but I always find that I am editing some of the code to get it just where I want it. After you master HTML and CSS, try out XML, DHTML, Flash, etc. You'll find them all a bit easier to learn after you have a good base knowledge of HTML!

As far as WHERE to learn it, I would suggest a good book or two as a reference, and then just dive in and try it. Plenty of good books out there, just log on to Amazon and do a search for HTML and you should get hundreds. Read the customer reviews for one that fits your learning style.

Once you learn the basics, I have yet to find a better resource than this forum! The people here are fantastic, and will answer just about any question you can come up with. I guarantee you will have quite a few! Best of luck!

[mjt_AG]

Some topics i have flagged:

Basic Webmaster skills:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Successful Site in 12 Months with Google Alone:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Important things Newbies need to know:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Newcomer's Guide:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Funtasmic Reading!

[JamesR]

I utilized the public library quite a bit (still do...love them Dummies books!)

[robert adams]

right click on this or any other web page and view the source. you will get a good idea of what it takes to make it all work.

Contrary to what some others have said, I would start with Netscape Composer.(Free, part of Netscape/Mozilla) It is WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) and you can create a webpage is about 10 seconds. It is just like creating any other document. Type, cut and paste, drag and drop, etc.

Once you have your first page done then look at the html code for it and tweak it. This is how I learned and how I still do a lot of pages.

good luck,
robert

[BuckerBucker]

Viewing the "source" on web pages is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with the new language of HTML code. When you first start out, choose one task you want to accomplish, then focus on just that. Look for other websites that have a similar task, and examine their source for hints of how it's done. Don't be afraid to experiment. Some of the best code on your website will be as a result of accidental discovery. Learning the HTML code is an adventure that is well worth the effort, and shows well in your final product.

[yowza]

In my opinion (and the opinions of many professionals who still use these books) the best two beginner books out there are "HTML for the World Wide Web" by Elizabeth Castro and "The Non-Designer's Web Book" by Robin Williams and John Tollett. The first is great for understanding HTML in an example-based book. The second helped me learn how to design decently while giving some basic technical background.

One and a half years ago I knew nothing about web design.
After reading the books and practicing, I am making decent money running a web design company.

It also helps to practice. When I want to learn how to do something new I jump right into it.

Anyway, there is no risk, you can practice for free with a free host or on your own computer.

[stevebydac]

Ok, so here is the dumbest of dumb questions. As I read some of your comments, I right-clicked on my mouse and then clicked "view source". I didn't see anything happen.

Please explain and s-a-y i-t r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w because apparently I'm not as bright as I thought I was.

Thanks -- and to reiterate what others have said, this is a GREAT site!

[Krapulator]

>>I right-clicked on my mouse and then clicked "view source". I didn't see anything happen.

stevebydac,

Are you using Internet Explorer? This frequently occurs in my Internet Explorer (it's something to do with cache limits or something).

Clear your temporary internet files (tools->internet options-> delete files) and try again.

Jimmy

[IeuanJ]

Actually I wouldnt try it with this page anyway, like more forums the HTML is not exatly formatted very nicely for the beginner.

Your best bet is to try running through the tutorials at www.w3schools.com to get a basic idea and then looking around at sites like webmoney and such. www.wdvl.com is also a decent resource for finding out more about these technologies, if not for actual tutorials.

[g1smd]

Once you have started designing stuff there are some online tools that can show if you made errors in the code. There is no one right way of doing things, but there are many more wrong ways.

HTML: [validator.w3.org...]

CSS: [jigsaw.w3.org...]

See also: [webmasterworld.com...]