Can someone point me to the right direction

I need to learn.

[shortbus1662]

I have PHP/mysql for dummies. I have my buddies college textbook on html.

Honestly, I don't do well learning things like this on my own. I put myself through nursing school without lectures, learning only from books (not an online thing, just didn't attend lectures).

But I can't learn it like this.

Is there a college course in html and then php?

I'll be moving to the Oklahoma City area soon and maybe they have something there, but I've checked the colleges here were I live and the vo techs, and neither of them have anything like that, short of a 2 week evening class on how to use frontpage or dreamweaver, which I can already do.

I'm tired of spending $,$$$'s of dollars on programming that I only need to have redone or updated a few months later only to have to spend $,$$$ again.

I'm smart enough to pick it up quick, but I can't find anyone to teach me!

Any suggestions at all, online, or wherever or any "methods" are all appreciated.

I know I need to start with html and learn it fully first, before I move on.

Server info, dns, all that stuff would also be very helpful. I'm tired of either A outsourcing all of my work, or B waiting months to get something simple finished on my own or from someone who does it in their spare time.

Thanks!

[pcdivenii]

That's a helluva lot of stuff that takes quite a bit of time to learn!

It really depends on your web site's situation -- you didn't give us any details on what your site is used for and what you want it to do.

I'm not sure if you've done any basic programming before, but PHP can be pretty tough to tackle head-on without at least a partial programming background.

MySQL is a database and also has its own little language to communicate between web pages (PHP, etc.) and the actual database. Don't bother with MySQL until you know some PHP though.

HTML is a very easy language to learn -- you'll find PLENTY of tutorials online.

As far as server info, DNS -- all that stuff -- there are web hosts that take care of that stuff. If you have your own basic website right now, you probably have a web host that's taking care of all that good junk behind the scenes. If this is your case, this is nothing you'll seriously need to delve into.

Anyhow, let us know specifically what it is you're looking for your website to do. That'll help us respond better.

Take care.

[shortbus1662]

Thanks for the response. I own about 10 or so websites. All of them use html and or php, and most of them are driven by a database which powers the forum and has an integrated cms, etc. Seems like I need something hacked once a week and something is being upgraded every week and I just can't keep paying for that. That's the main issue.

[jatar_k]

>> I'm smart enough to pick it up quick, but I can't find anyone to teach me!

well you're here aren't you, I thought that was what we did :)

this thread is useful
Learning PHP - Books, Tutorials and Online Resources [webmasterworld.com]

the PHP library [webmasterworld.com] also has useful threads on various things

aside from that, having a specific job/project to accomplish is the best way to learn and you have that.

I have looked at a bunch of the courses around here, there are a bunch, out of interest and they seem ok. I don't really know how proficient the people that come out of them are. I have been to the php users group here and most of them have pretty weak skills and some have graduated from these exact courses.