Web Development Learning
There’s no magic to web design and development. You just need to start learning the various computer languages and/or design techniques, and then practicing what you learn. I like to buy physical books to learn a new subject, but that’s a matter of preference as it suits my learning style best. But you certainly don’t have to spend money on books if you don’t mind doing all of your reading form the computer screen. There are plenty of terrific websites that will teach you everything you need to know. And I do mean everything. Below is a list of sites I’ve found immensely helpful over the years. They’re are well worth your time if you want to learn more about web design and development.
W3Schools – a great place to start learning to write code of all types: HTML, CSS, XML, PHP, JavaScript, and PLENTY more! If you’re just starting out in web design, I highly recommend you learn HTML and CSS first. They are the absolute basic building blocks of web development, but they’re also pretty simple languages to understand once you get over the fear of so many acronyms!
SitePoint.com – I’ve been following Sitepoint for a few years now. It’s an excellent community of web designers/developers, most of whom are eager to help whenever you have a problem with your own site. Plus Sitepoint publishes excellent books – a quick scan of my book shelf for their logo resulted in 9 books, not counting one in the mail!
Net Tuts – Short for ‘Net Tutorials,’ this site features a HUGE collection of tutorials and other articles that will quickly get you up to speed on many subjects. They provide a whole bunch of freebies, but they also offer a Premium membership that gives you access to numerous in-depth tutorials that walk you through an entire new software package or coding language. I highly recommend you check out the premium section if you can afford the membership ($78.00) For me, their Premium tutorial on ‘How to Build a WordPress Theme’ was worth the price by itself.
CSS-Tricks – Chris Coyier is one good web designer, and he’s also a great teacher. Chris regularly updates this blog, often with handy tutorials that include super-easy-to-follow code examples. Plus he gives the code away for you to use on your own projects, and he also he shows you working demos so you know exactly what to expect. How’s that for helpful? My hat’s off to Chris for the many hours he’s spent writing these insightful posts.
webmasterworld.com – general forum discussing all topics related to websites.