Development Learning Web Advice please

[deathtaker27]

Hi,

I will be doing php next semester in University, however currently I cannot build a website (They taught me dreamweaver last year and not web I was not impressed)

During the break I am on I have time to study, so would it be best to study up on HTLM, CSS, Javascript etc or should i go straight into php?

Kind Regards,

DT.

[Puk]

I'd spend some time with HTML, it's where it all starts. It really is a very quick language to pickup, and tbh quite enjoyable. Run a small webserver on you pc so you can make a small interactive site and just get stuck in with notepad as your editor.

It won't take you long to pick up the basics, then have a play with some css to understand how to form some style, then maybe a bit of js.

That's the route I learnt php, not that I use it much now, but I do still use the HTML and CSS.

[faugusztin]

Learn HTML basics (so you will know what to expect), learn the limitations of the stateless HTTP protocol, what are the headers and cookies; then learn PHP. In meantime, you will slowly pick up the basics of CSS and Javascript, as you will search for specific visual design solutions.

[lp rob1]

PHP is a server-side scripting language to output HTML, so you will need to learn HTML first. w3schools can take you through the basics, and I find it to be a very good reference for HTML. Once you have got the hang of HTML you probably want to go towards CSS - styles for your website. w3schools is also a good place for that. Just remember that the structure of your website is created in HTML, while the look is created in CSS. Try not to mix the two together as much as possible.

Once you have a good feel for these languages you can go down one of two paths first - server-side scripting or client-side scripting. For server-side you have already expressed an interest in PHP - that would be an ideal route to go down. For client-side you could try JavaScript. It is probably best to do server-side scripting first, because a website should not really depend on JavaScript to make it work, and should instead use JavaScript to provide fancy effects or ease of use. w3schools has good tutorials on both of these, but you may want to invest in a book of some kind since they are both more complex languages.

Of course, once you have mastered both of those languages you can look into combining the two in AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). This isn't really a language as such but rather a programming paradigm, where the browser uses JavaScript to pull information down from a server without reloading the page. An example of this is Google Autocomplete - each keypress sends a message to the Google servers to retrieve common search phrases matching what you typed in - the whole page doesn't refresh when you do this, but it still pulls down information.

[deathtaker27]

Thanks guys, so its HTML, CSS, PHP then Javascript

+ rep to all

[WarrenJ]

For a good base I would start with HTML and CSS. This should keep you going for a few weeks.

Don't worry about PHP until your lectures start. Follow their course material and you shouldn't ahve much problems. Though when i went through Uni knowing HTML and CSS was almost a pre-requisite to PHP.

I would recommend downloading LAMPP or XAMPP for testing, as these are great for development on a localhost.

Javascript, leave this until you have time to play with it. While it shares a lot of syntacs as PHP it will only confuse you at this point.

[Dae314]

I was about to recommend you do javascript before PHP, but thinking about it more, you really don't need to. When you learn javascript, one of the things you should learn as well is jQuery since it's a fairly widely used library that can come in handy for you later.

When you're learning CSS, and you want to try out something that is pretty fun, look up SASS, configure it, and give it a try. It's a rather cool CSS front end that adds a lot of features to the otherwise bare language.

[law99]

Originally Posted by WarrenJ

For a good base I would start with HTML and CSS. This should keep you going for a few weeks.

Don't worry about PHP until your lectures start. Follow their course material and you shouldn't ahve much problems. Though when i went through Uni knowing HTML and CSS was almost a pre-requisite to PHP.

I would recommend downloading LAMPP or XAMPP for testing, as these are great for development on a localhost.

Javascript, leave this until you have time to play with it. While it shares a lot of syntacs as PHP it will only confuse you at this point.

I'd echo this. Essentially I lazily try use JavaScript for things that I should really use php due to the order I learnt in. Although a complete novice with both really... Just enough to get by theme-ing/maintaining Drupal sites.

You'll pick up HTML and CSS very fast... It's v.simple. even things like CSS menus are super simple and that is when query becomes fun.

[happysack]

As above HTML first, CSS then look at PHP.
W3schools for me years ago provided good learning.

http://www.w3schools.com/

[Booga]

Originally Posted by happysack

As above HTML first, CSS then look at PHP.
W3schools for me years ago provided good learning.

http://www.w3schools.com/

This.

[Victoria]

First learn Client side programming (html,css and javascript) before learning Server side progamming(php).

[BentAnat]

three links to w3schools and no one going "w3fools" yet? I am enjoying this.

Without HTML, PHP is rather limited in use.
Without CSS, HTML is crap...
HTML->CSS->PHP->JavaScript, as iterated over a million times before.