Learn code and css

[Aiden Roberts]

Hi All

I have been flitting around learning the absolute basics of code, judging from some of the sensible advice I have been given by fellow acorners I need to do more and quickly

My question is:

Where is the best place to start to learn code and css, any resources on or offline you can recommend, books, sites etc....

Thank you


Aiden

 

[Aiden Roberts]

What about w3 schools ?

Looks good to me, any thoughts?

 

[redbird]

http://www.w3schools.com/ is a good place to start

 

[redbird]

I posted that before I read yours above! so the answer is yes a good place to start

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Thanks redbird our posts crossed but you have answered my question.

Brilliant

Thanks

 

[grantw]

I also recommend http://htmldog.com/ which is great for total beginners to html/css.

Well done for giving it a go, would be nice to see more posts like this around here!

Grant

 

[bensd]

Would also recommend w3schools.com

tbh though the best place to learn is by building sites. I noticed that you built a couple of sites with wordpress however, I would highly recommend hand coding a couple of sites from scratch - will certainly help with the learning curve.

 

[grantw]

I noticed that you built a couple of sites with wordpress however, I would highly recommend hand coding a couple of sites from scratch

Totally agree with that, building/breaking/fixing your own site will teach you so much.

Grant

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Thank you both

I will take your advice and have a go, if the internet crashes and the world comes to a grinding halt then you know I have got my tags mixed up

Regards

Aiden

 

[storebuilder]

Totally agree with that, building/breaking/fixing your own site will teach you so much.

Grant

What Grant said but I'd add that in hindsight most of your effort needs to go into marketing and link building to make a site successful.

Many crappy sites have made shed loads of money because their owners concentrated on link building rather than code tinkering.

But yeah, breaking your own site is the best way to learn. Putting that "," in the wrong place makes you appreciate how much effort goes into building a decent site.

BUT unless you have a serious amount of free time on your hands it's the slow way to riches. Learning how to fix stuff will absorb huge amounts of your time.

If making money is your goal just get wordpress installed and go from there. If you just want to tinker get wordpress installed and go from there.

 

[theonemanyuri]

Agree with grantw and bensd, start coding up a site from scratch. After a few sites you'll type out the html structure in no time. It's worth learning to code correctly and semantically from the start if you can to avoid picking up bad habits.

I've learned everything so far from a 6 hour course which is on the staff development list at the Uni I work at, and then just playing around building sites. You can download the handouts from their website and go through them yourself, do you want a link?

They're basic but good.

 

[monaghan]

sitepoint.com also have a good forum which will help with some of the more advanced css stuff, there's a number of good articles (can be a bit confusing sometimes trying to find articles but they have improved navigation recently). There stuff is also available in books which are well written.

w3schools tends not to put in background whereas sitepoint (the books anyway) will guide you through building something useful.

Alternatively, pop down the local library, ours had a lot of older html books last time I visited.

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Great advice thanks!

I am off to the library today and onemanyuri yes the link would be great.

Thanks

Aiden

 

[Blossom]

The site I first learned from years ago was http://lissaexplains.com It hasn't been updated in a while and it's by no means comprehensive, but it's aimed at kids so it's really easy to follow I used to see 8 year olds making surprisingly good looking sites from that.

 

[js1]

Great advice thanks!

I am off to the library today and onemanyuri yes the link would be great.

Thanks

Aiden

I found css the missing manual to be a great help

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596802448

http://missingmanuals.com/

Get a few css / html templates and play around is always a good start (or it was for me).

Coffee cups html editor is very easy to use and there’s a free trial then $49.00

http://www.coffeecup.com/html-editor/

To be fully in control of your business it’s a must, best of luck Aidan.

 

[theonemanyuri]

Introduction to XHTML:- http://www.bristol.ac.uk/it-services/learning/documentation/web-19/web-19t.pdf

Further CSS:- http://www.bristol.ac.uk/it-services/learning/documentation/web-15/web-15t.pdf

Do the XHTML one first, you'll need to follow the instructions and download the relevant pdf from the Uni site. It also starts by telling you how to set up HTML-kit which is the editor I use, if you use something different then you can ignore that section. Let me know if you have any problems!

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Wow!

Thanks everyone these are some fantastic resources, I am obviously going to be very busy. Any newbies like myself should find this list a great help so on behalf of them and me; thank you.

Regards

Aiden

 

[Aiden Roberts]

Update

My head hurts-just been writing code (get on that, me writing code)

Well actually I have been learning basic html and it's quite interesting, I have my first web page; the blank white screen that says "My First webpage" Lol, the world is my oyster now; well maybe a barnacle :wink:

Seriously; thank you to everyone who offered advice in this thread.

Aiden

 

[accelerator]

Just remember that success is predominantly about traffic, i.e. don't get too hung up on ultra sophisticated design techniques.

Rgds

 

[accelerator]

A long time ago I learnt from:

http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorials/

Rgds