Web Design

[sayers6]

So i'm taking a web design class next year and I was wondering what i can do to prep myself for it, and where to start with basic web design, I've been wanting to learn for awhile now, but just now did i have room for it, and I was wondering if there are any books or guides or starting points anyone would recommend.

[T-Rok]

The class will start like this.

Day 1: What does WWW, HTTP, and URL stand for?
Day 2: What is the internet?
Day 3: How does the internet work?
Day 4: What is the internet used for?
Day 5: We'll make our first website. Copy paste this *code here* and try it.

Those first year classes are always so worthless -_-". Its like if my grandma was trying to take the course.

[ARTgames]

Scotty should be posting in 3..2..1..

[igufed]

Just start from the beginning at http://www.w3schools.com.  Click 'Learn HTML' on the left and go from there.  Pretty easy to follow.

After you go through HTML, read through and try the CSS section.  Those are the two important things you need to know first.

[Scotty]

Just start from the beginning at http://www.w3schools.com.  Click 'Learn HTML' on the left and go from there.  Pretty easy to follow.

After you go through HTML, read through and try the CSS section.  Those are the two important things you need to know first.

Igu hit the nail on the head.  There's WAY too much to decide on when it comes to design, but the w3schools' site is a phenomenal resource for everything world wide web.  If you want my personal opinion, learn the following in this order:

HTML
HTML5
CSS2
CSS3
Javascript (Extremely marketable with good knowledge of Javascript, it's one of, if not Google's most heavily relied upon, blessed technologies they use).

If you want to get out of design and into development with full blow applications, continue on with...
Either PHP/Python/Java, take your pick, I would recommend Python.
SQL would help as well.  Probably easiest to get started with MySQL, but eventually Oracle is what's going to make you marketable.

[sayers6]

Just start from the beginning at http://www.w3schools.com.  Click 'Learn HTML' on the left and go from there.  Pretty easy to follow.

After you go through HTML, read through and try the CSS section.  Those are the two important things you need to know first.

Igu hit the nail on the head.  There's WAY too much to decide on when it comes to design, but the w3schools' site is a phenomenal resource for everything world wide web.  If you want my personal opinion, learn the following in this order:

HTML
HTML5
CSS2
CSS3
Javascript (Extremely marketable with good knowledge of Javascript, it's one of, if not Google's most heavily relied upon, blessed technologies they use).

If you want to get out of design and into development with full blow applications, continue on with...
Either PHP/Python/Java, take your pick, I would recommend Python.
SQL would help as well.  Probably easiest to get started with MySQL, but eventually Oracle is what's going to make you marketable.

Ah the two main people I wanted to hear from  ;D I figured the class would be like what t-rok said :/ oh well, but this is what i was looking for :D I was originally going to take computer science, seeing that I know the teacher and he actually teaches good programming, but my school canceled it claiming "too few of people signed up". Which is complete bull shit, they said last year that too few of people signed up for jazz band. There were 15 people signed up. thats 5 more than the ten requirement >.> Anyways enough of me ranting on my school x) thanks for the info.

[Scotty]

Just start from the beginning at http://www.w3schools.com.  Click 'Learn HTML' on the left and go from there.  Pretty easy to follow.

After you go through HTML, read through and try the CSS section.  Those are the two important things you need to know first.

Igu hit the nail on the head.  There's WAY too much to decide on when it comes to design, but the w3schools' site is a phenomenal resource for everything world wide web.  If you want my personal opinion, learn the following in this order:

HTML
HTML5
CSS2
CSS3
Javascript (Extremely marketable with good knowledge of Javascript, it's one of, if not Google's most heavily relied upon, blessed technologies they use).

If you want to get out of design and into development with full blow applications, continue on with...
Either PHP/Python/Java, take your pick, I would recommend Python.
SQL would help as well.  Probably easiest to get started with MySQL, but eventually Oracle is what's going to make you marketable.

Ah the two main people I wanted to hear from  ;D I figured the class would be like what t-rok said :/ oh well, but this is what i was looking for :D I was originally going to take computer science, seeing that I know the teacher and he actually teaches good programming, but my school canceled it claiming "too few of people signed up". Which is complete bull shit, they said last year that too few of people signed up for jazz band. There were 15 people signed up. thats 5 more than the ten requirement >.> Anyways enough of me ranting on my school x) thanks for the info.

Generally speaking, a lot of the high school classes related to scripting/programming/etc... are taught at a very low and rudimentary level assuming that the general audience has absolutely no understanding of how web sites work.  I would actually go as far as to guess, depending on how many semesters the class runs for, you'll only learn everything that is in the HTML and maybe CSS section.  Both of those sections can easily be covered in a weekend, if not a single day depending on how quickly you pick up on it.  I'd say sit down one evening or over the weekend and knock some of the tutorials out.  If you have any questions, post them up and we'll take a look at them.

EDIT: That goes for anyone that's interested.  I'm more than happy to help out anyone that wants to get into web development.  You can post up any questions you got, or you can PM me, windows live me (if you have me), anything.  I think I get just as much satisfaction out of helping teach people web development as I do actually doing it.

[T-Rok]

Just start from the beginning at http://www.w3schools.com.  Click 'Learn HTML' on the left and go from there.  Pretty easy to follow.

After you go through HTML, read through and try the CSS section.  Those are the two important things you need to know first.

Igu hit the nail on the head.  There's WAY too much to decide on when it comes to design, but the w3schools' site is a phenomenal resource for everything world wide web.  If you want my personal opinion, learn the following in this order:

HTML
HTML5
CSS2
CSS3
Javascript (Extremely marketable with good knowledge of Javascript, it's one of, if not Google's most heavily relied upon, blessed technologies they use).

If you want to get out of design and into development with full blow applications, continue on with...
Either PHP/Python/Java, take your pick, I would recommend Python.
SQL would help as well.  Probably easiest to get started with MySQL, but eventually Oracle is what's going to make you marketable.

Ah the two main people I wanted to hear from  ;D I figured the class would be like what t-rok said :/ oh well, but this is what i was looking for :D I was originally going to take computer science, seeing that I know the teacher and he actually teaches good programming, but my school canceled it claiming "too few of people signed up". Which is complete bull shit, they said last year that too few of people signed up for jazz band. There were 15 people signed up. thats 5 more than the ten requirement >.> Anyways enough of me ranting on my school x) thanks for the info.

Generally speaking, a lot of the high school classes related to scripting/programming/etc... are taught at a very low and rudimentary level assuming that the general audience has absolutely no understanding of how web sites work.  I would actually go as far as to guess, depending on how many semesters the class runs for, you'll only learn everything that is in the HTML and maybe CSS section.  Both of those sections can easily be covered in a weekend, if not a single day depending on how quickly you pick up on it.  I'd say sit down one evening or over the weekend and knock some of the tutorials out.  If you have any questions, post them up and I'll take a look at them.

Its true. My school was really awesome when it came to how slow you got taught though. I put in a request for a special advanced course for me and a select few students and we ended up re-writing the entire course so that anyone could take it and enjoy it. Haha :P

[DarkTrinity]

I took web design at my college, and everything T-rok said is basically what we learn the first day. Granted, they required a certain typing speed and general knowledge of a computer before you signed up. But basically we spent the entire semester learning HTML  and then creating our own website with it.

[Scotty]

If you want to aim to impress the teacher and the other classmates, go do the HTML tutorial on the w3schools website, and then also go into HTML5 and study that.  You don't have to get too intensive with the Javascript for things like canvas, but just an understanding of the new tags, what's being deprecated, etc...  

A good example would be if they discussed things like frames and the valign property for td's, just bring up how they're being deprecated in HTML5 and how that's an indication not to use them.

[Jmac]

Alright, so I know I'm kind of late on this, but I just wanted to say, if you're looking for a good written resource for learning anything web design, and you're new to HTML, CSS, Javascript etc., then I reccommend the Headfirst series. They provide a good way to learn things and provide a humorous and better way of learning (imo). They have many helpful books covering HTML, CSS, Javascript, Python, SQL, and several others. The link to the website is here:http://headfirstlabs.com/ The only book they're missing is a good C++ guide >_<. So there's my input on the topic.

[sayers6]

Alright, does anyone have a good video page for learning html? I've tried the written resources, and didn't work the best, a video at educator.com helped alot....but it costs $35/month for more videos >:( So any free sites?

[Scotty]

Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwQMnpUsj8I

After this, you should be good to go over to w3schools and use their tutorials.  You aren't going to find many free/good tutorials that go far in depth.

[sayers6]

Thanks Scotty, you're always a great help :)

[Scotty]

Saw this on lifehacker today, thought it was relevant and potentially useful for you:

http://www.dontfeartheinternet.com/the-basics/dont-fear-the-browser