Thread: what to learn

i am a student and want to build a website as a project. as any beginner i immediately searched Google for some web development tutorials only to be stunned by a plethora of them and now i don't even know what to learn to make my website. i know that HTML's kind of a must but what else to learn - css,js,ajax,php??
can anyone help me out?

HTML & CSS is a must to begin with. Learn it properly from the get go and ignore other things that'll sidetrack you (js, css3 etc). Everything else you can worry about later when you're comfortable and proficient.

Tools you'll need to familiarise yourself with are Chrome's Dev tools, Firefox's Dev tools, IE9's dev tools (plus it's pretty accurate for testing IE7 and IE8 compatibility). Maybe Opera and Safari too - but Chrome should suffice to begin with.

To begin with you should learn to write proper, valid, html & css. There are a couple of tools:

The W3C Markup Validation Service
The W3C CSS Validation Service

Tools like this are not always 100% accurate - but can really help troubleshoot issues when something isn't behaving like you'd expect. As you get better acquainted with html/css, you will learn what 'errors' you can (or even should) ignore but to begin with it's probably safer to stick with the rules

As for tutorials, I've heard of the following, but couldn't give a personal recommendation as I've not used them:
HTML and CSS Tutorials, References, and Articles | HTML Dog
Webmonkey - The Web Developer's Resource | Wired.com
Free tutorials on HTML, CSS and PHP - Build your own website - HTML.net

I read that w3schools should be avoided as some of their info is just wrong (mainly from these guys: W3Fools). I'm not sure if that is relevant any more, but best to err on the side of caution unless others are prepared to vouch for them.

Lastly, if you encounter any specific problems and/or need constructive feedback and advice, just holler :D

Edit: And one last bit of advice - have a goal or project in mind. This should help you structure your learning and give you something with a definitive start and end point to work towards, then get feedback and rework or start a new project from there - practice, practice, practice!

Then I say come on the forum and ask away! There are some really helpfull people here - I have often been taken back by the support I have received

I personaly find the process of constructing questions on aspects you are not quite sure about actual goes part of the way to answering them. Many times I have started a post and by the end of writting it, it became apparent what I was doing wrong e.t.c. Now I sometimes start writing a post just so as to try and make sense of the jumble in my head, if I am still not sure, I post ha ha.

where to go after html and css??

where to go after html and css??

Originally Posted by jakelong00

The obvious directions would be javascript or PHP.

I've usually learned stuff because I had a practical need for it -- but then, I'm a business owner with a website, not a professional web dev. As Jon said, having a project can help; my website makes the choices for me.