[Web Design] What Languages Should I Learn and In What Order?

Hi,

I'm in the processes of becoming a freelance web designer. After 2 weeks of studying, i've gotten HTML and CSS down. HTML is fully down, my CSS on the other hand, not so much. I know how it works, but i haven't gotten down the techniques. Tomorrow i'll be picking up a 500pg book dedicated entirely to CSS, and hopefully that will help.

What about after CSS? What should I learn?

In the future, i plan on learned javascript, php, and JQuery. I know there are others out there (mySQL, Ajax), but should i learn them? (I found a Javascript + ajax book, so i assume they go hand in hand?)

Overall, what languages should I learn next and in what order?



Thank You.

AJAX would be nice to have... I find websites are a lot nicer when they have tons of AJAX, fading pages and stuff :) PHP isn't needed as much unless you plan to sell fully coded websites with login systems and stuff. If you are going to sell fully coded websites, then yes, learn PHP, also :)

It takes more than a week to fully learn HTML, so does any language, just wanted to say that, you might "know" them, but to use em is all about experience.

And if you want to make dynamic websites you should learn these languages:
HTML, CSS, JS, PHP. MySQL is NOT a language, it's a database and you use commands to control the website from PHP.

Example:

Code:

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$category = 'whiskers';
$sql = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM my_cats WHERE name = '".$category."' ")or die(mysql_error());

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That's a simple example of when PHP runs a SQL query.

Things to keep in mind when learning PHP and start playing around with databases is security and efficient coding etc. Having a heavy loop or a stupid query can slow the website down a LOT and put unnecessary load on the server. If it's a insecure code people can inject the code and hack the database.

So, what it comes down to is, practise, and experience. You won't have all this down after 2 months, at best ur gonna be decent.

If you're going to resort to using a book (blergh, damn things always teach bad habits) for CSS, at least get one for CSS3. Better yet, just don't bother getting the book at all, and use w3schools and Google for "css3". There's some excellent material to be found on Google, and 500 pages is completely unnecessary to teach someone CSS... You'll most likely find that the book is full of fluff and crap you don't need. The best way to learn is to look at examples and language documentation after getting the basics through simple tutorials.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yamachi

w3schools

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W3Fools – A W3Schools Intervention

Quote:

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Originally Posted by foxx

W3Fools – A W3Schools Intervention

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Yeah, because their explanations of CSS are completely wrong and shouldn't be used by anyone. Right... ¬_¬

Nah, it's just I wouldn't recommend w3school for learning anything, as they(w3fools) said "Bad education hurts.".. And they got quite few things wrong(inlucluding css3 stuff you've mentioned he should learn).

Well, there are plenty of other places he could use. Why not give some alternatives?

CSS Beginner Tutorial | HTML Dog
27: CSS basics - Dev.Opera
Google: HTML, CSS, and Javascript from the Ground Up - Google Code University - Google Code
SitePoint CSS Reference
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/CSS

ok ok why not we all just agree google is the best book/example/etc out there...