Hey guys, this is my first post here so dont be too harsh if its noobish :stickout: My uncle is a member of a golf club and he's asked me to design a simple site for the course to attract more visitors. Iv done a one year course in college doing computer games design and computer architecture however it was pretty basic and i came out with a fairly limited knowledge of the software we used. Anyways iv decided to start my own study as i wont be going to uni till next year (2010) so i said i may aswell try get a head start. Im hoping to study either design and 3d modelling or computer programming and systems. Either way id really like to start web designing, i think im leaning more towards the design aspects of things so fingers crossed if things go to plan ill be doing design and modelling aswell as web design which is a module on the course. unfortunately im finding it hard as to were to start. Iv had people telling me conflicting stories as to which language i should use and so on.

Basically iv a year before uni to get pretty savvy with design, 3d and web design and was hoping people could give me some tips as to where to start in respect to web site design. From the info iv gathered so far it seems iv to learn CSS, HTML, PHP and MYSQL to have a well rounded knowledge of website design and construction, this info could be miles off however :D One thing though thats kinda melting my brain is whether its a good idea to try learn them all at once or if i should focus on one language in particular and progress from there. A friend told me to start with PHP and that id have no other choice but to learn HTML and CSS along the way. I'm a member of Lynda so iv got a decent amount of resources at my disposal its trying to find the right path to start on is where im having trouble. Cheers in advance for any advice :agree:

Hi Steve, welcome to the mad house :)

Realistically, all you'll need to learn is HTML (xhtml if you want to keep up with the times) and CSS in order to actually put a site together. PHP and MySQL will be needed if you want users to have reasonable interaction with the site (such as providing a message board, user profiles, etc).

I'd also absolutely insist that you learn Adobe Photoshop back to back. This is where you'll be developing the graphical end of the site before you start coding it.

If you actually read through the threads in this forum category, you'll pick up some great tips along the way :)

Start with photoshop. Then go into xhtml/css. Then possibly php/mysql?

MediaFireBrand pretty much hit the nail on the head.

You'll want to get a very solid grasp of HTML first, followed by CSS (Which go hand in hand). I wouldn't worry about php and mysql for a while. Knowledge of photoshop is also important.

cheers guys iv been using photoshop for a while now so im pretty comfortable with that. Is there a distinct different between the functionality of HTML and XHTML? Iv heard XHTML is more strict but makes for cleaner code. I dont want to just jump right in and pick up some bad habits id like to know the do and dont's first so to speak. And CSS what does this do exactly? Is it to provide a certain style to the page?

also something that confusing me is if i can create a pretty decent site with dreamweaver. Im hoping to develop this site over the next few years but is it possible to create a site up to, say the standards of something like Digg.com or myspace using dreamweaver?

You can learn Photoshop of Adobe Fireworks, then use Dreamweaver, (using html, css) is pretty easy :)

thanks guys, im going to be staring a course next month that teaches XHTML and CSS aswell as photoshop and fireworks. Its an adobe certified course so im hoping its good, they then have a follow up course covering PHP and MYSQL each course is 17 weeks, monday to friday so im sure ill come out knowing a great deal more then i do now.

Aristeer is a great program to design your own website

It's a great skill to learn even if your going to do it for your own needs, for enjoyment or just to help people out liek your uncle.

Since you'll probably be doing some designing as well, learning photoshop is a big plus. If you can learn that front to back, that will help you a ton in designing.

As for the coding side of things, as noted above, HTML is a must, that's the most basic you'll get and if you want to stay current, learn the xhtml. Once you got those down, learning CSS is definitely nice if you want to write your own CSS files, or even edit stuff such as your message boards. PHP is a cool one to learn as it allows you to do tons of stuff, allowing more interactive websites. Also learning mySQL, as noted already, is a good idea as well. But if anything, you must learn the HTML/xHTML part since that's a must.

Goodluck!

Learn HTML, play with notepad.exe to create web content, and go from there. Good luck!

-mike