how can i become a web developer ?

[masterbat]

you know the one who codes , designs webpages .

so where should i start ? what languages should i learn beside Html ?

help an uber noob

[shijo]

try lynda.com html video tutorial it is good
they have also php,java script tutorials

[helsing]

after html learn css, then javacript, then php and some database knowledge like mysql, and then post here after a few years when you master it.

[Snee]

Learn html, and css, those are the basics.

Learn JavaScript.

Continue by learning xml. And not just basic xmls, but xsl, xslt and xhtml.

Make sure you know what DTDs in html, xml and xhtml mean and are used for. Check out what the differences between different browsers and their DOMs mean for how javascripts work, and such.

Once you've dealt with that you can branch off depending on what you want to do, and what you want to do it with. Javascript is ok for simple DHTML, but once you want to start inputting stuff, and to be able to write pages you can alter from within the page itself, for instance, you'll need something that does its job server-side. Then you'll want to learn at least one of a bunch of possible ways to combine html/xhtml with another language. And at least something about some kind of server/web container, like tomcat or IIS, especially if you want to put the stuff on your own server.

You can learn asp (uses VB-script), asp.net (can use several possible languages and works through IIS, have used C# and a little VB.NET myself), php or jsp (uses java, works through tomcat), or any combination of them.

In combination with that you'll want to read up on a good database backend as well. There's a lot to choose from. Some sort of SQL-dialect and server to start with is probably a safe bet.

And you'll need at least basic knowledge on how to use something to edit images, photoshop or possibly gimp should work, 'cos you can't be sure you'll get images in perfect shape from whoever expects you to sort out the code.

To do things properly, you'll want to look into all major browsers, and probably have a bunch of them installed to test with.


EDit: I'm working as a webdev now (haven' been for all that long), and I know and have used most of what I described above.

The work I'm currently doing primarily requires mySql and ASP.NET, using C# myself. I have got an underling of sorts who uses VB.NET in ASP.NET, so I need to be able to help him with that as well.

Our ASP.NET uses xhtml, and an xhtml-dtd, so I need to know that from regular html, and some xml for the webconfig, as well. There will be javascripts as well, already got tasked with writing one for another site. I had to look into php (which I personally find to be a bit shit) on the other site as well. Also had to correct spelling and whatnot on images I was given for the design.

Jsp is really nice to work with, but it seems to be harder to find a good place to host it at, which is why I don't get to use it now. As for databases, I've currently gone for mysql 'cos it's not MS (got to pick it myself), might be using a linux-server for that.

[4play]

So what is a good place to actually learn all this stuff?

Is there any books / sites you recommend?
What kinda project would be good to take on to get experience?

In case you cant tell im pretty interested in this field but my experience is more on the database side of things.


</thread hijack>

[100%]

Great explanation snee.
takksamikka

[Cheeseman1208]

I've worked in the web design business as a part time job for around 3 years.

Learn HTML first. You need to build a solid foundation before moving on. Any of the "For Dummies" books are highly recommended, but really anything will do. Practice by building your own website.

Next, learn CSS. It shouldn't take you as long to learn, since I think it's easier. Once again, any "For Dummies" book will work.

The last thing I would learn is PHP. A really solid PHP programmer can make $3000 in a single project. But, you need a very strong HTML/CSS background before learning PHP. You will want to read a "For Dummies" book, as well as tons of extra scripting examples.

Once you've mastered all of these, then I would recommend doing simple jobs from freelancing sites (like rentacoder.com or getafreelancer.com). Just get a feel for how things work, pricing, FTP's, etc.

Good luck man.

[Snee]

So what is a good place to actually learn all this stuff?

Is there any books / sites you recommend?
What kinda project would be good to take on to get experience?

Like I said, I haven't been doing it for very long at all, so as for what sort of projects are good to get experience with, Barbie is prolly a much better choice, or possible the guy above.

What I described in the above post comes from talking with a lot of companies, from uni, from people in the business and from what I was taught. A lot of people seem to put a lot less emphasis on stuff like valid html, and DTDs, but that can screw you further along the line, when you have to make sure it works on more platforms, like.

What I can tell you is what earned me the job, which was what I'd studied at uni (and having the papers to prove what I know), coupled with a couple of work-samples in JSP, C# and DHTML. And obviously that I'd been doing a lot of .NET, that's fashionable right now, it seems, as is xml/xhtml.

I can't tell you what's the very best way of learning either, though I reckon classes at uni in combination with practical exercises during each course worked pretty well for it (coded all sorts of stuff, among other things I and another bloke wrote a ~discussion board from scratch in jsp). I learned a great deal from picking apart code others had written as well. I remember using this site, among a lot of others. ASP.NET in particular I've sort of been learning as I work with it, I only knew the very basics as I started (which wasn't even a month ago, though I know a hell of a lot more now), got lucky in that my employer really needed someone quickly and would accept that I'd learn it by doing it. Learning by doing has been great, although it's been relatively easy what with me knowing the separate languages that make up the ASP.NET I'm working with, and obviously, the more languages you learn, the easier the next gets to pick up.

As for literature I had Estrella's web wizard books for the basic stuff. A bit too shallow, I thought, but probably really good for total beginners. Website.
Source code for their examples (better than the books themselves).

This was the course material for the C#-course I took. At least one company I've been at used it as reference material as well. For Java I've got one from the same series I think, currently lending it out.

Can't really remember what books I used for JSP, mostly used a compendium that was published locally for my uni.


EDit: the best programmers I know IRL (One's a highly sought after consultant, like, the other's just brilliant (better than the first), do a bit of coding for fun every day. The second bloke writes bits of code to do just about anything, if he's to write a shopping-list, he's likely to write an application just for that.)

EDit: Good for basic stuff. Good for html-validation.

[masterbat]

thanks a lot snee and cheeseman .

bookmarked this thread

i think i will start with the w3schools tutorial