Do you want to become a Web Developer/Designer?

(pdf download) 2009-06-01 18:45:50

There are many new Web Developers/Designers out there who do not know where to start. It is difficult to find a good starting ground; Server-side, client-side. Even these two categories then break down further into multiple languages and it is impossible to learn all at once and in trying to do so could make you a Jack of all trades and a Master of none.

I suggest and highly recommend starting off client-side. Within the client-side section it then breaks down again. Learn these languages in order, however they may be overlaps - which is fine. (x)html, css. With html being coded to W3C standards and Cross-browser compatible - the browsers you support are at your own disgression, however I do suggest the main browsers (IE7, IE8, Google Chrome, FireFox2, FireFox3, Opera, Safari)

I then suggest switching to server-side coding: PHP, MySQL. These languages are more complex then the client-side languages mentioned above. So do not be surprised if they take longer to learn. Each language will take different amounts to learn, so do not try and compare timescales.

PHP breaks down into two main categories: procedural and object orientated (OO/OOP). Learn procedural first, then move into functions. Once you are comfortable with that, start creating external objects and use them through your website/web application as required.

To rapidly increase your learning time in MySQL I suggest using phpMyAdmin to help you generate databases and tables. Once you have some breathing space, I suggest going back and learning what is actually happening - do not rely on phpMyAdmin.

Back to PHP, the next step would be to use a PHP FrameWork. I am not going to discuss the pros and cons of each here. The first few times you use the PHP FrameWork you will find it very difficult and awkard. Perservere...after a couple of months, a few projects later, a couple more grey hairs you will really see the benefits.

Now with the above under your belt you will be able to make a good web application. It is time to add the bells and whistles. As you probably noticed I have not mentioned Javascript anywhere yet, and I am not going to either. I can not express enough that jQuery library/framework is best used to do all your javascript/dhtml/ajax functionality. You are probably worried now that I have mentioned another framework, it is no way as difficult as the PHP framework. Using the jQuery FrameWork you will have your website animating within the first few hours of trying it.