Post: #1

Hey everyone,

I've been making a massive amount of headway in this lately so I figured I'd share. I've been going though the W3 web tutorials on html5, css3, sql and js whenever I have nothing else to do. Just wanted to let anyone who's trying to spin up on web knowledge that it's some pretty effective stuff. It's got a great layout and is pretty easy to understand.

I've been doing it in short bursts but after nearly a year I've spent maybe 80-100 total hours on it and retained everything pretty well. I've been seeing some good results too, just whipped up some simple layouts with buttons and php arrays. Nothing pretty but still pretty cool considering it's the only training I've had on it.

Most web designers I know don't actually get w3 certified but they've also been into it since myspace/friendster/livejournal. It's been a fun hobby so far and doesn't cost a damn thing which is great. If I keep up this learning rate I can probably be selling services (maybe to just friends and family, but heck I'll take that) within 18 months.

Not to shabby for a part time, free hobby.

Post: #2

Here's another good website to check out. Just dropping it
https://www.udacity.com/

Post: #3

I had learned html "table" coding (and design) 15 years ago by myself, no tutorials read. The key is to check stuff like awwwards daily, read the source of those dynamic websites, analyse, copy, paste, edit -- you'll be web design master by the end of the decade, haha. Maybe even sooner!

Post: #4

Going through a hardcopy guide for html and css3 by hyslop and castro, very readable for such a dry subject. Figured it is about time to add some basic programming skills to my repertoire. Surprised by how easy it is, but also, how MUCH of it there is to learn.
Will try the w3 tutorials down the line, thanks.

Post: #5

I know we have some employed programmers here, what do you guys think about code academy? Is it a good free resource or not worth doing?

Post: #6

If by w3, you mean w3schools, I would not recommend paying for any services or certifications they offer. More experienced devs tend to look upon that site with disdain, for various and good reasons, and their certifications probably won't be worth much.

When googling around for web concepts, they tend to be the first results. The way to avoid this, and find good information, is to prepend "mdn" to your search query. This will give you results from the Mozilla Developers' Network, a very good resource.

For example, the first google result for "mdn html" is https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML

Use that, it's awesome.

A great course on web development is this one from udemy:
https://www.udemy.com/how-to-become-a-we...m-scratch/


When I signed up for it, it was free (or else I wouldn't have), but it is currently priced at $199. I think that's a decent price if someone is new to the field and serious about pursuing it, but there are so many free resources out there that I can't definitely recommend spending that money. The course is solid, though.

Once you have the basics of html down (which doesn't take long), you'll want to know about html5. Again, MDN is a fantastic resource for this. Also, HTML5 Rocks has excellent tutorials on lots of different topics. I've used them extensively to learn about the newer APIs, and even used some of their tutorial code in an application. Dive into HTML5 is an online book which introduces the subject really well. Definitely give it a read to get an overview of the landscape.

Continuing learning about front-end development requires CSS, CSS3, and Javascript. The MDN material is your friend for these, but there are some additional javascript resources which are quite good.

Eloquent Javascript is a free online book which teaches the basics of the language in a very accessible way. Some of the exercises will make you think, and force you to learn important concepts like recursion and functional programming by working them out. Highly recommended.

Programming Javascript Applications is a more advanced book by Eric Elliot, who will be offering rather expensive courses on the subject soon. He's on a mission to fight homelessness by teaching marketable programming skills, which I think is a good mission. Regardless, the book is very good, and available free online at that link.

If you want a roadmap to learning javascript, you can't go wrong with this one:
http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn...-properly/
Very comprehensive, and sends you to codeacademy to work through the basic material to bring you up to speed. Following this will give you a good grounding in js and jquery in 6 weeks. Of the books it recommends, I have only looked at (an older edition of) The Definitive Guide, and it is a good one. A wise man could find it much cheaper than O'Reilly is selling it.

For backend development, I like django, flask, or express. Can't recommend a good php resource, as I try to avoid it. I haven't spent much time with ruby, but the Odin Project, in addition to having a cool name, claims to be able to make a web dev out of you in six months, using ruby on rails.

Have fun.

EDIT: the javascriptissexy roadmap I linked above will try to get you to buy the WebStorm IDE. It's up to you if you want to do that, but I have never found it necessary to pay for a text editor, when there are so many excellent free options out there.

Post: #7

Here is a story of one guy who, with a grasp of HTML and a side interest in trivia, quit his job once he started making 60K/yr from it.
No ads, subscription based. Also using the 'scarcity principle' we learned in Marketing 101: invitation only, each member can invite four people a YEAR.

Post: #8

There's a great thread on this forum by frenchcorporation about becoming a python developer from scratch. The programming language you want to do might vary, but you can slot in different resources for each of the steps and do an approximate training if you want to learn java or ruby instead of python.

It's a great thread that really works. You can go from 0 knowledge to being at a professional level in a really short time.

Post: #9

@JackDavey
Hey, thanks for the info. Replies like that make this forum stand out man, I really appreciate it.

Just higher-consciousness men here in general...thanks for the help so far everyone.

Post: #10

(08-19-2014 09:18 AM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  Hey everyone,

I've been making a massive amount of headway in this lately so I figured I'd share. I've been going though the W3 web tutorials on html5, css3, sql and js whenever I have nothing else to do. Just wanted to let anyone who's trying to spin up on web knowledge that it's some pretty effective stuff. It's got a great layout and is pretty easy to understand.

I've been doing it in short bursts but after nearly a year I've spent maybe 80-100 total hours on it and retained everything pretty well. I've been seeing some good results too, just whipped up some simple layouts with buttons and php arrays. Nothing pretty but still pretty cool considering it's the only training I've had on it.

Most web designers I know don't actually get w3 certified but they've also been into it since myspace/friendster/livejournal. It's been a fun hobby so far and doesn't cost a damn thing which is great. If I keep up this learning rate I can probably be selling services (maybe to just friends and family, but heck I'll take that) within 18 months.

Not to shabby for a part time, free hobby.

Why not take a bunch of low-paying short term freelance jobs to make some money now?