I was chatting to an entrepeneur early this evening who has some really interesting ideas. He knows his business area very well. He’s familiar with his target market and he has managed to win recognition at various levels for his business acumen and marketing skills.
However, when it came to the slightly more technical aspects of his online business I realised that he was relying on 3rd parties to make even the “simplest” of changes to his website. Of course these changes were not free, so his potential profit was being eaten up as was his desire to “go with the flow” and make changes when he wanted to.
I wouldn’t pretend to be a developer or designer, but I do know enough HTML etc., to manage websites and make changes to scripts etc., to suit my needs.
How did I learn?
Trial and a lot of error 🙂
I’ve probably broken more HTML rules than I’ve ever been able to follow, but I did learn something along the way. I’d like to see other people embracing the web, but where can they start? You can’t sit them down in front of a computer and expect them to produce beautiful websites overnight.
You could say “Go to site X and look at the tutorials”. That may work for some people, but for a lot of people it simply won’t. A nice old-fashioned book is a much better alternative. So here’s a few that I think might make a good starting point. If anyone knows of better ones please feel free to let me know:
HTML for the World Wide Web with XHTML and CSS: Visual Quickstart Guide Susan Castro’s guide is written in clear, easy to understand English and walks you through most of the common HTML, XHTML and CSS tags and tricks you’ll need to get started producing websites
Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity – Jakob Nielsen may not be popular with some web designers and developers but a lot of what he says makes sense. The book is packed with clear examples of websites that work and ones that don’t.
Dreamweaver MX Bible – Dreamweaver seems to be one of the most popular software applications for many professionals. The problem with any software like this is that there are so many options and tools that you can use. The “bible” doesn’t presume that you are an expert, nor does it treat you like an idiot, and will give you a lot of useful tips to really get value out of your Dreamweaver license fees
PHP and MySQL Bible – So I like this series of books, what can I say?
I’ve probably forgotten something really obvious.. ..
Just remember – if you are going to play with a “live” site – make sure you have a backup 🙂
Trial and Error is most definitely the most thorough way of learning anything. I started off in CGI chatrooms, where any HTML written by the posters was displayed “un-escaped”. For a sixteen-year-old, then, HTML became a way of making your own comments look “cool”.
Unfortunately, there do not seem to be any of that style of chatroom anymore.
Books that I think are a definite MUST:
1. Danny Goodman’s DHTML: The Definitive Reference. This book has been around since the stone age, but it is just /so/ useful. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0596003161/104-1887255-9996769?n=283155
2. W3C HTML 4.01 Specification. Believe it or not, but I would sit up late at night in my dingy flat just off Dublin’s Sheriff Street, reading a printout of this leviathon: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/
3. The always interesting View Source. In Internet Explorer, “View > Source”. In everything else, it’s CTRL+U.
4. alt.html – for years, I would reply to tens of posts every day on this newsgroup. The regulars are terse and annoyed, and don’t tolerate sloppiness, so it’s a good place for boot camp (/after/ you’ve read the other books!).
5. Eric Meyer’s CSS books and tutorials. His website (http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/) is full of great information.
“3. The always interesting View Source. In Internet Explorer, “View > Source”. In everything else, it’s CTRL+U.”
I agree fully, its an absolutely vital tool to help understand HTML.
Yes – but you need to have some understanding of what you are looking at first 🙂
Then again I’m probably an old fogey by a lot of your standards, as I remember when THE browser was mosaic 🙂
…Mosaic started out in 1992… so your not that old!
Well I’m older than you! 🙂
that would’nt be hard! Your new forums are beginning to take off, congrats…. on plastering them with Adsense! 😉
Nothing wrong with a bit of experimentation 🙂
As I said in a post on there last night, I’ll probably be adding and removing features over the next while. Vbulletin rocks! 🙂