Questions about Web Development

[Techteen14]

So, I'd like to start designing/developing (I know there's a difference, I can do both) web pages, as I really enjoy doing that (with Weebly, LOL) and might even persue it as a career.

Besides the obvious HTML, CSS and Javascript, what languages should I learn? jQuery? PHP?

Also, would you recommend Codecademy, or another site for learning those languages?

I already have a web development "job" coming up, but it's REALLY easy. It's making a Weebly site for a local bike group that my dad is a part of that basically links to all the other preexisting websites owned by bike shops in my area. My only concern are maps (which they also want), would I need to use the Google Maps API (which I'd be fine with learning), or does Weebly have that built in? Is it even possible with something as low-powered as Weebly?

Thanks!

[Extingquish]

So, I'd like to start designing/developing (I know there's a difference, I can do both) web pages, as I really enjoy doing that (with Weebly, LOL) and might even persue it as a career.

Besides the obvious HTML, CSS and Javascript, what languages should I learn? jQuery? PHP?

I already have a web development "job" coming up, but it's REALLY easy. It's making a Weebly site for a local bike group that my dad is a part of that basically links to all the other preexisting websites owned by bike shops in my area. My only concern are maps (which they also want), would I need to use the Google Maps API (which I'd be fine with learning), or does Weebly have that built in? Is it even possible with something as low-powered as Weebly?

Thanks!

I'm not the person to talk to about web development/designing, but PHP is really good to learn AFAIK

[Guest]

jQuery is a library written in JavaScript. It provides additional functionality to JS but is not a whole new language. It is universally used and so is extremely good to be familiar with. You should have a good JS foundation first, though.

 

If you think you want to get into server side stuff, PHP would be a good language to learn; it is very popular. Along with that, you should try to pick up at least some basic SQL, as having an application talking to a database happens often. Alternatively, check out Python, Ruby, or even Java.

 

You might consider getting into a CMS or two, such as WordPress and/or Drupal. Working with either of these platforms will require knowledge of HTML/CSS/JS/PHP. With a CMS it is very easy to create impressive, dynamic websites. And you can potentially make a lot of money specializing in a CMS, as there are not as many people who know what they are doing in these areas; it'll give you an edge over other self-professed web developers.

 

Learn how to set up and run a webserver, preferably in a unix environment. You may have heard of a "LAMP" stack, this refers to Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP. WAMPP makes for an easy start on windows, or MAMP on a Mac.

 

Regardless of what technologies you want to dabble in, it is always good to use a version control system like git, and maintain repositories with an online service like Github or Bitbucket. Version control is always nice to keep track of changes and avoid losing your work. And it gives you a place to share and show off code that you've written, especially to prospective employers.

[Hazy125]

Until you start using AJAX(Which is sort of like refreshing only part of a page- Kinda like you see Facebook like counters being updated on the fly) you won't need to worry about Jquery, everything else is easy enough to do with plain Javascript and CSS. In fact, CSS transitions and animations are almost always smoother than Jquery ones, especially on low resource devies. You can also do AJAX with plain javascript as well, but to be honest, it's simply easier and better to use Jquery for it.

 

You also will need a server side programming language, javascript is client side, so the program gets executed on the clients computer, but you will also need a language server side. This will do a variety of things. Chiefly and immediately, it will modify your HTML and serve dynamic content. You also need to use it to handle the backend of AJAX requests Javascript sends the request to a PHP file, which returns a response. An example of AJAX as well as dynamic content can be seen here: hazy125.com/tech/pages/videos.php Click the random video button, you'll note that it refreshes the video without actually refreshing the page.

 

For the server side, definitely just go wit PHP. You can go down the ASP route, but it's more expensive to host and less people use it, so there's less support available- Although there's still plenty.

 

For you weebly questions, I have no clue... At all, besides almost making half a squarespace site once, I've never used a website builder before

[Guest]

Until you start using AJAX(Which is sort of like refreshing only part of a page- Kinda like you see Facebook like counters being updated on the fly) you won't need to worry about Jquery, everything else is easy enough to do with plain Javascript and CSS. In fact, CSS transitions and animations are almost always smoother than Jquery ones, especially on low resource devies. You can also do AJAX with plain javascript as well, but to be honest, it's simply easier and better to use Jquery for it.

 

Given the inconsistencies of CSS and JS across different browsers and versions of browsers, it is worth using jQuery just as a polyfill.

[Hazy125]

Given the inconsistencies of CSS and JS across different browsers and versions of browsers, it is worth using jQuery just as a polyfill.

Good point, it's still something like 8%, from memory, of browsers that still don't really handle that sort of thing

[Guest]

Good point, it's still something like 8%, from memory, of browsers that still don't really handle that sort of thing

 

I'm not talking about just internet explorer.

[Hazy125]

I'm not talking about just internet explorer.

IE accounts for 6%...

[Guest]

IE accounts for 6%...

 

 

Do we really need to have this argument? Every source for this kind of information says that is not an accurate number.

[Techteen14]

Thank you all for the suggestions, I'll make notes of them. I'm keeping a list of all web development-related stuff in a Evernote note.

[Guest]

Thank you all for the suggestions, I'll make notes of them. I'm keeping a list of all web development-related stuff in a Evernote note.

 

For your perusal:

 

http://www.elated.com/

http://eloquentjavascript.net/

http://tympanus.net/codrops/

http://code.tutsplus.com/

http://alistapart.com/

http://www.webmonkey.com/

http://css-tricks.com/

http://www.sitepoint.com/

http://www.w3schools.com/

 

http://www.howtocreate.co.uk/tutorials/javascript/

http://red-team-design.com/making-html-dropdowns-not-suck/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/11/05/writing-fast-memory-efficient-javascript/

http://developer.nokia.com/community/wiki/JavaScript_Performance_Best_Practices

http://jsperf.com/this-vs-cached-this

http://jrgns.net/redirect_request_to_index/

http://php-html.net/tutorials/model-view-controller-in-php/

http://anantgarg.com/2009/03/13/write-your-own-php-mvc-framework-part-1/

http://www.iceteks.com/articles.php/phpcms/1

http://css-tricks.com/php-for-beginners-building-your-first-simple-cms/

http://marcgrabanski.com/create-blog-from-scratch/

http://www.sitepoint.com/the-mvc-pattern-and-php-1/

http://girlswhogeek.com/category/tutorials/build-a-blog/page/3

http://tinsology.net/2009/06/creating-a-secure-login-system-the-right-way/

http://www.sitepoint.com/php-security-blunders/

[Techteen14]

snip

Thanks for the resources, they are GREATLY appriciated!

On another note, what do you guys think of the Polymer Project? I think it's really cool and modern.