
How did you first learn HTML, CSS, and/or JS? - karolisd
What was your journey into front-end development like? Is there a specific book or website that stands out in your memory?
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shanelja
I began my journey on the W3CSchools website, a Google search for "HTML
tutorials" lead me there rather quickly and it's simple to understand format
had me on my feet in no time, I was using <p> and <table> tags within 5
minutes.

After a few hours I began to get bored and wanted to create some really nice
designs so I downloaded Dreamweaver, I had heard great things about the
software and after torrenting it on thepiratebay along with an activation key
which worked I began my journey in to the grand clusterfuck which is a
beginner designer using Dreamweaver.

I began to output some quality design (or so I thought) and despite the fact
that everything was black and white on my website, I was proud of it and began
to show all my friends (I was about 14 at the time) what I could do!

After that I searched for "Best web design" (again using Google) and realized
that, to be fair, I was quite crap. I practiced and practiced, learning CSS in
the process (also on the W3CSchools website) and soon enough, there was colour
and cool looking styles popping up all over the place, my website looked like
a blind clown trying to put on its makeup over a heavily tattooed face.

To be honest though, looking back after 5 years I can honestly say that it
wasn't W3CSchools (who I still credit with supplying me with the base
knowledge I needed) who made me the designer I am today (though to be honest,
I'm much more proficient in the back end) it was time and iteration. Almost no
one starts out with all the skill they require and I was certainly no
wunderkind, it was the 3,000 terrible websites I built before the one I built
last night (which in 30 more websites time, I will look back on as a horrific
disaster of colour and style, no doubt.)

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fmilne
Had a two term multimedia class in high school. One half of the class was
learning Flash timeline animation and the other was HTML / CSS. The professor
had us start in notepad before jumping into FrontPage or Dreamweaver. My first
major project was to redesign the schools website. After that, I kept
tinkering with personal projects, picking apart bigger websites and eventually
I pursued a CS degree.

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krapp
I taught myself while trying to build my own website. Just plain old notepad
and long hours of suffering, or in geocities or tripod. When Tripod started
offering perl I even taught myself enough to build the worst forum ever.

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AtTheLast
I started with Dreamweaver back in the day. It was nice because you could
switch between code view and design view. Also I created a really crappy music
review site and used that project to help me learn html/css.

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daenney
Ashamed to say this, but Microsoft FrontPage, when it comes to HTML and CSS.
That how I started to understand what the markup of the web was and after a
while ditched FrontPage for Notepad and took it from there.

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CallMeV
I first learned about HTML by studying the tags in web page source codes in
college. This was not part of the curriculum: I was picking up the skill off
my own bat.

Likewise for Javascript and CSS (and basic use of forms and CGI); I first
learned about them by looking at inline scripts, and later learned how to
invoke external script files. I was already out of uni when I began to learn
about them.

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gkarthik
I'm currently developing a social music discovery platform, Tune Patrol and I
work on the front end(HTML,JS,CSS) predominantly. From my experience, I feel
there isn't any specific book or instruction manual to follow. I've always
felt that learning code is a simple three step process, no matter which the
language.

1\. Understand the logic of basic commands that you will be using, for
example, in java script, event listeners is a pretty important concept.

2\. After reading the core concept briefly, have a run through the syntax.
Remember, you can always refer the syntax of a language, do not mug it up. The
syntax will come to you after some practice.

3\. Implement it practically. Make a personal website or simply start coding a
few plug ins. This is where the actual learning happens.

I've always followed this paradigm and its worked out okay for me so long.

Although for a few initial concepts, <http://www.w3schools.com> is pretty
good.

Also try reading Oreily books on Javascript, HTML5 and CSS. All their books
are of a good standard.

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saluki
I started out with the Oreily Head First HTML and CSS as a starting point.

<http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfhtml/>

Work through the examples using WAMP or MAMP and a text editor, using Firefox
to view your work, once you get the basics down learn how to use the Firebug
fire extension for Firefox to inspect your own work and other websites.

Once you finish the examples in the book build your own website or pick out a
project you want to build. You learn the most trying to build something new.
Then improve on it. "I want my site to do this or have this element."
StackOverflow.com is a great place to search for solutions, techniques. I like
Tizag.com as well for specific samples.

I also did a lot of tutorials on <http://net.tutsplus.com/>.

From there . . .

There is a Head First Javascript book you can work on after picking up some
HTML CSS skills.

And Head first jQuery would be the next step. jQuery is used on a lot of
websites and something you should learn.

(I didn't use those two books, I learned JS and jQuery from tutorials and
stackoverflow.com.)

From there I moved on to Head First PHP/mySQL to learn some server side
programming and database skills.

Along the way the key to learning is creating and editing websites for
yourself or projects that you need/want.

I progressed from websites to web applications to mobile websites and mobile
apps.

Wordpress is a skill you should pick up as well. There is a head first book
for that too.

I would recommend learning HTML, CSS, check out HTML5 and CSS3 as well,
Javascript, jQuery, jQuery Mobile (for mobile web sites), PHP, mySQL once you
have the basics of those start learning Ruby on Rails.

Good luck in 2013.

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RDDavies
Netscape Composer. Serious PTSD kicking in.

I'd do the Codecademt exercises, then pick up the Pragzprog book on HtML5/CSS3
if you were looking to start. Also, go through the official specs.

~~~
RDDavies
Wow, I'm horrid at typing on my phone sometimes.

What I meant was Codecademy: <http://www.codecademy.com/> And the Pragmatic
Programmer's Book on HTML5 and CSS3: <http://pragprog.com/book/bhh5/html5-and-
css3>

Official Specs: <http://www.w3.org/>

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mcartyem
What were some of the first things that ran through your mind when you first
started learning HTML, CSS, and/or JS?

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CallMeV
When I noticed that I would have to reference Web colours in RGB hex code, I
was glad I was already very familiar with hexadecimal code.

I greeted the discovery of external scripts for JS and CSS with joy, because I
knew how versatile those external scripts could become; I only needed to code
one particular style or JavaScript function or object once, in one file, and
use that code throughout the site; maintenance would be a breeze, too, because
I'd only have to update a given style or JS function, again, in one place.

So, to summarise, my first thought on becoming acquainted with HTML, CSS and
JS was "This is going to be so useful."

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smcguinness
Sam's Teach Yourself HTML in 24 hours

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mcrider
The (paper) manual to Netscape Navigator. Ran through some basic HTML and from
there I went on to more (paper) books and started a Geocities site.

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dotborg
CGI/Perl Cookbook

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kombinatorics
Looking through other people's code. Chromes/Safari's Inspect Element was my
teacher.

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abrkn
HotDog by Sausage Software

