Hello, I am a college student in a web design class. I already know a little about HTML5 but not a lot. In the class we are going to be using HTML and css coding and have to mainly manually type it up. I was wondering, do you have an tips for a beginner like me? And how long did it take for you to become well/efficient at coding. Thanks a bunch for reading and I hope to get a few responses. - Bethany
It doesn't take long. I use an editor called Sublime Text 2 which gives you hints when you are going wrong. If you follow your lectures and do the practice exercises you should find it all very easy. The tricky stuff is doing good, accessible design - the actual code just supports those design decisions.
The first tip would be to always check what your tutors teach you. Most college/high-level courses teach garbage. Using tools and frameworks that does nothing to make you understand the concept and workings of HTML. The first thing you need to understand that HTML is a structure - the structure is fairly rigid, and as soon as you understand the structure, and the building blocks, you will understand how to set up a HTML-site. What you DO with that HTML, and how it looks to different users / browsers, is controlled with CSS first and foremost, and then a little bit with javascript. A lot of the new fangled ideas behind HTML 5 is mostly bullshit - unnecessary elements added, which does nothing to help the basic tenents of HTML and CSS - split structure and visualisation. While most of HTML elements have specific looks among most browsers, this look is NOT something you can rely on - and you should NEVER choose an element based on its default appearance. That will in 99% of instances be wrong, structurally. There are a good deal of good teachings here on this forum, if you read up on the posts by @deathshadow - he's crude, and blunt, but what he says about HTML, CSS and javascript are all good things to take to heart.
However when you submit work for marking it would pay to take note of the things they'll be looking for, even if they are garbage, because you want to pass.
youtube on this can be your friend. Lot of great videos on how to and so on. I you want a great tool for a beginner look at getting dreamweaver from adobe. Your school should be able to get you a discount on a copy of it.
Not really, I'd say it is a way to get a "quick and dirty" job done. I'd hate to see a student using the code it produces as a "best case scenario" and learn from it assuming it's quality and industry standard.
That is not a great tool for a beginner. Or for anyone, for that matter. Dreamweaver is hopelessly outdated, the preview-function is completely useless, and it does nothing that a decent text-editor can't do for you, easier. Nor does a decent text editor cost anything at all. You test your code in browsers (all of them) to see if everything works as you intended. Dreamweaver provides not one single functionality that helps a student learn. At best, it provides bad code (which seemingly works), teaching the student the wrong thing, at worst it uses completely outdated techniques, teaching the student that that is the way to do things, when it's basically the completely wrong thing to do. It has absolutely no benefits whatsoever, and it even cost money - don't use it, don't download it, don't do anything with it - apart from deleting it from your computer as fast as possible. If you want a good editor, look into Notepad++ or Sublime Text (the latter is payware, but the only thing you'll see if you don't pay is a pop-up nag screen from time to time when you save - every 15-20 saves or so).
You have got to be kidding! Right? You are kidding, aren't you? By the time you know enough html, css and javascript to be able to clean up the messes DW makes, you know enough to know better than waste your time or money on it. @Bethy, As the others have mentioned, all you absolutely need to write web pages is a plain text editor. There are a number of powerful, free editors just waiting to go to work for you. Look for several that have the features you want. Use each until you find one that 'feels' right. Don't get distracted by bells and whistles, the 'Ooh, pretty' syndrome. Look for powerful text processing features first, condicio sine qua non, then the optional stuff like hints (as Sarah likes, and I don't), color hi-liting (which @deathshadow hates and I have reduced the color palette to a few subdued shades) and language syntax aware formatting (a critical feature for debugging and maintenance, IMNSHO). As you've received a couple of good recommendations already, no, not Dreamweaver, I'll add mine: I use Emacs. Some say it has a steep learning curve; it does not. It has the same menu components you're probably used to clicking already. You only need to learn as much as you use, not the whole damn thing at one sitting. Others bitch about the 'cryptic' key bindings; key bindings are cryptic by definition. Keeping hands on the keyboard avoid breaking the typing rhythm by reaching for the mouse or other pointing device. If you want to work faster, you will learn your editor's key bindings. MSWord has more than 250 cryptic key bindings. :shrug: Pick your editor and have at it. gary
Thanks for all the replies. Don't worry guys, I already know to not to use dreamweaver. We are learning coding manually any ways and fancy expensive products don't really have my interest.