What should I learn first?

You can do nothing with CSS alone, you have to learn xHTML (the "modern" HTML) first.

I advise you to learn it at w3schools.com

 

The ironic thing about the whole HTML standards is that xHTML was brought in to standardize the web, meaning websites could be displayed on mobile technologies and in other browsers with no differences.

Thanks IE for ruining another web dream.

 

Definitely start with HTML. Advance to PHP and its combination with HTML (very important). CSS is too easy to pay it too much attention.

 

I learned web design and development in this order:

html > css > javascript > php > xml/xsl > ajax

It really depends on what you want to learn and what you're planning to do with your knowledge....

You can go:

html > css > javascript > .NET

or you can go:

html > css > javascript > Flash

It's all up to you...

 

myndconsulting ++ those are good orders.

Though some people like jbrooksuk learn Javascript first. That can't hurt anything, it just means you'd know how to use scripts to interact with a web page before you know how to build a good web page yourself (or, if you're lucky, you've learned the basics of Good Programming too and many of those ideas can be translated to HTML/CSS as well, even though those aren't programming languages).

 

Ajax is javascript+xml so this is redundant.

God no! .NET is NOT a language but a Windows framework and the languages of .NET are limited to Windows and its output is typically poor.

 

What does that mean, .NET is restricted to Windows? Do you mean, runs only on Windows servers? As a website visitor, do I care? So long as the site runs on my preferred, non-IE browser...

?

Though it does seem to make sense to learn the X of ajax after having some understanding of XML, doesn't it?

I'm learning Javascript right now and haven't touched anything to do with JSON or XML yet. You're right, AJAX isn't some separate technology, but it's a pretty specific part of JS wouldn't you agree?

PS you know that "Get the Facts" sheet at MS? The one that compares IE8 with other browsers? Do you know where I can get that as a slick poster? I want to hang it up at my work really, really badly. : )

 

I think there are open source interpreters for C# in Linux, not sure how good they are though. Plus PHP had a pretty poor Windows integration for quite some time didn't it? Of course, it is supported very well in Windows now but that's relatively a new thing.

And please, poor output? Take for example C#, I am quite confident it is one of the best OOP languages out there at the moment. It adheres to all OOP principles and best standards and Visual Studio is just awesome, definitely the best IDE out there - it almost reads programmers mind. That's coming from a long-time PHP and especially Zend programmer (over 5 years total, at least the last one professionally).

 

everybody's right. html, css, then any languange you want to focus. basic php is vital. most CMS(like joomla) and blog template like wordpress use php. good luck!

ps:nice to meet you guys! i'm new here.

 

exactly I affirmitavely believe you, as its said very true... without HTML a person cant jump to PHP and HTML is important part of Web designing. CSS is too easy its just for the formatting and styles!!

 

Who doesn't? (actual question) Even Perl5 does (better with Moose though). Python has OO built in from the beginning, as does Perl6, and as far as I know Ruby also.

As for the IDE, I can't say much. Though I have high hopes for Padre which has other language support planned for it, though emphasis is on Perl and specifically Perl 6 (there will be a release of Rakudo this coming spring, 2010, so that people can actually write for it, and send feedback).
Padre isn't finished, but it is supposed to look deceptively simple (for those who are, say, Java programmers, using say their own IDE like Eclipse or whatever, and use Notepad to write anything else) with a ton of functionality underneath for when you need it.

Lawlz, that went pretty off-topic.

For those saying CSS is easy: it sure seems that way, until you actually try to really use it : )

 

Get a book on HTML, I tell new users about the visual quickstart guides, you can actually see how the code is used and very good explanations are given. After you read the book, get yourself a good html editor, for ease of use. Some of us can still code in notepad in our sleep, but it's very very time consuming, and time is money.
The good editors, arguably (and I'm not arguing as to which is best because I use both for different features), are Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. Get the latest version of whichever you choose. Play with templates, learn how code is supposed to look, then you can start creating some really good looking pages from scratch. Last but not least, find a free service or just pay for hosting, it's actually rather cheap these days. Upload your pages and see the differences between how they look on your computer to how they look in your web browser. The more you play with it the more you learn.

 

Great first post ronjester, I totally agree

 

There is no latest version of Frontpage. That abomination has been extinct for some time now. However, there's a sort of new incarnation of it, with a completely different name, Expression Web.

I'd argue for a pure text editor myself, as I think wysiwyg's hinder the new learner instead of help. They can be very helpful to an experienced coder who wants shortcuts and stuff done for them from within the editor itself (such as FTP).

 

HTML first then CSS or you can learn them together. They are both easy and should take only a few hours. You cant use css w/o html.

 

HTML is not becoming obsolete. It is the basis of a website and is a must-know for any web designer/developer.

HTML and CSS go hand in hand. I would learn in this order:

1) HTML
2) CSS
3) PHP

Good luck!

 

I think you have to learn HTML.

 

exactly what I was thinking. That's how I started learning it.