Thread: How to learn HTML

Hi, I'm trying to learn HTML so that I can create my own website. My university gave me 100mb to use so I'm planning of using it. Does anyone have any books or websites they would recommend?

I would like to say http://www.w3schools.com/, but they are down at the moment. If I remember correctly they might be a bit on the technical side, good for reference after you master the basics.

Many people use publishing software, but if I understand you correctly you want to learn HTML so that you can script by hand and analyze website sources, do I understand you correctly?

Yeah, I want to learn to script by hand rather than using a software because I feel that if I made a website using a script I wrote myself then it really would have came from my own ingenuity, personality, and work.

Perhaps I should also mention that I have no real background in programming or coding but I really want to learn. In particular, I want to learn to write my own website (since I've been given 100mb hosting) and learn to write in LaTeX (since I'm going to be a science major, but apparently my university has a class that I'm require to take for that)

It's a good start. But serious guides and tutorials will cost you some money. Or, are you apart of Bitspyder? They provide excellent ebooks and lynda.com guides. I would highly recommend it, I am refreshing my php knowledge from there right now. If you want I can give you an invite. At the moment I cannot think of any other online sources. There is Biteme, but might be harder to get into to.

Yeah I have both those trackers luckily but even more luckily, I've found a site called gigapedia which has been amazing!!
Is there a particular ebook that you would recommend?

Also, what's learning a computer language for the 1st time like?

Learning a computer language is fun and exciting, especially when you can get immediate results to see.

It might take a while to get used to the grammar and syntax of the language though, just use babysteps and patience. The saying is true, Rome wasn't built in one day.

Edit: Also, you might find that using Notepad for writing HTML is nice, but there are other editors available that are more helpful, making it easier to spot errors. One of the neighboring threads here recommended Notepad++, I havn't tried it myself, but I've heard good about it.

I really can't wait until that site is back up and running!!!

Could I ask what stuff like mySQL, php, asp are?

Ohh thanks for the top about editors, I think I'll be using gedit which comes default on ubuntu.

Of course, MySQL is a database used to store data entries. I've used it a couple of times, but havn't really found a good place for it in my rather small programming escapades. You usually run into it while using forum software that use it to store all data.

PHP and Asp are programming languages usually used to generate HTML code dynamically. You will run into these if you are trying to make a web page with easily changeable content, or a page that need to store data for some reason.

No problem about the editor, I didn't know that operating system you were using so I assumed Windows. gedit will probably work out just fine (do not ask old programmers if you should use Vi or Emacs ;-))

What I'd recommend, which is also the way I learnt html, is using a wysiwyg editor whilst regularily examinig the code. Once you feel comfortable with the basic html features, you can start participating in tutorials to deepen your knowledge. Make your own webpage(s)! Practice makes perfect :)

Also, if you see something you like on a webpage, such as an interesting use of layers, a javascript pop-up menu or whatever, right-click, save the source, examine the code and try to reuse/modify it.

Html has advanced alot since I learned it, css has gotten more complex and powerful. This is certainly a feature that should be learned via tutorials, however not before learning the basics!

After that the next step is advancing to scripting languages that dynamily generate the html code. PHP, ASP, JSP or whatever. This is the most basic form of programming and if you enjoy HTML, then it's the logical next step :)

Tutorials: There's more than enough online. Free ones and all. Definitely don't spend any money on this.