New Beginner...how do I get started?

[A Batiste]

Hi all,

I'm wanting to get into web design/web development. Can anyone tell me where I should start? Which programming languages should I learn. Should I use wordpress? I want to create nice websites, so I don't mind putting in the work to ensure I offer good, quality services.

[mlseim]

Tough question.

To develop sites takes experience in so many areas ... client-side and server-side scripting.
Databases, page layouts, browser compatibility, desktop vs mobile applications.

You can install a WordPress site, play around with templates, add-ons, modules, etc.
But that won't teach you PHP/MySQL.

I don't know how to answer it.

[lein]

Hi all,

I'm wanting to get into web design/web development. Can anyone tell me where I should start? Which programming languages should I learn. Should I use wordpress? I want to create nice websites, so I don't mind putting in the work to ensure I offer good, quality services.

Have a look at http://w3schools.com it has everything to get you started in web design/development! They have step-by-step lessons on all things web, and start from the basics!

If you are just starting, I would recommend you learn HTML & CSS first!!
These two are a must to learn, and you will need to understand these to help you understand other web languages. No doubt, you will use these two in every web project you do!

HTML is a 'markup' language, it tags all the content of your website (ie. What is a header, what is a paragraph, what is a image etc.) CSS styles all these HTML tags (ie. tag H1 'Heading' to be 24px font-size and black in color etc.)

PHP is a really powerful program language for web based stuff. WordPress is built with PHP, for example, and uses a MySQL Database to store the content. PHP can dynamically build up webpages through scripts you write, this means it can update itself, so to speak. You need to know HTML before learning PHP though.

JavaScript is a scripting language that basically can animate HTML & CSS, eg. Fade a color from Red to Green, or move an Image from the left to the right etc. You will need to know HTML & CSS before learning JavaScript.

Good Luck!