Ever wondered what goes into a website?
Ever clicked “View Source” on a website and thought “this is madness!”? Lets take a look at these basic skills that you will need in order to be an effective web developer.
HTML
The most basic skill required to be a web developer is HTML. This is a basic Markup language that can be learned swiftly and easily. If you are looking to take the first step or would just like to brush up on your skillset then this is the place to start!
Take a look at some of what HTML5 can do when pushed to the limits:
www.kongregate.com/html5-games
Even just a basic understanding of HTML5 without using the more advanced features such as the canvas (which requires an understanding of javascript) will allow you to piece together just about any layout for your future projects!
To brush up on your HTML5 check out: W3schools
CSS
The second skill after knowing HTML is CSS or Cascading Style Sheets. This adds styling to your projects layout, Think of this as what brings a project to life by adding colours, styles and moving the layout to work in the way you intended.
CSS has the ability to fully control HTML layouts and even completely change the default behaviour of HTML pages. If you want a website or project that looks as fancy as you can design in photoshop then this skill is absolutely essential! for a full tutorial check out www.w3schools.com/css
Javascript
For those of us who imagine a website that is interactive and would like to bring that to life, Javascript is a must!
unlike HTML or CSS this is the first real programming language in this list.
Javascript is also the most oddball language of them all and is also a personal favourite! Do you like the idea of having a website respond and seeming intelligent while still running amazingly fast? Javascript, in the hands of a capable developer can deliver just that!
Once you have learned HTML you will notice that projects / websites are not interactive – clicking on a button for instance will result in nothing.In order to add responses to events like clicking on buttons and any other interactive elements you can imagine, all the way to creating web based games – Javascript is the language to learn.
You may of course learn jQuery to make things a little easier but we would recommend a solid foundation in Javascript before doing so. The reason for this is that jQuery is a library for Javascript. This means that jQuery was created using Javascript and can be used in conjunction with it. to get to grips with the basics you can check out: www.w3schools.com/js
PHP & MySql (or Equivalent)
This is the final step in creating a truly intelligent website that can respond to events and store, collect and dish out information to users.
Want to add sign up functionality to your website and have it store user information? PHP & MySql are essential. PHP will collect the data from your website and store it into a MySql database where it is then saved and can later be viewed, edited or deleted.
A word to remember for any web application is CRUD – Create, Read, Update, Delete. This is exactly what PHP & MySql offer. The ability to store data of any kind, Read that data, Update the data or Delete the data. For an example of this in action check out Facebook! When you sign up, PHP collects your data and stores it in some sort of database (mySql or otherwise). Everytime you log in your information is retrieved from the Database via PHP and displayed back to you and everyone else on facebook. I’m sure you can think of at least a million uses for these technologies right off the bat for your own projects! learn the basics here:
Content Management Systems (CMS)
If you are developing a basic website and you already know HTML, CSS & Javascript then you have all the basic skills to use a Content Management System.
Learning PHP would be a major advantage but is not necessary to work using a CMS.
Popular CMS systems such as WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are available at no cost! you simply download upload them to your web server and off you go! we would recommend WordPress and you can get it here: www.wordpress.com
Frameworks
So you have learned all the above skills and are wondering how to speed up development? how to cut down on millions of lines of code and organize your projects more efficiently? By using a framework of course! Modern web frameworks operate using a pattern known as MVC – Model, View, Controller.
To really understand this concept we recommend watching this course by Jeffrey Way:
www.code.tutsplus.com/courses/the-mvc-mindset
For a super easy starter framework you can dive into Codeigniter – while being slightly dated it still is the easiest to get up and running and start using right away!
