Web Development Books/Tutorials. Help Needed

[sashas]

I know absolutely nothing about web development. I don't even have a proper grasp of basic HTML.

But now I'm at a stage that I need to get into development. I'm in the process of closing a deal on a very nice generic .com and have some ideas for it.

I would be hiring a web development team since I plan to make this project quite big. But before I do that, I would need some tutorials and help on how web development basically works, what all languages are involved, how Hosting/servers work, how even hiring developers work.

If anybody knows some books/sites that offer a comprehensive guide to web development, it would be greatly appreciated. I don't need to get into in depth details, but I would at least want to know how things work and how the designer I hire is operating.

Thanks

[Acro]

Ah this is such a wide subject My advice: start by visiting your favorite local bookstore. There are plenty of books there, from novice to advanced. Avoid Amazon.com and other online stores - go to the bookstore and browse through the books. I prefer BooksAMillion or Barnes and Noble.

[sashas]

Thanks Acro. I know that would be a good way to go about it, but can anyone recommend any particular book?

[biggedon]

try www.w3schools.com - free site

full tutorials on all applications

including an onsite "try it yourself" html, css, xml editor's etc.

[draggar]

The Visual Quick Start Guides and Visual Quick Project Guides form PeachPit press are excellent.

I'd recommend (in order, depending on what you need to do):
HTML, XHTML, & CSS
PHP 6 & MySQL 5 (Larry Ullman does an excellent job)
CSS, DHTML, & Ajax

Plus others:
XML
PHP
MySQL
Javascript & Ajax
Perl / CGI
Adobe Flash CS3 Professional (Beginner and Advanced)
Adobe Dreamweaver CS3
Adobe PhotoShop CS3

Plus the visual quick project guides (excellent for very new beginners)
Creating a Web Site in Flash CS3
Creating a Web Site in DreamWeaver CS3
Creating a Web Site with Ajax

This is just the current books that I have, they have tons of others (Web Expression, Frontpage, even basic HTML). The most expensive book I have is PHP6 and MySQL5, it retails for $40 but most are under $25 (some under $20).

They're a great and inexpensive series to get if you're just learning or need to keep up.

[sashas]

thanks guys! draggar, thats really a nice and exhaustive list. I probably wouldn't be going into so much detail, but I could use all the knowledge I can gather.

Hopefully should be able to get the website up and running this year.

Thanks again.

[richrf]

Hi,

I agree that you should just go to a local bookstore. It's tough to say what is most suitable for you. Everyone is different.

I would recommend that to start you find a nice thin, not too elaborate book that discusses using HTML and CSS together, because nowadays it is difficult to discuss them seperately. Get a thin book, that is not too wordy (authors like to put a lot of superfluous stuff in their books to fill pages), and shows you the basics quickly.

If you intend to have a dynamic site, you will then you will probably have to pick up something that combines PHP with MySQL database. Here it gets tricky, since I have yet to see a nice concise book to describe this well. The books I have seen were quite poorly written, but you may find one that is suitable for you.

The parts fit together like this:

1) The MySQL database stores the data

2) The PHP script (or program) is used to retrieve and update the data

3) The HTML language is used to describe the way the data is presented on the screen.

4) The CSS template is used to describe the attributes of the screen presentation (e.g. header size, background color, margin size, fonts, etc.).

Once you piece this all together, you should be able to talk over your site with developers. One other thing. Usually you will find developers who are more skilled in the application logic part (Php and MySQL) and designers who are more skilled with the presentation and layout (HTML/CSS). Their efforts have to be coordinated since eventually all the pieces have to fit together. Don't design a template, for example, before you are sure that it can be supported by the application logic and vice-versa.

BTW, I think you are doing the right thing in trying to understand the development process. You really have to watch over the development, otherwise it can cost you a lot and you will end up with nothing.

Hope this helps.

Rich

[CaleyD]

I often recommend (and use) the SAMS Teach Yourself series of books. Partly because when people are learning this stuff for the first time they think it's a good idea to go out there and find the biggest, thickest book they can on a subject and end up overwhelming themselves with information they simply don't understand. The SAMS Teach Yourself Books are cleverly designed to take you through practical examples and slowly build up your knowledge and comfort levels....and because of the layout of the books you can quickly go back in the future and refresh your memory on individual aspects.

The "24 Hour" series is the beginners guide that takes you through 24 x 1 hour lessons that help you get a basic grasp and understanding of the subject.

The "21 Day" series is a more thorough teaching guide, these are also aimed at beginners but I've found some of them assume a certain level of "comfort" when it comes to programming.

The "All-in-One" series is aimed more at how to use various different things together like LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) to build dynamic sites.

The also have the "In a Snap" and "In 10 Minutes" Series' of books but these are intended more as pocket guides than tutorials.

Since your totally new then I would suggest picking up a couple of the "24 Hour" books on the some of the basic stuff mentioned above and see how you get on with that. If you find your picking stuff up fairly easily then you may want to start skipping to the "21 Day" Series for other topics and then moving on to the "All in One" when you get to the stage where you have enough of an understanding of each individual element and you want to start putting the bits of the jigsaw together.

The SAMS books often come with CD's with appropriate software...again using the LAMP as an example, the book comes with a copy of Apache, MySQL and PHP which you can install on your PC to save you having to work in an online environment....handy for having on the laptop so you can work away on things even when you don't have an internet connection.

[draggar]

thanks guys! draggar, thats really a nice and exhaustive list. I probably wouldn't be going into so much detail, but I could use all the knowledge I can gather.

Only start with the first three books, the first one for web sites, the second one for database integration, advanced web sites (PHP isn't just for databse integration!), etc...

CaleyD's suggestions are also good, the Sams books are *very* basic (a lot of web programmers find them too basic).

If you really want to have fun, pick up Adobe Flash and make some flash animations for the site (past making pages). Don't make the entire site flash, but it's good for flashy animations (pun intended).

[sashas]

Caley, Rich, Ed, thanks a ton for all that info!

Rich, thanks for summarizing in a nutshell all the components that are needed to make a site. I never understood that part, really.

Thanks for the info on the Sams book Caley. I'll check them out.

As I said, I don't hope to get too advanced, but I want to make the best site I can. I'll be putting all my resources into it