Web Design books

[Lucio]

Ok, so I decided to buy some cheap linux based hosting and now I'm looking for some books so I can start to learn web design in an organised fashion, rather than how I've done it to date.

I'm interesting in useful skills like XHTML, PHP, MySQL and perhaps Javascript, whilst I'm not a novice at coding, I've had no formal training and have learnt by having to solve problems in the work environment via Google....

[aidanjt]

W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
PHP: PHP Manual - Manual
MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual

That's all you need until you get up to ajax

[Lucio]

W3Schools Online Web Tutorials
PHP: PHP Manual - Manual
MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.0 Reference Manual

That's all you need until you get up to ajax

Whilst useful, manuals are only half the battle, I find I need examples that I can bastardise into what I want to do.

[aidanjt]

They all have examples to give you a good running start. Also, PEAR is great for dipping into prewritten code for whatever.

[5cupa]

theres so many out there, best advice is to go into a good book shop and browse them till u find one that fits the bill

[DougMcDonald]

I think the problem with finding something all inclusive regarding website "design" is that there are so many facets too it.

You can get books and info on everything, ranging from photoshop/illustrator artwork related things, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and GUI design, the XML/XHTML side of things focussing on code structure and then the whole development on from that regarding scripting, PHP/ASP etc etc

I would suggest trying to split apart your work on each of these aspects and try to keep them seperate, bringing them all together at the end.

[Lucio]

Well, Amazon.co.uk had a half price offer on the "... For Dummies" range of books, so I ordered up half a dozen different titles that looked interesting.

Figured XHTML, PHP/MySQL, Javascript and Basic Web Design should give me a good starting point. Between that and playing with ideas on what to actually host, should come up with a workable online CV within a year.

[Rishi]

The Wrox series is meant be very good

[Lucio]

Well, got the books last week and thus far I can see why you need them! I really really hate CSS thus far, all the talk of co-ordinates and positions is a real PITA to get sorted how I want it.


Any recomended tools that could take, for example, a table style layout and then re-render it as CSS areas??

[Ap0llo]

Well, got the books last week and thus far I can see why you need them! I really really hate CSS thus far, all the talk of co-ordinates and positions is a real PITA to get sorted how I want it.


Any recomended tools that could take, for example, a table style layout and then re-render it as CSS areas??

You'll love CSS when you get used to it. CSS combined with XHTML works its wonders for me.

And your answer to your question is theres no tools that i know of. Most sites still use tables as well as the css because IE5 doesnt support CSS and some other browsers. Your best bet is to carry on using the tables but also format them using CSS and use the float tags in your CSS.

Goof Luck!

EDIT: Heres a link to a very good XHTML | CSS Book. I bought it for a freind but read through it before handing it to him
Link> Amazon.co.uk: HTML for the World Wide Web: With XHTML and CSS (Visual QuickStart Guides): Books: Elizabeth Castro

[mikerr]

The Wrox series is meant be very good

This book on HTML is amazing, I still refer to it years later:
Amazon.co.uk: Instant HTML Programmer's Reference (Instant)

Ok, its basic and doesn't go much into dhtml/javascript etc .. but its often quicker than a web search to look something up in there

[moogle]

ugh, I'll have to force myself to learn from books one day. The W3C site will help you understand XHTML quite well, and with php and mysql you should run a webserver on your own pc and try it out from examples and tutorials. there are lots of websites with mini examples for you to try.

[tiggerai]

The fact that you're pidgeon holing Development into the design arena scares me...
The two are massively far apart.

but anyway, I'm a big fan of the Wrox books and w3schools is always a good start for a basic understanding to allow you to go further.

We're about to start some pretty nifty stuff with Ajax so I'm reading up this afternoon.

And stick with CSS, you'll get there eventually... ( I love it )

[directhex]

I think the problem with finding something all inclusive regarding website "design" is that there are so many facets too it.

You can get books and info on everything, ranging from photoshop/illustrator artwork related things, Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and GUI design, the XML/XHTML side of things focussing on code structure and then the whole development on from that regarding scripting, PHP/ASP etc etc

I would suggest trying to split apart your work on each of these aspects and try to keep them seperate, bringing them all together at the end.

absolutely

and for the love of god, don't forget web design lesson 1 - switch off the computer, get a pen and paper, write out a list of the CONTENT you want, then draw a sketch of how would make sense to display that content

content is king

[tiggerai]

absolutely

and for the love of god, don't forget web design lesson 1 - switch off the computer, get a pen and paper, write out a list of the CONTENT you want, then draw a sketch of how would make sense to display that content

content is king

Seconded... you can't ever "just write a website", it never works.

Wireframe it (storyboards essentially) then start thinking logically how the code will work...

[moogle]

We're about to start some pretty nifty stuff with Ajax so I'm reading up this afternoon.

And stick with CSS, you'll get there eventually... ( I love it )

I think you'll find ajax to be a pretty nifty thing. Absolute requirement if you make server status scripts

as for css, its great but I still gotta use my tables for my layouts to stay perfect in all browsers. as you can guess the fault is because of ie..
but someday they might all follow to the same rules.