learning php

BudBud Chesterfield, Va
edited December 2007 in Internet & Media
I have very little web design experience (I did html in notepad when windows me just came out) and I have been wanting to get back into web pages. I see php is everywhere so I figure its a good thing to learn. I guess I need to learn xhtml and css first though. So just looking at some suggestions for the best steps on getting started also and book recommendations.

Comments

  • airbornflghtairbornflght Houston, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    php just offers the ability for dynamic content. afaik it's mainly used to interface with a database and then from there the possibilities are pretty much endless.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    http://www.sitepoint.com/

    The books from these guys are nothing short of fabulous. They have a good book of course on PHP and SQL.
  • LincLinc Owner Detroit Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    Web development books I recommend
  • GrimmGrimm
    edited December 2007
    I'm by no means a PHP guru by any stretch of the imagination, but most of what I've been able to teach myself has come from http://www.w3schools.com/php

    w3schools has some great content for CSS, html, PHP + MySQL, and a tonne of other topics that I haven't had a chance to really dig into yet.

    Check it out. (oh and it's free w/o popups or crazy adds).
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2007
    Also, Bud, when I started web coding it was the same way as you: using Notepad. I switched over to wysiwyg interfaces for a bit, then switched back with PHP. I found it to be a very satisfying language to write in a text editor again. I think you'll find the transition to be relatively easy.

    I also found these tools helpful as I was building code in recent years:
    CSS Validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
    Markup validator: http://validator.w3.org/
    They check for compliance with current standards, and it's a great way to help clean up your hand-written code that little extra bit.
  • broady81broady81 Member
    edited December 2007
    As a student using SQL in my year long project, I was recommended http://www.w3schools.com/ by one of the staff members, which is currently helping me use SQL in my Java program :bigggrin: Tutorials are easy to understand and well written, and also allows actual queries to be run using input on the page :smiles: Presume it's support for PHP is similar...
Sign In or Register to comment.