If you’re new to the web development world, then the first thing you need to do is to pick a coding language, and then… well learn to code! You have quite a few good languages to pick from, like HTML, CSS and Java script, PHP, ASP and Ruby on Rails. The all work well in their own niche, so figure out what sort of web development you need to do, and then pick a language that best caters to your needs. Also when it come to learning, there are a number of online tutorials that can help, while there are also books, they are usually out dated… so online guides are best.
Once toy get a handle on the syntax, the best thing you can do is to jump in head first and start coding. Yes the learning curve is huge, and in the beginning you’ll probably not understand much… but in this frustrating hair pulling proves you’ll learn a whole lot.
When in doubt (or when in a rut) Google. There are a whole lot of tutorials out there, and they are well written and very helpful. In forums many people post old code that you can look at to learn structure.
If you find some old code on a forum that looks like it somewhat fits the exercise you’re trying to do, copy it and optimize it. NEVER use someone else’s code on your site. Copy ONLY to learn, and then discard. When you do code, nothing will work. As frustrating as that might be, it’s a good thing. Coding problems help you learn, and once you learn, you’ll never forget it, simply because of how long it took you to learn. Also when you start getting gutsy, start experimenting. Try new things, mess with your code. The best way to learn is to break something, and then fix it.
Once you’re ready to star advanced coding, here are some things you can do:
- Follow tutorials on web development blogs.
- Team up with a local developer for some tutoring.
- Take a few affordable web development courses at your local tech college.
- Forums are another great place to post questions and meet with developers.
- Copy code from websites you like and analyze it. Try spotting the mistakes in their code, and work on how the code could be structured better.
Coding is all about jumping in head first, the learning curve is pretty steep, but the outcome is worth it!
