3 ms·

Ask HN: Some questions from an aspiring hacker about learning html

2 points by newsisan 16y ago

After talking about startups, I got my brother very interested in the whole scene, and now one of the things that he wants to do is to learn html, to start off his programming experience. I was wondering the best guide suitable for a beginner in programming who has never touched html, but ideally it would cover some elements of html5 and when they can be used. Currently, the main focus is on the coding aspect rather than the graphical aspect. This would assist not only him, but hopefully others too who are looking for an introduction into the world of web programming, where quality of early resources and teaching often has a lasting impact.

jwdunne 16y ago
http://www.w3schools.com http://www.w3schools.com always helped me and I still continue to use it as a reference.
- newsisan 16y ago
  Thanks very much for that, appreciate it. Three questions. 1. Any thoughts on www.htmldog.com? Came up in some searches, seems to have not been updated in a while though. edit: or http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/html-css-beginners-guide http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/html-css-beginners-gui... 2. Thoughts on whether to use the html tutorial, or the html5 tutorial? 3. Thoughts on the w3schools vs www.diveintohtml5.org (is the latter suitable for someone without prior html knowledge)?
  - jwdunne 16y ago
    Sorry for the late reply. It looks like the latter is for people with HTML4 experience but I don't know. However, I'm not entirely sure. I'll keep reading and see what it's like.
devmonk 16y ago
Tell him to read everything here: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ There are many great designers out there and unfortunately not many of them working for companies with large websites, so just going out and seeing the norm these days is not going to put him ahead of the curve. He should get familiar with Photoshop, etc. You could try Gimp, but that might scare him away. Photo/image editing is a critical piece to almost any web design at a higher level. He needs to understand CSS in and out and understand the ins and outs of when to use certain elements. Yes we're not in 1999, and you shouldn't use tables for layout unless you need a table (grid), but understand why, and understand how you wish you were using tables sometimes because CSS can be a pain. Check sites like this out: http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm and get familiar with the various kinds of layouts that can be used. Understand lists, etc. Do a navigation bar with CSS hover effects, etc. Don't get caught up with dropdown and fly-out menus. Open up pages in Lynx. Think about accessibility (the deaf, the blind, the partially blind that up their font sizes, etc.), but don't get tied down to overly-accessible sites either. Know your audience. Javascript. JQuery. Love it. Learn it. Prototype. Understand it, get used to it being out there. YUI- same thing. Flash. Yes, you should learn about it along with HTML 5. Then also get into User Experience. Best practices, etc. Maybe try out a Ruby on Rails app and get used to designing and working with forms. Get familiar with the golden ratio. Park a domain for him and have him write a site to market his skills. Even if he is younger, it wouldn't hurt.
- newsisan 16y ago
  Fantastic response, thank you so much for taking the time :) I suppose I am mainly looking at the coding aspect at the moment, but this is a fantastic response that will certainly be useful soon.
- ScottWhigham 16y ago
  Wow - the guy asks one of the most popular questions in the internet's history ("how to learn HTML") and you lay out a two year plan to make him a master of the internet. You even went so far as to suggest that you buy a domain so the guy can have a business down the road. Wow - just wow... In my business as a software trainer, I see this periodically - you get a brilliant mind/programmer/developer in the classroom to teach a class. After the course is over, the students are clueless. "He went so fast." or "I was lost after the first hour!" OP - I can't say that I fault devmonk's post provided that you actually misspoke: if you were truly looking for a two year plan so that your brother could be master of the internet with his own small business, then by all means devmonk has set you straight. If you did not misspeak - you actually want resources to help your brother to just learn HTML, it's better to ignore devmonk's post and just go to Amazon, find a book about HTML that has (a) a good history, (b) is up-to-date, and (c) has a lot of positive reviews. Hell, even a "For Dummies" or a "learn HTML in 24 hours" book would be fine at this stage. Whatever you do, don't scare your brother with a list of all that stuff.

2 points by newsisan 16y ago

jwdunne 16y ago

http://www.w3schools.com http://www.w3schools.com always helped me and I still continue to use it as a reference.

newsisan 16y ago
Thanks very much for that, appreciate it. Three questions. 1. Any thoughts on www.htmldog.com? Came up in some searches, seems to have not been updated in a while though. edit: or http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/html-css-beginners-guide http://articles.sitepoint.com/article/html-css-beginners-gui... 2. Thoughts on whether to use the html tutorial, or the html5 tutorial? 3. Thoughts on the w3schools vs www.diveintohtml5.org (is the latter suitable for someone without prior html knowledge)?
- jwdunne 16y ago
  Sorry for the late reply. It looks like the latter is for people with HTML4 experience but I don't know. However, I'm not entirely sure. I'll keep reading and see what it's like.

devmonk 16y ago

Tell him to read everything here: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ There are many great designers out there and unfortunately not many of them working for companies with large websites, so just going out and seeing the norm these days is not going to put him ahead of the curve. He should get familiar with Photoshop, etc. You could try Gimp, but that might scare him away. Photo/image editing is a critical piece to almost any web design at a higher level. He needs to understand CSS in and out and understand the ins and outs of when to use certain elements. Yes we're not in 1999, and you shouldn't use tables for layout unless you need a table (grid), but understand why, and understand how you wish you were using tables sometimes because CSS can be a pain. Check sites like this out: http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm http://matthewjamestaylor.com/blog/perfect-3-column.htm and get familiar with the various kinds of layouts that can be used. Understand lists, etc. Do a navigation bar with CSS hover effects, etc. Don't get caught up with dropdown and fly-out menus. Open up pages in Lynx. Think about accessibility (the deaf, the blind, the partially blind that up their font sizes, etc.), but don't get tied down to overly-accessible sites either. Know your audience. Javascript. JQuery. Love it. Learn it. Prototype. Understand it, get used to it being out there. YUI- same thing. Flash. Yes, you should learn about it along with HTML 5. Then also get into User Experience. Best practices, etc. Maybe try out a Ruby on Rails app and get used to designing and working with forms. Get familiar with the golden ratio. Park a domain for him and have him write a site to market his skills. Even if he is younger, it wouldn't hurt.

newsisan 16y ago
Fantastic response, thank you so much for taking the time :) I suppose I am mainly looking at the coding aspect at the moment, but this is a fantastic response that will certainly be useful soon.
ScottWhigham 16y ago
Wow - the guy asks one of the most popular questions in the internet's history ("how to learn HTML") and you lay out a two year plan to make him a master of the internet. You even went so far as to suggest that you buy a domain so the guy can have a business down the road. Wow - just wow... In my business as a software trainer, I see this periodically - you get a brilliant mind/programmer/developer in the classroom to teach a class. After the course is over, the students are clueless. "He went so fast." or "I was lost after the first hour!" OP - I can't say that I fault devmonk's post provided that you actually misspoke: if you were truly looking for a two year plan so that your brother could be master of the internet with his own small business, then by all means devmonk has set you straight. If you did not misspeak - you actually want resources to help your brother to just learn HTML, it's better to ignore devmonk's post and just go to Amazon, find a book about HTML that has (a) a good history, (b) is up-to-date, and (c) has a lot of positive reviews. Hell, even a "For Dummies" or a "learn HTML in 24 hours" book would be fine at this stage. Whatever you do, don't scare your brother with a list of all that stuff.