4 ms·
Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?
Definitely inspired by: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2002668
"I've yet to find any good, modern, sources of learning HTML and CSS. "
And then about w3schools which I had the impression was good: "w3schools is the single worst 'developer' site on the entire web."
- meadhikari 16y agoAnd then about w3schools which I had the impression was good: "w3schools is the single worst 'developer' site on the entire web." What made you think that? I learned html and php through w3school and it was a wonderfull experience.
- tstyle 16y agoI hate the ads, but otherwise the content was good enough for me to go back every so often
- nash 16y agoThe only issue with w3schools is it is basic. Otherwise it covers a lot of material fairly well. At least it's not wrong, like many other resources.
- hackinthebochs 16y agoIt's terrible because it teaches everything in isolation. You have a section for this tag, a section for this function, on and on. You never get a feel for how all the pieces fit together to build something non-trivial. It's only useful as a reference. And even for that purpose its terrible because the information density is way too low.
- malandrew 16y agoIt's good for a basic reference when you don't want to wade through the W3C spec. It's not good for learning.
- newsisan 16y agoThat was not my opinion, it was from the linked thread at the top.
- Jem 16y agohttp://htmldog.com/ http://htmldog.com/
- petervandijck 16y agoHad a look, that's a great one for beginners.
- deleted 16y ago[deleted]
- mch929 16y agoA List Apart and Webmonkey were how I taught myself. I referenced w3schools a few times as well.
- csomar 16y agoFor CSS I would suggest that you get a look at Stylizer (http://www.skybound.ca/ http://www.skybound.ca/). That won't teach you CSS, but will certainly be more productive than anything you'll read/work with.
- mansr 16y agoNothing beats reading the specs.
- petervandijck 16y agohttp://www.webmonkey.com/tutorials/ http://www.webmonkey.com/tutorials/ is a classic and still online. Well written. I'm not sure if their older tutorials are still online. Check out this example to show to absolute beginners: http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/make_an_html_document/ http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/make_an_html_document/
- bearwithclaws 16y agoCSS Mastery by Andy Bubb. The best, and only one book/resource you need to become really good with CSS. For HTML, spend an hour or two with HTMLDOG.com will do the job.
- drtse4 16y agoI also liked Bulletproof Web Design for all the real world examples, not sure that the techniques shown there are up-to-date though.
- kulpreet 16y agoIf you'd rather watch video tutorials than read something, I'd highly recxomwnd the Lynda.com series 'CSS for Designers' — Although it's a bit dated, it teaches you a lot about web standards and semantics.
- drongo 16y agoCheck Sitepoint reference (CSS, HTML, Javascript) - no bad one http://reference.sitepoint.com/ http://reference.sitepoint.com/
- rubinelli 16y agoThey also have some good PDF/paperback books.
- AlexMuir 16y agoWhat would an ideal online course look like? I've been thinking about building a wiki-style engine for tutorials etc. I'd like to apply some of the elements from Stack Overflow (badges, rep-based priviledges etc)
- yanw 16y agohttp://code.google.com/edu/ajax/index.html http://code.google.com/edu/ajax/index.html
- glen 16y agohttp://nixty.com/course/Web-Design-Essentials-XHTML-CSS http://nixty.com/course/Web-Design-Essentials-XHTML-CSS
- isleyaardvark 16y agoThe Opera Web Standards Curriculum: http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/1-introduction-to-the-web-standards-cur/ http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/1-introduction-to-the-web... I didn't find it until well after I learned HTML & CSS, and I wish I had seen it then. It covers web standards from the bottom up, and would give you a really great foundation to start from.
- malandrew 16y agoMozilla's stuff and the Webkit blog are also quite good.
- ssn 16y agoHarvard's course on "Building Dynamic Websites" http://academicearth.org/courses/building-dynamic-websites http://academicearth.org/courses/building-dynamic-websites
- mtinkerhess 16y agoI taught myself CSS by going through each design on CSS Zen Garden, looking at the source code and poking around with Firebug until I understood why each design worked the way it did. http://www.csszengarden.com/ http://www.csszengarden.com/
- pdelgallego 16y agoA think the last post about CSS Positioning in A List Apart was very good. http://www.alistapart.com/articles/css-positioning-101/ http://www.alistapart.com/articles/css-positioning-101/
- malandrew 16y agoDive in HTML5 by Mark Pilgrim Designing w/ Web Standards, 3rd Edition by Jeff Zeldman - Please note that this book is more about orientation and how to go about learning HTML/CSS than actually coding. Only the last chapter contains a real coding exercise. Either way, it's worth a read. Most of the best resources on HTML/CSS are the blogs and sites maintained by the main contributors to the standards. Whenever a section of the W3C spec is vague or confusing, go check out the blocks of people like Bruce Lawson, Eric Meyer and Zeldman to help clear up the ambiguities.
- zoomzoom 16y agoRight click, "view source", use webkit inspector/firebug/etc...
- tyrmored 16y agoI can see this is sort of tongue-in-cheek, but I really have to agree. I find there's just no better way to do it. That said, for slightly esoteric techniques like Suckerfish menus, http://htmldog.com/ http://htmldog.com/ helps a lot.
- signal 16y ago1 for Firebug. I learned by going to the most complex sites I could find and turning things off. Then I changed things, and finally added. Once you've done that you're too far on your way to need further advice.
- withoutfriction 16y agoTo address this, check out this: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2024011 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2024011