At some point, no matter what else you do, you'll end up needing either flash or javascript: Flash/AJAX are the only current solutions for creating highly inter

At some point, no matter what else you do, you'll end up needing either flash or javascript: Flash/AJAX are the only current solutions for creating highly interactive websites. Javascript is a relatively friendly language, so I would start with it. You will also need another language for dealing with the backend of the website, I personally would avoid PHP, I don't enjoy writing in it compared to other existing choices. That said, it is almost certainly the most widely used technology (calling it the Java of the web wouldn't be an entirely unfounded comparison). Personally I have really loved the Django framework, which is done in Python. I am fairly biased though, so take that with a grain of salt. The real advice I'd give about the backend language/framework you start using is to use the one you'll enjoy using the most. Later on you'll end up learning a number of other frameworks anyway, so you might as well chose the one you want to work in, especially because you'll be spending a lot of time teething on it. After you learn one, picking up others will be much easier (most web frameworks use the same model-view-controller design).