I'd suggest that /you/ start him off with neither - your best bet is to turn him on to something like teamtreehouse.com's html/css/javascript course if he's alr

I'd suggest that /you/ start him off with neither - your best bet is to turn him on to something like teamtreehouse.com's html/css/javascript course if he's already computer literate. Otherwise computer literacy is first priority and linda.com has some pretty good videos. You should then after the 30 day trial be able to judge his passion by how far he gets. If he doesn't even complete the first chapter, then you would have wasted your time trying to teach him something he has no interest in. I believe the way to introduce someone to web development is by teaching them something that has a tangible reward - e.g. design a static web page you can host, or have the ability to edit the HTML/CSS in a CMS or e-mail template. My opinion is that anything is hard if you have no idea what you're doing. The biggest factor I've seen that determines if someone can become a competent programmer is passion.