I occasional use emails I get as the basis for a post … here we go again:
I have been a member of the Killersites University for a while now and a very satisfied student who is learning web design well. However, I am at a fork in the road.
I have learned from Killersites about HTML and CSS and now there is HTML 5 and CSS 3. I haven’t covered any of the other videos yet. I don’t know where to go next in relation to the newest videos you have posted. Maybe I should go to PHP next, or Java Script, or Flash, or HTML 5… i dont know.
So would you please layout a course outline, in that, tell me in which order I should learn your courses. Assume that I am going to go through all of them eventually and please include the placement of HTML 5 and CSS 3. Also, just so you know why I am learning, I am a videographer wanting supplement my programs with killer websites that display video and interacts with the user. I am using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 currently.
Thanks for all you do.
Clint
My short answer:
Hi,
I would suggest PHP next. Then maybe some Javascript and Jquery.
HTML 5 and CSS3 come later because they are still niche/mobile technologies.
Comments:
When choosing what technologies and skills you want to develop, you have to really consider your own goals and where the Web is at. So for instance, I see Flash is loosing a lot of its’ steam, and I think that it might be wise to not invest in Flash and related technologies:
- Flex
- Actionscript
- Flash Remoting
Unless of course, you are in a niche market that uses Flash a lot.
I suggested PHP next (for this student) simply because:
- PHP it is used everywhere.
- PHP is very useful in day-to-day web work.
- Unlike Flash, I don’t see PHP’s popularity dropping any time soon.
1. Don’t get caught up in nerd-theory rabbit holes, that take up all your time on things that will have little to no impact on your day-to-day web programming or designing work.
2. Learn your nerd craft by creating things that people commonly want … things like shopping carts, customizing a blog etc …
Just in case you don’t know, a video blog is just a video of my yapping about stuff. A little different than one of my video tutorials where I am showing you how to do things.
… Don’t worry though, you will never see video of me talking about what my dog did today.
One of the early lessons in my business life was that to make money, you had to figure out the trends going forward.
… You can’t be looking at what was popular last year and you shouldn’t pay too much attention to what might happen 5 years from now – you need to figure out what will be the in thing within the next 12-18 months.
Web Design Trends of 2011
My predictions are as follows:
Android development – this means HTML5 and CSS3
iOS development – this means HTML5 , CSS3 and for programmers: objective C.
Small business website development – this means PHP or Ruby, Javascript/Jquery and learn a blog program like Wordpress or a CMS like Drupal. Of course these days, Wordpress is pretty much a CMS too.
So there you have it. Concentrate on learning one of these and you should do well this coming year.
Today the US government (the FCC branch) once again demonstrated that the will of corporations is more important than the needs of the people.
What is Net Neutrality?
It is a set of rules that in a nutshell, takes away the freedoms of the Web and places those freedoms into the hands of corporations like Comcast.
… Now Comcast is free decide which websites are worthy and which ones are not. For a fee though, you will probably be able to buy a more ‘free’ Web for your site – you better have a lot of cash though!
From Wired:
After five years of contentious debate that polarized the tech-policy world, FCC chief Julius Genachowski made good on President Barack Obama’s campaign pledge to strengthen rules governing the nation’s ISPs. The measure, which passed 3-2 along party lines, did not go as far as supporters would have liked, but the FCC faced steep resistance from Republicans and the powerful telecom lobbying machine.
… Isn’t it cool that corporate lobbying machines have such a strong hold on the agencies of government that are supposed to regulate these same businesses. I wish my mother ‘consulted’ with me when I was forced to eat my vegetables when I was a kid.
A final note: as far as I can tell, the mobile Web is the one being hit … ground lines are safe for now. But as we all know, the mobile Web is the future.
We should have a the first free sample videos out this coming week from a new series that teaches people how to work with Wordpress via Dreamweaver CS5.
… This latest version of Dreamweaver, has a bunch of tools specifically for use with Wordpress. Our video course will not only teach you Dreamweaver’s Wordpress tools, you will also learn a lot about Wordpress theme creation along the way.
I just wanted to announce that several video tutorials will now be included (on a DVD) in the French edition of Web Design Magazine … published out of France.
Our videos now appear in a total of 4 different print magazines monthly. You can find our growing collection of videos (the complete video courses) and premium podcasts here:
I would like your advice … I have NO experience at all in web design … not very artistic or good at math!! Do I need these talents to become a web designer?
Teresa
Hi Teresa,
I have good news for you:
1. You don’t need to be artistic to be a great web designer.
2. You don’t need to be good at math to be web designer.
You need to learn to be organized and persistent thought.
Shameless self promotion:
If you want to save money and get extra stuff not found elsewhere, then the Complete Web Designer is the best deal … by far:
I recently got an email from a student learning web design (and some basic web programming) … and he said something like this:
I took a web design course and the syllabus only taught Perl …
Wow! They are still teaching Perl!
Perl (is not) part of the modern web … for the most part.
Yes Perl is a powerful language and yes it is still used by a shrinking number of die-hard zealots. But these days, you have a few other languages that are just so much better suited for today’s modern web design and programming:
PHP
Ruby
Java
… And there are more.
Perl’s power without its’ weakness.
Perl’s power was largely found in something called regular expressions – RE (as nerd’s call it,) can process and parse text like nothing else. It is tricky to use but so powerful it is, that most … if not all modern programming languages have it built-in now. So Perl’s secret weapon is now gone and all you are left with is the weakness.
The following article and podcast is based on my personal experience and opinion, as web application developer and web entrepreneur.
Let’s start with the basics, what is PCI compliance?
The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of requirements designed to ensure that ALL companies that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. Essentially any merchant that has a Merchant ID (MID).
… So if you are processing credit cards and you take credit card information on your site, you are then subject to the edicts of PCI compliance.
Now on the surface this may sound like a good idea, but in practice, I am seeing something akin to the Y2K scam of the year 2000, where many companies paid big money ($$) to protect against the non-existent threat of Y2K. Again, my opinion as a programmatic nerd.
… Ahh Y2K, many of fraudulent fortunes were made in those days!
PCI Security Server Scan/Scam
So being a proud holder of a merchant ID (so I can process credit cards directly) I fell under the oppressive thumb of the PCI compliance industry. Besides answering yes to a whole slew of questions that had ZERO relevance to my company because of how we do things, I had to subject my server to the PCI compliance scan.
I’ve been slow to update my personal blog lately, because of all the work we’ve been doing on killersites. But, that hasn’t stopped us from releasing a bunch of new videos!
You can find our latest free video video tutorials on Dreamweaver CS5, basic web design, Photoshop, PHP and much more in the killersites web design magazine.
