Cyndre

Hope so mate and thankyou for all the guidance. Spent hours reading up on it and for all microsofts attempts to make it clearer and simpler it seems chaotic. I think you start with Web page framework on the webmatrix IDE using SQL CE as a learning tool then if I read it right you migrate to MVC3 framework using web developer as the IDE and SQL Server 2008. If so I've gone down totally the wrong path with web forms as that is more orientated to those migrating from desktop apps and I'm looking to go more pure web based development. Tbh the more I read about it the more confusing it gets! Did order the new wrox webmatrix book though.

Many thanks for that though it raises an interesting consideration. Reading through the comments on the nettuts+ guide it seems they are suggesting that for someone just starting out on this road you are better going straight into MVC3 and Razor. In principle this sounds great as the premise is that you have greater control over your markup and it simplifies the code. This would be fab for me as I really am struggling to work out how to take my html / css template and move it into asp with dynamically loading content in the content pane. MVC3 seems to solve this but....there does not appear to be any entry level MVC3 / Razor books akin to Beginning asp.net making it hard to jump straight into this path. Certainly if I can avoid webforms it'd be great. Any ideas or thoughts? EDIT: Just saw Wrox Beginning ASP.NET Web Pages with WebMatrix. Would this be the magic solution?

Thanks guys, I was a little frustrated that Lynda.com's asp training's out of date using 3.5 and was put together in 2009. I pretty much understand you need a foundation in html / css but from what I read of the asp books I own they seem to take an all in one solution in that you need to learn asp at the same time due to integration. I definately work well with goals, the project I commissioned is literally a template html / css page from a design that I made and it will give me the freedom to use it as a technology base to learn asp and experiment with integration. I did consider php but tbh I really love the visual studio IDE and I used to do VB programming many years ago having done a course on it so I'm comfortable with the language. I also largely stick to microsoft platforms. It is also more useful for me to know asp when I turn my attention to developing the business application I've been asked to do.

So I decided I wanted to learn web development and began researching, posting on forums for advice and buying books. I have to self teach as I work long hours and can't leave work for full time or even part time education with attendance. I'll be honest I feel like a dog chasing its own tail and in a few weeks have built up a patchwork knowledge of this fascinating field. But I need to stop chasing my tail and get some direction. My goal is two fold: 1. Develop an Eve site that has integrated CMS (UMBRACO) and then use this as a platform to develop web based apps using eve's api. This in turn hopefully will provide me valuable skills to turn to work where I need to develop a web based event logging system that can then produce reports. 2. Become proficient with html > css > javascript and jquery > .Net with C#. I've more or less settled now on these languages in that order and feel .net is right for me and valuable for my work. Besides it'd be an easier stepping stone to learn Java or other languages after if needs be. What I've done so far could be described as organised chaos! I bought: Missing Manuals Creating websites Sitepoints Build your own website the right way 4th edition Sitepoints Build your own asp.net 4 website using c# and vb Wrox programmer: Beginning asp.net 4 C# 2010 All-in-one for dummies PHP and MySql for dynamic web sites I have Visual studio express IDE's installed, netbeans, dreamweaver cs5.5 and have been hand coding in notepad at work! But to be perfectly honest I feel stuck in the mud and learning from books is hard going and quite dry for me. I looked at Lynda.com but their asp course was for 3.5, then I saw killsites dvd's and they looked interesting. I have a wonderfil library and not alot to show for it though I do know what my end goals are and to a point they are driving what I want to learn. I created my design in photoshop and decided to have it professionally converted to html / css by markupbox and then reverse engineer it to understand how they did it and what it is comprised of. I then wanted to try integrated Umbraco CMS into this template. So as you can see I think I've spent enough money but I'm going round in circles! Can anyone help set me straight on this as one thing I do know is I love this field and am excited at what you can do. To give you an idea of what I'm upto in ability atm (that is what I can hand code in notepad with a bit of occassional forum help). <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8" /> <title>Visual Logistics</title> <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" /> </head> <body> <div id="container"> <div id="tbar"> <div id="tbcontent"> Visual Logistics Interface... </div> </div> <!--Page header here--> <div id="header"> <h1>Visual Logistics</h1> </div> <!--Navigation Bar--> <div class="nav"> <ul> <li>Event Management</li> <li>Event Viewer</li> <li>Crystal Reports</li> <li>Support</li> </ul> </div> <!--All page content here--> <div id="content"> <p>This is a prototype interface for event logging written in html and css on notepad</br> Not everything has to cost a fortune to learn and develop! </P> </div> <!--Page footer content here--> <div id="footer"></div> </div> </body> </html> html, body, #container { height:100%; margin:0; padding:0 } body { background: silver; font-family: Calibri, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; } p, h1 { padding:10px 21px; } #content { width:950px; height:100%; min-height:100%; /* this should make the #content stretch all the way down to the bottom of the screen. */ margin:0 auto; padding:40px 0; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; background:#fff; } #header { width:950px; margin:0 auto; background:#fff url(image/grad.jpg) repeat-x; } #tbar { width:950px; height:40px; margin:0 auto; background:#484343; } #tbcontent { color:white; text-indent:21px; font-family:Arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; line-height:3em; } .nav { width: 950px; margin:0 auto; background:#fff; } .nav ul { margin: 0; padding:0; float: left; } .nav ul li { display: inline; padding: 21px 22px; } Sorry for the enormous post but I know I can do this, just need a little help.