Learning HTML+CSS

[josh_ervin]

It really depends on the person and the refrence material they are using to learn. It would be impossible for anyone to answer your question.

Find some good HTML/CSS tutorials through google and begin teaching yourself from the ground up.

I learned in this manner and I believe most people did as well.

I'm still learning and I've been dabbling in it for over 6 years.

[Chris]

I find the best way to learn is to do, not to study.

[nevillep]

A good reference site would be http://www.w3schools.com.

[reign16]

I think it is possible to mix an HTML and CSS coding but like josh_ervin said it is depends on the person to take up that kind of coding, maybe try to look to google search to find an easy to learn about using the HTML and CSS.



___________________
Great thing to know about Busby SEO Test.

[Kolten]

HTML is so easy you will get it in a matter or weeks probably now to be great takes about couple years but css may take a little longer their not hard to learn i learned php, html, css, and a little mysql in like no time i can code html, and php with my eyes shut but as long as really set your self to learning you can do it easy.

[Dan Schulz]

A good reference site would be http://www.w3schools.com.

Personally I've found SitePoint's HTML and CSS References to be far superior to the ones offered on w3schools.com. They're available (for free, of course) at http://reference.sitepoint.com (they're also in hardcover if you want the "dead tree" versions of each).

For learning it though, I have to recommend the second edition of "Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML & CSS" by Ian Lloyd. Not only does it show you how to build a Web site with HTML and CSS, but it'll also walk you through it by having you build a Web site using the techniques and technologies you're learning.

Best of both worlds, if you ask me.

[chipstorm]

I agree that some of the best ways to learn is to study the code of other sites and/or get a useful textbook to reference when you need it. This is a lot less time consuming, less expensive and more casual than taking a course at school where you learn in painfully slow increments (it was like that for me at least).

If you are totally new to coding or computers in general, it might be recommended that you read the first few chapters and maybe the overview from the rest of the chapters of a helpful guide, like the one mentioned in an earlier post, that teaches not only HTML but also CSS, JavaScript, and XML if you can find one that has all of that. This will definitely keep you occupied as a web builder if you are just starting out. If you need answers that arent easily found in the text, doing a quick google search of the command you need ("change background" or "escape frames") will usually give you more than enough helpful resolutions for an issue.

Another option is to use design software such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage, although it is easy to get caught up in the convenience they offer without being able to implement advanced features. You can still always look at the HTML code in those programs, which is the best key to understanding coding for the web, rather than having a program do it (often inefficiently) for you. At least this option works if you are extremely new to computers and dont feel the need to learn everything (or more than a few necessary things) before getting started on your first page.

The main thing about HTML to know is that there are different code elements that make the site what it is, so the more you know about each of them, the more control you have over the look and function of your site. For instance, you can see on my page http://www.usbmemorydirect.com/ that I use many elements, like text, links, tables, stylesheets, etc. All these elements can be changed based on the attributes available for them. For instance, on the first page you can see that I have changed the text format in places, created several links of different colors, and organized the content design with CSS. This should immediately help you understand the value of knowing as much as you can about designing websites.

Well I have kind of gone off on a rant, so I will leave it at this. Hope that this information is of use to those who are just starting out making sites for the web.

[deathshadow]

The main thing about HTML to know is that there are different code elements that make the site what it is, so the more you know about each of them, the more control you have over the look and function of your site. For instance, you can see on my page http://www.usbmemorydirect.com/ that I use many elements, like text, links, tables, stylesheets, etc. All these elements can be changed based on the attributes available for them.

Unfortunately you seem to have missed that those 'attributes' really don't belong in your HTML anymore and have no place when writing modern code. What you have there is called 'presentational markup', a concept that should have gone the way of the dodo a decade ago and would have if browser makers weren't so far behind the curve. Today, there is no excuse to be using attributes like align, cellpadding, border, or even style. That's what CSS is for! HTML should no longer say how things are going to appear (in fact it was NEVER MEANT TO DO THAT) and instead should say what things ARE. Appearance goes in your stylesheet.

... and that's before we talk about the train wreck of tables and that you try to use the same ID more than once. 15k of markup when you only have 3k of actual content on the page is usually an indication of doing something wrong... What do I mean by wrong?

Things like this:

       <table>
        <tr>
         <td>
          <div style="font-size:13px;color:#27537A;text-align:center"><b>Wholesale Promotional Custom USB Flash Drives!</b></div><br />
          <div style="text-align:justify;">
           Here at USBMemoryDirect we provide you with fast and high quality Custom USB Flash Drives at unbeatable 
           wholesale prices, coupled with a fast and efficient service. Get the 
           best quality and best priced Flash memory here. Our flash memory and 
           Custom USB Drives use only the highest quality major brand memory.
			<br />
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>

If it only has one TD per TR, what the **** are you using a table for? You have styling inlined in your markup for no good reason, are using a presentational break at the END of a perfectly good block level container, a DIV with inlined styling for what is obviously a heading (we have tags for headings!), a paragraph of content that is not marked up as a paragraph, etc, etc.

There is NO good reason for that entire section of markup to be more than

<h2>
  Wholesale Promotional Custom USB Flash Drives!
</h2>
<p>
  Here at USBMemoryDirect we provide you with
  fast and high quality Custom USB Flash Drives at
  unbeatable wholesale prices, coupled with a fast 
  and efficient service. Get the best quality and best
  priced Flash memory here. Our flash memory and
  Custom USB Drives use only the highest quality 
  major brand memory.
</p>

The table is unneccesary, you used DIV for elements that should have SEMANTIC wrapping tags, etc, etc... In another section you have ALL the TD in a table with align="center" on them... if they are all the same put a class on the table and nab all those TD in one place - that along could shave a K or two off the code and make it clearer/easier to maintain... or the unneccesary 'serv' span - it's the only text NOT in an anchor, you don't need a wrapper to style those.

There is really no reason for that page to be more than... eh, 7k of markup at the max, and I'm willing to bet it could be done in less than that.

Not your fault, 99% of the books on shelves are a decade or more out of date, as are the skill sets of most people TEACHING HTML... Though most educators are completely useless when it comes to coding practices being they consider the steaming pile of manure known as dreamweaver to be a tool everyone should use.

Which if you read that book Dan linked to, you will find that most of what you 'know' about writing a website is skipped right past as if it never existed - FONT, CENTER, ALIGN, VALIGN - that **** doesn't belong in your HTML.

Watch Ian's YT video promoting the book - the part where he talks about going into a bookstore and being shocked at what was on shelves is SPOT ON.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wZAE_3L3HM