Advice for a beginner?

[Former Member]

Hey! I've been typing HTML/CSS from scratch for about six years now. Web design has been a hobby of mine for some time. But I want to do more than HTML/CSS, because a page without interactivity is hardly a page at all and using premade scripts/begging someone to write one out for me constantly is against my independent nature. I'm wondering if JavaScript is the next step for me or if there's something else I should be reading up on first. I just bought JavaScript: The Missing Manual and plan on giving it a thorough reading, because the tutorial sites online haven't seemed to explain things well enough for me.

Also, I'm wondering what comes after JavaScript. What are some other commonly used languages I should be looking into as a web designer?

Thanks for any and all help. (: Much appreciated.

[iDunk]

JavaScript (as well as AJAX, frameworks like JQuery, etc) seems like a logical next step. After that, I'd personally suggest PHP/MySQL, but that's just how I'd do it.

[Jordan]

JavaScript would be the best language to learn next because it is used to make dynamic web page which is now the standard. Be sure to get a firm understanding of the basics before you go on to using a framework like JQuery so you understand what is happening when you write code. If you want to continue on with web development after JavaScript, then the next step would be what iDunk said, and that would be server-side/database languages such as PHP/MySQL.

[xcessive]

I would strongly suggest that you take up Javascript.

I know you have bought a book, but you might also find this helpful: www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp

[Former Member]

Thanks guys! (: I've been studying JavaScript off and on since that last post and it's done me a little good... I'm still far from putting out awesome forum scripts, but at least I'm beginning to understand how the ones I use function a little. And, like I said, it's been off and on. I'd probably make much more progress if I dedicated myself a little more. >.> It's not that it isn't fun, it's just I get frustrated pretty easily, especially since I don't have any friends who understand JavaScript well enough to answer my questions or fix my codes when I start getting error messages. But I learned HTML/CSS the same way, so I'll get it eventually. ^^

Xcessive, I've tried the w3schools tutorial before. It just didn't explain things in a way I fully comprehended them. Oddly enough, that's where I learned HTML/XHTML and CSS. But thanks for the link anyway. <3

I've used some PHP before, but I had to have a lot of help with it before my website worked properly. :3 I think that'll be my next step.

Again, thanks! I appreciate it.

[Charles Stover]

JavaScript would be the next step - definitely before PHP.

However, if you don't know XHTML yet, I'd recommend it before JavaScript so that you get a better understanding of DOM.