   [web] Expanding my knowledge in web development
  I started learning about web development sometime during the middle of May last year (2008). And by that I mean I started off with learning the basics such as HTML and CSS, then moved on to client scripting with &#106avascript and later server scripting with PHP. So I've been involved in web development for almost a year now. I've learned quite a few things during these 11 months, however I'm not quite sure where to go now. I've created well over 40 small websites and a few web applications; none of them have really been that large, most of them were medium size. I would like to continue learning more but need a point in the right direction. Now this probably isn't the best way to measure my competence, but it's probably the best way I can do it. I'll rate my proficiency in each language on a scale of 1-10 (1 = beginner, 10 = expert)HTML (9)CSS (7)&#106avascript (6)PHP (5)SQL (3)I also mentioned that I created several web applications (and websites), including: - 2 file storage sites- Ajax-based chatroom (working on it right now)- Small browser-based game- My own personal site with an admin panelYeah, probably not the best way to measure my skills, but that's what I think. Anyway, I'm interested in learning more about &#106avascript, PHP and SQL. Can you recommend me any books? Thanks.   
  I was just about to create a thread about a similar problem but maybe someone can answer 2 similar questions at the same time.I've built various websites where I can safely say that they look very unprofessional. My web design principles are terrible. I'd like to know if anyone can recommend a book book to help me make a nice looking website.   ;  Don't worry about it too much, I've had my share of unprofessional looking websites as well. When I was still a beginner at HTML and CSS, I made terrible looking websites, but later on as I became more experienced, the quality of my websites increased as well, meaning that they looked better (although still not professional yet).   ;Quote:Anyway, I'm interested in learning more about &#106avascript, PHP and SQL.Pick up a nice framework to play with, like CakePHP. Learn a different server-side language perhaps (like Python, optionally with the Django framework, or Ruby on Rails). Learn jQuery. Learn usability, search engine optimisation, graphics design, MVC, programming patterns, etcetera. You may even want to learn Linux and some basic sysadmin skills, because most webservers run Linux.Web development is a very wide area and there is much to learn. It's also a very fast moving area and most books that come out are outdated by the time they are printed. It's usually better to learn from online documentation and tutorials.Quote:I'd like to know if anyone can recommend a book book to help me make a nice looking website.That's hard to do. A good basis of general graphics design should help but I don't know any books on that subject. But there are many great designers out there who have websites. Learn from the masters and their work. Take a look at Dan Cederholm (simplebits.com), Ben Hunt (webdesignfromscratch.com), alistapart.com, csszengarden.com, cssbeauty.com, etcetera.   ;  If you are looking to improve your CSS skills I highly recommend paying a visit to http://www.csszengarden.com. It is a great site to learn how you can essentially make the same block of text appear so completely different. Some of the submissions are nothing short of amazing.I completely revamped my business website using some of the techniques I learned at the CSS Zen Garden. The nice thing is, it is really easy to do and your layout skills will really improve.As far as books go, I still think having a library of reference books is a great resource. Sure, the Internet has the most up-to-date information, but it also has a great deal of old information as well as crappy hacks people have done to get a job done. I personally prefer to use both the Internet and my library of books to learn and solve problems I am having.The other nice thing about books is that by having a book in your hand, you can easily discover topics you didn't know existed. I find the Internet a great place to search for specific solutions, but you can't just type "Show me something new and cool about language xxxx that I don't know exists" and get much useful material back. You can however open a new book and look at the index and get excited about things you didn't know existed.But, this is my personal preference and everyone here will have a different opinion on the subject. I would go with what feels comfortable for you and helps you learn the best.John   ;Quote:but you can't just type "Show me something new and cool about language xxxx that I don't know exists" and get much useful material back.But you can read the archives of a great web magazine like alistapart.com.   ;  Thanks, I picked  This Mozilla  as a website I'm going to try and replicate. First I have to say, I was very impressed with the top of this page. The navigation bar uses a similar thing that facebook uses. I wish I understood what they were doing in the code.What really confused me was how they have the little Firefox box in the middle of the page. The one that says, Quote:FirefoxThe award-winning Firefox Web browser has security... The reason this looks confusing is because I can't figure how they are rendering this box on the page. When I right click on the top of this Firefox box and I go to "View background" All I get is a single line, shown belowHow are they rending these boxes onto the main page?? I really hope that one day I could design a site like this.   ;Quote:How are they rending these boxes onto the main page??Install FireBug in FireFox. Open FireBug, click "Inspect" and click on the box. You get the source and all the CSS that applies to it in a neatly ordered fashion.To answer your question, its simply two nested divs. The outer div uses the top part of the box as background and the inner div uses the bottom part.   ;  For those wanting some graphic inspiration, browsershots.org recently opened up a gallery section. Lots of high quality examples (~32,000 enough for you?)   ;  Try writing a web based Helpdesk application follow the software lifecycle through the process and get some practice with that as well.This should give you a great deal of practice with PHP and SQL.Find a really big or complicated website and try to recreate it.   