I taught myself HTML, CSS, and PHP about 15 years ago and did a bit of web development work for some time until I stopped 9 years ago. Now, I am considering picking it back up as a hobby. Because I never learned formally, I probably missed some of the basics back then while charging ahead with intermediate programming. I also have no idea what has changed in the interim. How do you recommend I get up to speed again on HTML/CSS/PHP and perhaps Javascript? What is the best way to learn or relearn in a non-formal environment? What will be my best resources?
I would suggest a full review of each technology, as they have all changed a lot over 15 years. Personally, I’d start with HTML and CSS. There are lots of fresh books presenting the latest versions of these, although don’t just read up on CSS3, as CSS2 is very important too—sort of forming the foundations of CSS.
Both PHP and JS have come a long way, too—especially in terms of how you use them, so next I’d read up on those. My preference is books, as I find them the most reliable and comprehensive guides … but different strokes and all that. There are lots of great video courses these days, and great forum sites discussing latest practices like this one and StackOverflow.
SitePoint has good books on all these subjects, but a quick online search will reveal that there are more books on these subjects than you could ever hope (or need) to read.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the new style of vertically scrolling websites. (By this I don’t mean vertical scrolling through entries such as this thread; I mean this, for instance, although this is a mild example.)