So many many years ago I started to play around with HTML CSS and a little PHP after not being that comfortable with it I lost focus and found myself losing interest and moving on towards more photo editing / photography work.
Skip forward a few years (10-12) and I have rekindled my love for web development. With this in mind I subscribed to Lynda.com and after watching must be 30-40 hours of videos covering HTML5 and the core concepts of CSS also the basics of responsive design. I am starting to feel more comfortable with the languages, now however Im unsure what to do next. Do I watch 9 hours on site layout using css and html or do I focus more on the basics of HTML5 before I concentrate on the layout, or will learning the layout also increase my knowledge in HTML5.
Don’t get me started on responsive design? I mean its like a mind field, dose one need to use a grid system? Is it best to make your own? Or use a boilerplate such and bootstrap? By using bootstrap are you not going against HTML5 semantic layout?
Sorry for the rant guys just could do with some direction.
It sounds like you definitely have enough HTML5/CSS under your belt that the next step should be starting to put it to use.
If I were in this situation, I would move on to the site layout courses to get a feel for putting it altogether. And as you work through this, you make come across things that will encourage you to delve a little deeper into the HTML5 and CSS3.
Some of the finer points of these two languages are more useful to you after you have done some serious practicing, and if you don’t use what you have learned, it won’t stick with you.
I wouldn’t use Bootstrap until you are comfortable with the basics, including responsive design using media queries. Actually, there’s no need at all to use Bootstrap and many developers don’t. And a grid system also is not necessary, although it might be helpful or useful to you in certain projects.
Thank you for your reply, I feel that I should move on after all If I come accross somthing im not sure how to impliment I can always then research that topic.
I just cant help but feel that the content over at lynda.com is mabey a little dated? Or this may just be me being parinoid.
The courses at lynda.com have their publication dates posted, so you can check and make sure you only view up-to-date courses. And they are producing new courses all the time.
You can also try the courses here at SitePoint Premium. There are some very good ones for HTML and CSS.
I’ve not looked at it, so can’t comment, but there is a lot of out-dated info out there on the net to be wary of.
We see so many “beginners” in the forums using the most horrific legacy code. It’s easily done.
Then sometimes you have a hard time convincing them to move on, having spent their time and effort learning that stuff.
That’s very true. And like webmachine said, you might want to start actually build things to put your acquired knowledge into practice. That’s the best way to discover any gaps in your knowledge.
Yea I have just been trying to make a one page responsive site for my partners photography, I managed to code/hack my way through a desktop site then quickly realised that if I wanted this to be responsive I would need to start again from stratch and learn how to design responsive sites.
Is this forum a good place to come ask for advice if and when I need it with code? I remember years ago it was the place to be but now it lookis like its changed a little bit.
Looks like the site has moved from a support into a more stremlined business model? Im just realised that the forums where people used to buy and sell websites has now moved onto its own domain / business.
It looks like this site has certianly grown!
Im looking forward to getting to know some of you.
The business part of sitepoint has always been there, but the forums have become a bit more an integrated part of the website I guess.
But, the forums themselves are still a great place to ask your questions, nothing has changed from that perspective.
I’m glad you found your way back here and hope to see you around.