Dears Sirs ,
I am very interested in the Domain of web Design and web programming and I have read a lot of tutorials about the web design and I have seen that this Domain require a lot things to learn as HTML , java Script , Java Applets , CGI , PERl , ASP , PHP , DHTML , XML , MySQL , and in addition to the Dream weaver , Front Page , FireWorks , Flash ...................etc
and that make me confused , I mean do I have to learn all the programming languages above ? and also do I have to learn the Graphic software too ?
and someone tell me that there are a lot jobs in the web design ( like web designer , web programmer , webmaster , web developer ) .
so what is the role of every job ?
please I need help from u as professionals ......what do advise me to do ? do u advise me to learn all the programming languages or just a few of them ?
I have learnt Front page and Dream Waver and I have read a lot of tutorials about the Web hosting and about the Domain registration and even about The FTP .
and I have an Idea about the Web layout and general Idea about the web Design .
thanks to u and Best Regards.

Hi Soufian, Welcome to Webmaster Talk.

initially you can go about learning only a couple of languages like html, javascript,and dhtml.

once you are confident of these. then you can start about learning the server side languages like cgi,perl,asp,php etc.

the moment you start the server side languages you might want to learn a database like mysql,mssql etc..

do I have to learn all the programming languages above

- it depends. sometimes yes and sometimes no. but basically if you a very good in couple of these languages i think that is fine.

as for as graphics again it depends if you want to be a graphics designer, you need to master at least 1 or 2 of these softs - photoshop, fireworks,paintshop pro etc..
but a basic working knowledge of these softs will do.

this should do i guess. but do not take my word for it listen to what the others also have to say.
and Best of Luck

thanks praveen about your reply .
and u have given me a great answers about my questins but I want to know exactly what languages and softwares do u work on ?
and u know that every language AND software ( front page , dream Waver ) require couple of weeks or even months to master them , and we have here more than 10 languages ( server side AND client side ) and also a lot of softwares ..
so can u tell what did u do to be a professional webmaster ?

web designers are usually graphic designers that instead of doing traditional print go towards doing stuff on the computer.

web programmers are going to be more for the scripting and back end work. They write programs that will pull information off of databases and such.

web developer is going to be more of a mix between a designer and programmer. someone who is firmilar on both ends.

a webmaster is pretty much synonamous with all. More of a made up word to make people sound more important than they really are.

Ok now for languages..

Learn html and learn it good. if you want to learn a server side language it depends on what platform you are on. Unix you will want to run PHP it's basically free. If you want ASP on a unix box you are going to pay for it same with cold fusion.

On a windows machine ASP is native but PHP will also run except with some filesystem differences PHP will run the same on Unix and Windows.

With html and a serverside you can do almost anything you want. I hardly use anything else... Oh yeah. learn the very basic Javascript. And stay basic unless you want to create 10 different versions of your code to make them look right on different browsers. that's my 2cents hope you liked it.

Hi Soufian,

Like praveen and redcircle, I recommend learning HTML before anything else. Once you feel very comfortable with that, there's really no use for Frontpage or Dreamweaver at all. Being able to code HTML directly through Notepad is much more flexible than using an editor like the above two.

After you've learned that, I would move on to JavaScript. Now, this isn't a great scripting language, and it's not very useful since it's only client side (it depends on whether the user has the correct stuff). It also can't transfer information to a database, nor can it be transferred between pages. Many of the effects are also annoying to some people. However, it is very helpful in getting your feet wet, since it's the beginning of "real" programming.

After HTML and Javascript, you should work on polishing your image designing skills if you plan on becoming a webmaster. This is also a great time to learn Flash. You can make your site look really good with great graphics editor like Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro. Even Microsoft Paint is a graphics editor, though you probably don't want to be using that.

However, if you don't want to work with image designing, you can move straight to scripting languages. You should only pick ONE of the following: ASP, PHP, JSP, Perl, Python, or ColdFusion. In my opinion, it is absolutely useless to learn more than one of those because they essentially do the same things. I personally would recommend the first 3. Perl is getting older, and Python is already pretty much obsolete. ColdFusion, while I've heard it's the easiest of all the scripting languages by far, it also costs money. However, it's your decision.

Good luck with it!

My two cents is that javascript is pretty worthless. Javascript relies on a users browser to support it. They can turn it off.

PHP is server side and therefore doesn't rely on the users browser. I would recommend learning PHP before javascript.

Same could be said for ASP as preferred over javascript although I have little experience with that medium.

I guess based on the above definitions I am a web developer then. I do it all when I design my sites from graphics to coding.

the only time i don't use my own graphics is when someone else takes a picture with MY camera.. so really it's still mine.. right.. I own the CCD that formulated the image onto my flash card.

Thanks guys about the replies and I have seen that u push me to learn HTML and java script at first but CONKERMANIC say that

there's really no use for Frontpage or Dreamweaver at all.

and that confused me cuz it's very hard to code in HTML directly and also it take more time to do that , so what do u think ?
and do u use notepad to code ur pages ??????????????
and REDCIRCLE u tell me that

With html and a serverside you can do almost anything you want

it's very good advice but plz u tell me that I have either to choose PHP on Unix or ASP on windowz and I have to tell u that I have the ability to get the two languages ...so what do u advise me to learn ?????????
and please can u explain in details what is the Webamster ?
and guys I have seen that Java script is nothing more than some scripts available in many web sites out there in the Internet so If I can copy and paste those free scripts and put them in my site so why do I have to learn it ?
I mean is jave script worth to learn or is it waste my time ?
Thanks u guys about the help....

and that confused me cuz it's very hard to code in HTML directly and also it take more time to do that , so what do u think ?

I recommend starting off with Dreamweaver. Learn HTML as you go. I would think that most (not all) hand coders started off with a program such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage. I learned a lot of HTML using those programs. As you get more knowledgable then give hand coding a try and see how it goes (like with anything, the more you practice, the better you get). I myself do not prefer to hand code. While I can look at HTML code and know what everything means and where to make modifications etc.., I do not consider myelf an expert at it and it would take me much longer to code by hand. But it is essential to learn.

and please can u explain in details what is the Webmaster ?

A person whose occupation is designing, developing, marketing, or maintaining websites.

The alias or role of the person(s) responsible for the development and maintenance of one or more web servers and/or some or all of the web pages at a web site. The term does not imply any particular level of skill or mastery

I mean is java script worth to learn or is it waste my time ?

None of the suggestions given are a waste of your time, but some are more important than others.

One thing I really recommend you learning is script installation (usually in your cgi-bin). It not always as easy as it sounds (uploading to the correct directories, making sure your permissions are correct, making sure you have the right paths set up etc..)

My suggested order:
HTML
The process of script installations (CGI)
PHP
ASP
SQL (if you plan on running databases)
Graphic Design (at the same time you are learning everything above. I recommend Photoshop).

Then move on to all the rest (there is tons)

Lastly, GET STARTED.

The best experience is hands on, do it yourself experience. Books will help but almost everything I learned I tought myself over years of practice, experience, and a few small tutorials.

Hi Chief,

I think learning how to install scripts comes along while you're learning Perl, PHP, or ASP. I see that you recommend that Soufian learn how to upload CGI scripts, and then learn PHP and ASP. I don't understand why it's necessary to do all three. One scripting language (and you can find scripts for that particular language at hotscripts.com) should be enough, and learning FTP and installing scripts is very likely going to be one of the lessons taught in most server-side scripting tutorials.

But I agree absolutely with your second post. Get started, buy some books, and lastly, stop worrying! It's not that hard if you have the dediation.

Thanks Guys about the Advises and I will try my best to apply what u said to me , and I will get started right now and I will buy my first book about HTML and a front page tutorial .
but plz last hope ... can u tell me where can I get tutorials about those languages HTML , Jave script , fron page ?
or even a good web site for newbies like me that give information about all things related such things ?
Best regrads to all

as the chief said

My suggested order:
HTML
The process of script installations (CGI)
PHP
ASP
SQL (if you plan on running databases)
Graphic Design (at the same time you are learning everything above. I recommend Photoshop).

i shall make a little change to that
My suggested order:
HTML
Javascript/scriptting basics.
ASP
PHP
SQL (if you plan on running databases)
Graphic Design (at the same time you are learning everything above. I recommend Photoshop,fireworks.).

where can I get tutorials about those languages HTML , Jave script , fron page

this is byfar the best and free site : http://techtutorials.com
this covers everything, i do mean everything.

this should help i guess. else let me/us know.

Thanks Guys ( all of u who read and write replies ) and who help me get on the road of the webmastering ..................
thanks

I don't understand why it's necessary to do all three. One scripting language (and you can find scripts for that particular language at hotscripts.com) should be enough, and learning FTP and installing scripts is very likely going to be one of the lessons taught in most server-side scripting tutorials.

It's not, but he sounded like he wants to eventually learn everything (which would be really tough) so I was just giving my suggested order (not necessarily correct).

The reason I mention CGI first: You don't have to know how to code any languages but could still add many free scripts (perl, php etc) to your site while you are learning how to actually code them yourself. So my point is that you can add lots of interactivity to your site while you learn how to code yourself and basic CGI know-how is important to be able to to do this (and the basic concepts are pretty easy to learn). But I do agree that he will probably learn this anyway in the process of reading some tutorials...

Ok i suppose u can say im a intermediete at web designing, soufian, i think this is the easiest and most effective way:

learn HTML while using Frontpage
Javascript it is sometimes usefull
Flash (unbelievably useful) & other graphic programs
learn PHP as a serverside scripting language


i think asp, perl, coldwhatever, and all that junk is useless and very very complicated, php was easier for me than asp, even though i ca't seem to get the MySQL or upload scripts to work, i can still make professional looking websites with that,

as for graphics, i use Corel photopaint 6, Cool 3d 3.5 and Flash, nothing else....

after u learn PHP here comes the really really hard part, learning other stuff, i suggest finding an expert webmaster and be good friends... even though i still can't find that kind of friend anywhere...

oh by the way did i tell u i'm 14 years old...

It is obivious that everyone has their own preferences here and rather than argue which technologies are "useless" (I have my own opinion on what is useless, but you should not forget that every site is different... for example, Flash is useless for those using WAP (which is slowly starting to pick up now that there are more and more PDAs))

When I started to learn about building a site and using scripts, I went for those options that had the most support.

I started out with FrontPage 98, until I learned how bloated my pages were, at which stage I learned more about HTML and discovered that it isn't really so difficult to write HTML code if you have the right tools. While it is perfectly possible to write a HTML page in a program like NotePad or WordPad, I would recommend that you look for a program that can color code your tags - this will make it easier to spot when you have a missing angled bracket or closing quote. 1st Page 2000 is a nice program for those that like to preview what they are doing, but my favorite program is TextPad as I can customise the look of the program and use it to make all kinds of programming languages more readable.

After I got bored with HTML (actually, my ISP added scripting support) I learned Perl. Perl was my language of choice back then because it was widely supported, and I was self taught, customising scripts before I had the courage to write my own. Perl is not the easiest language to learn for a newbie, ASP is much more "technophobe" friendly as it is more of a natural language. Perl scripts are also more involved to install - you need to get the permission settings and uploading just right, not to mention using the path to perl and sendmail on a Unix system.

So then I went to ASP, much easier to use and offers better scalablity than Perl for site wide use. My site is written in ASP, and for anyone starting out, I would recommend ASP for anyone new to programming, and PHP for those with some previous programming experience. Sadly ASP is evolving to ASP.NET and I'll need to update sooner or later... ASP.NET is not as simple as ASP but to be honest I've not looked into it too much.

A year or so ago, I decided that it would be beneficial for me to learn PHP, but despite having several PHP books on my shelf, I tend to use ASP over PHP because I don't have the time to learn a new language and don't really do all that much development anyway... the next major development at the site will be when the ASP content system I've developed starts to fall apart, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon...

If you can, try to get an idea of the software and settings your audience (or potential audience) are using... it is no good learning Flash or JavaScript if a lot have them disabled by default, and I certainly wouldn't recommend you force your users to use a client side technology before they can enter your site. This is one of the reasons why I prefer to do all my scripting server side, then it isn't so important what browser they use...

Originally posted by Tiggy
A year or so ago, I decided that it would be beneficial for me to learn PHP, but despite having several PHP books on my shelf, I tend to use ASP over PHP because I don't have the time to learn a new language and don't really do all that much development anyway... the next major development at the site will be when the ASP content system I've developed starts to fall apart, but I don't expect that to happen any time soon...

Can i have the books on yourshelf since u don't need them

I agree with you Tiggy about ASP and have had the same experience with the extra php books laying (/lying?) around. One thing is that I started out learning html and then javascript. I wasn't very good at it for a while but once i got the hang of it and wrote my own scripts it got much easier. Now I am so glad I learned it because if you can write cross-browser dhtml code then you can learn pretty much any other language faily easily. The best things about javascript for a newbie is that it requires no setup, has no cost, no risk of messing anything major up, and has so much support on the web in terms of open source code. Btw. I have been doing graphics for two years almost and I would strongly reccomend Photoshop and Illustrator. And for html you can learn using Dreamweaver since all the new version come with Colored Source Code and a great reference section of included books (hence eliminating some of the expensive books you might have to buy).
-dk

haha i just know HTML and JS and im doing just fine
although i really do wanna learn PHP and ASP and all that other good stuff, makes me feel out of the crowd not knowing it