Introduction to Coding
Some informative information about coding your websites.
Introduction
One of the biggest tasks you will have as a webmaster will be to get your ideas coded into web pages. As someone who is going to have to manage different processes of being a webmaster (planning, coding, content, design, marketing, and operations) you will have to define what role coding will play in your schedule and, therefore, to what extent you want to learn how to code. You basically have 3 choices:The first is to contract out all your coding. This would mean have someone design and code your site when you launch it and have others work on it when you need work done on it. I would advise against this. Not only is it very expensive but you are letting other people have too much control over the outcome of your success. Coding is such a fundamental part of being a webmaster that there shouldn't be any scenario where you have no control over coding unless you are running an operation with a few employees and have an in-house coder working for you and you are spending all your time on business strategy. Also, depending on a program like Dreamweaver would fall under this category. Depending on WYSIWYG software to code for you is not in your long-term best interests.
The second option is to decide to become an expert at coding. The only scenario in which I would advise would be if you are a natural at coding and quickly learn the different concepts without spending too much time on them. The reason I am not crazy about this option is because you don't want to make the assumption that the best coders will have the best web sites. If you believe this then you will just be another talented coder with an unsuccessful site. This is because these techie types underestimate the role that business strategy, marketing, and operations play in being successful.
The third option would be to become an intermediate coder. This means learning HTML and CSS very well and learning just enough PHP and MySQL to get by. This is the option I recommend. HTML and CSS are both incredibly easy to learn. MySQL is too. PHP is more of a "real" programming language so you shouldn't spend too much time trying to learn it if it just isn't coming to you - learning how to code includes and make forms is good enough for now.
Some webmasters out there may scoff at the idea that I would advise people to specifically not learn too much coding but those people are usually not successful people who understand that small-time webmasters, or small business people in general, work with very limited resources and the best allocation of their time would be to acquire a basic working knowledge of all areas of being a webmaster as opposed to trying to become an expert in one area. Doing this makes sure that you are a well-rounded webmaster instead of becoming a one-trick pony by burying yourself in coding books. Learning the basics of coding will add much to your success as a webmaster but the marginal returns to your business will drop alot as you go beyond intermediate coding. Remember, a talented webmaster who has the skills to manage resources can always outsource his needs but a one-trick pony who hasn't built up his business skills won't be able to do anything beyond his limited scope of expertise. As a web business you can outsource the coding but you can't outsource the business functions. There are plenty of webmasters with great sites making $200,000 per year that don't know how to code beyond HTML and CSS.
Another thing to keep in mind is that coding languages are always changing. In the late 90's it was all about HTML, then in the early 2000's it was all about PHP. Presently, AJAX, RSS, and xHTML all are on the rise. Five years from now it will probably be another language. You need to decide whether you should be spending your time always keeping up with the latest languages.
Taking the First Steps
Most beginning webmasters think that the great pages are complicated. This is not true. Those pages are very simple and yours will be too. The files will be PHP format with almost all HTML and CSS with a few PHP includes. There are great coding tutorials on the net which can get very extensive and also very complicated. My coding tutorials are not meant to make you an expert but are meant for the beginning coder to be able to take that first step to being comfortable writing code. For many beginners, learning to code is a daunting task and they never take the first step because it can be intimidating. Looking at so much information and they that can't figure out what they need to know. My goal is to get you to the level fairly quickly where you can actually create a site in HTML that is, at the very least, good enough to be on the Internet. There are many more advanced aspects of coding that you simply don't have to learn right now. Don't worry about what you don't know - you can learn alot of what you need to know along the way. After you learn the basics of HTML, CSS, MySQL and PHP and want to do some complicated coding then you can always graduate to more complicated coding sites and books if you need to.Different Languages
- HTML
HTML is the basic web page language used to make web pages. It is incredibly easyr to learn and plays an integral part in coding. I recommend you definitely learn HTML. If you fool around with it you will see how easy it is.
- CSS
CSS is the language used to format HTML elements. Originally, people used HTML to format elements but then people discovered it is easier if you just create a style sheet with all the formatting so you can globally format items. CSS is also very easy to learn and I definitely recommend learning it.
- MySQL
MySQL is the code used to access MySQL databases which are the most commonly-used databases on web sites. This isn't alot to MySQL - most people just use a few commonly commands with conditions that teach you how to insert data into a database and select which data you want to pull out. MySQL is also a very intuitive language which I would recommend learning because it is very easy yet incredibly useful. You will want to learn HTML and CSS first though.
- PHP
PHP is what you call a "scripting language". HTML itself doesn't perform any functions on a page - it just presents information. Therefore, you need a scripting language like PHP if you want your web site to actually perform a function like submitting user information though a form or including information form another file. You will want to look over the PHP tutorials here and learn the basics of PHP like the syntax, how to do includes, and how to work with variables. PHP can get a little difficult for non-coders so if the concepts of arrays and loops is too much for you then just skip it.
- ASP
ASP is another scripting language developed by Microsoft and is used mostly on Windows servers only to generate dynamic content. I would recommend that you choose PHP as your scripting language and skip ASP for now.
- Javascript
Javascript is another scripting language that most coders seem to use when they want to insert a snippet of code onto their page to add a function. I wouldn't recommend you learn how to code Javascript. If you need a Javascript script to add a function to your page then do a Google search for one. Also, keep in mind that something like 12% of web users have Javascript turned off on their browser so if you never put Javascript on your site then you won't miss anything.
- Flash
You shouldn't be dealing with Flash at all as a beginner. You have better things to do than spend your time adding gratuitous Flash features to your site. I have seen flash sites that are literally movies which you have to sit through for 2 minutes before the site shows you the navigation and content. Many flash sites tend to be very stylistic, which is good, but their style seems to be get in the way of running a successful website. One of the things I hate about flash sites is when the whole web site is basically a small box centered on the page and has different sections that act almost look like iframes where you have to scroll inside the page to read anything. These flash sites tend to be very visually appealing but I think they will become the next round of design clichés. Other than annoying visitors to your site, you also are killing your SEO when your text is in Flash because Googlebot can't read it.
- DHTML
DHTML is basically a mixture of HTML, CSS, and Javascript used to create dynamic features on a web page. Don't bother learning anything here. If you need a DHTML script than do a google search.
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