In September 1995 I started my first job in the IT world as technical support at a local university. The internet was young and I remember the first time I started a copy of Netscape, I was blown away. I just wanted to create my own pages, so I went on line and taught myself how to write HTML, JavaScript and classic ASP, and have been developing web sites and applications ever since.
I'm sure, like many other web developers and designers I'm often asked by people how to get started in this business. Obviously there is a lot more options and information around now than when I started out, but I think you can learn a almost all you need to know without paying a penny.
So here are 10 essential internet resources you should check out if you want to start a career in web development.
Places to learn the basics
There are plenty of books that promise to teach you to write HTML in 24 hours or CSS, JavaScript or ASP.Net in a week or a month. The trouble with books is they go out of date very fast, often before they hit the shelves. Therefore I would suggest checking out an online tutorial;
There are many HTML, CSS and JavaScript tutorials on line. W3schools has been going for quite a while and the tutorials cover the topics in a good level of depth.
This is a good place to start, and I still find myself going back there, even now, to check up on something I'm a little unsure of.
This is more than a tutorial, this is a full class curriculum designed by the guys who build the Opera browser. The aim of the curriculum is to help people teaching web development to teach up to date techniques and technologies.
Although it starts from basics, it is very much directed towards standards based web development techniques, such as separating page structure from display using HTML and CSS, the importance of accessibility and why you should make sure your HTML validates. Knowledge of standards based development is a must these days, so if you know most of what's taught on this course you'll be in a good position later on.
The first two resources are directed at front end development, but these days, the server side functionality is almost more important. Most clients want their websites to be able to send emails, take orders or store information requests in a database.
There are a number of different platforms to choose from, ASP.Net, PHP and Rails being the most popular. I would suggest learning at least one of these, and being from a commercial development background I've always developed for Microsoft platforms, therefore ASP.Net and C#.
The ASP.Net website is the home of all Microsoft information on this technology. Here they have many written and video tutorials which should help you get started, plus code examples and a link the Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition, the free, web development orientated version of their Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment, well worth downloading and installing.
Places to find the details
Even when you have learnt enough about the basic web technologies to build websites and applications you will not know everything about HTML, CSS and JavaScript. With HTML 3.2 it was possible to remember every tag, attribute and value. With HTML 4 or XHTML 1.0, CSS 2.1 and JavaScript 1.2 to remember, this is no longer practical. These days there will always be an attribute you can't remember how to use or what, exactly are the rules of a particular CSS rule. This is where the reference site comes into its own.
This is one of the most comprehensive HTML reference sites I have come across. Each tag, up to HTML 4.01 and XHTML 1.0 Strict,has a detailed write up. This includes on which browsers it is supported, which versions of HTML and XHTML allow it, how to use it and what attributes can be used with it. All of which is very important information.
The reference also covers most of the propriety elements that have been created by the browser writers in the past, which is very useful when you are trying to update an existing site.
This CSS reference is from the same people that brought you the HTML reference mentioned above. Again they cover all the released versions, CSS 1 and 2, giving details of all the properties included within these standards. Each property has an explanation on what it does, acceptable values, browser compatibility and an example, which always helps more than a written description.
CSS support in browsers is much less consistent than HTML support, so the browser compatibility table is extremely useful.
MSDN or Microsoft Developer Network is Microsoft's developer documentation website, containing large quantities of information on developing for all Microsoft platforms and technologies.
The MSDN Library contains a large amount of detailed information on, amongst other things, the .Net Framework, ASP.Net and web development direct at Microsoft platforms, such as Internet Explorer.
MSDN is a gold mine for information on features of Internet Explorer, which can make developing sites to be as cross browser compatible much easier.
Places to keep up with what's new
One of the most important parts of being a web developer is keeping up to date with what's new on the Internet. To this end I would always suggest that if you are starting out building websites or are already in the business, you should spend at least some time each week reading blogs, forums and reading about new technologies.
This is the blog of Paul Boag, Creative Director of web design company Headscape. Along with Marcus Lillington, he also produces a weekly podcast directed to "all those involved with designing, developing and running websites on a daily basis". If you have an iPod, subscribing to this podcast is a must.
Boagworld also boasts a great community forum which is worth hanging out in.
Sitepoint is a web development blog, opinion and news site. The Sitepoint site contains a large number of articles covering the full range of topics a web developer or designer may be interested in.
They also publish a very good series of books covering areas such as ASP.Net, web design and making the most of a career as a freelancer designer. Their book "The Principles of Beautiful Web Design" is one of the best guides to web design that I have read. Free preview chapters of most books can be downloaded in PDF.
They also have an extensive community forum.
Whether you're a web designer or more inclined toward development, you will need to come up with designs, layouts and concepts for how things will look from time to time.
Smashing Magazine is a great resource for the latest ideas in design; web, graphic, photographic or just general. I personally find it a very great place for inspiration. I have often found out about great free fonts, icon sets and much, much more.
A List Apart is a magazine that "explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices".
Every month they publish a couple of in depth articles covering many different areas, such as A More Useful 404or Walking the Line When You Work from Home.