Best web design books according to redditors
We found 464 Reddit comments discussing the best web design books. We ranked the 132 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 464 Reddit comments discussing the best web design books. We ranked the 132 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
Above all, make shit. Fuck tutorials, being held by the hand just takes longer. Copy other websites relentlessly, recreate everything you see. Doing > reading
EDIT Lemme link y'all up.
Extra credit
** JavaScript not included.
Quite frankly, what did you expect? Every one starts somewhere.
http://stackoverflow.com is your friend. It is a great resource and you will be able to find a lot of information there.
Now, in regards to the technologies you want to learn, you need to start with the basics. Javascript is arguably harder than the rest, so I think your focus should lie there. You should be asking questions like:
After you've learned those basics, you then need to evaluate the trends and topics in your workplace.
Then you can focus on certain things. For instance, if they feel that most of their goals are related to user interface design, you may want to consider learning about more HTML and CSS (arguably the easiest of the three).
However, if they feel like they need to add more functionality to pages and build backend code, you will probably need to learn more Javascript and jQuery. Remember, jQuery is a Javascript library and learning both together is the best route you can take (in my opinion).
Here are a few resources which I used to get a better grasp on certain topics (quite frankly, I never finish books because all of this information is online).
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-jQuery-The-Missing-Manual/dp/1449399029
http://www.amazon.com/HTML5-Missing-Manual-Matthew-MacDonald/dp/1449363261
http://www.amazon.com/CSS3-Missing-David-Sawyer-McFarland/dp/1449325947/
All of the Missing Manual books are fairly well written and will give you a lot of insight on those languages.
However, if you prefer to be taught rather than teaching yourself, some good resources like these may help you:
https://www.codeschool.com/
https://www.codecademy.com/
Both of these websites are tailored to teaching you to code within your browser. I've found both of them to be excellent.
Some resources which you will want to keep in handy:
http://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/the-30-css-selectors-you-must-memorize--net-16048 - Great tutorial on CSS selectors that may prove invaluable when working with CSS.
http://diveintohtml5.info/ - A very well made web page regarding HTML5, its new features, and some other interesting topics.
http://api.jquery.com/ - The documentation for jQuery. I know this can be found easily, but I can't stress enough how useful it will be to have this page open while you are reading through jQuery code.
...and much more. You will find more information online everywhere. If you feel like you need more information, feel free to PM me.
Remember:
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" - Albert Einstein
This is only the beginning of your long journey if you choose to stay in the development field. Good luck!
Edit: Thank you so much for gold! If anyone else wants more information, feel free to PM me. I don't have anyone to talk to about web development XD
Here's my list of the classics:
General Computing
Computer Science
Software Development
Case Studies
Employment
Language-Specific
C
Python
C#
C++
Java
Linux Shell Scripts
Web Development
Ruby and Rails
Assembly
Lift, Gamma, Gain is where we hang out online.
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema is the book we recommend.
Here is a tutorial that's more conceptual than just "film look." There are pay tutorials available on Lynda (your library probably has a free account). There are also color correction pay courses like Mixing Light and similar.
EDIT: yoo, former Atlanta born and raised guy here. Go see if you can visit CO3 and chat with Billy and the other artists there. Color is best learned in person
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema by Alexis Van Hurkman
Colorgradingcentral.com
Lynda.com
I prefer Davinci Resolve Lite as a starting platform but many of the techniques you learn in resolve apply to things as simple as the Fast / 3 Way Color Correctors in Premiere, Final Cut, and Avid. The difference being the color handling, ability to isolate secondaries, masking / tracking, etc.
Learn scopes first, then how to color correct (where skin tone should be on vectorscope / waveform), then learn the creative part of grading.
Grading your images before your shots match is only going to make it worse.
Save yourself time in post: invest in a color checker / gray card /spyder system (a must if you are matching different cameras).
The way you are able to grade also depends on your footage. If it's raw, you can process it differently than if it was shot highly compressed.
I would put color grading up there with sound design. It's complex, time consuming, and adds a ton of production value when done well. BUT, on most full scale productions, it is handled by a team of people.
Use a light touch. Be subtle. "When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all."
Depends on what you want to do — UX is a pretty broad field. I'm a user interface designer with a UX background, which means I've designed sites, web apps and mobile apps, but there's plenty of UX positions that don't require any sort of visual design or front-end development experience.
For example, there are labs that conduct user research and interviews, run focus groups, or do user testing. Hell, you could even apply to be a user tester at a site like usertesting.com. Not sure how much money you can make from that, but it's something.
Also, there are UX positions that go from beginning research and discovery for projects up through the wireframing, which doesn't require any visual design experience. You'll usually hand off your UX work to a designer or a developer to implement.
Some good books to read about UX are:
There's also plenty of online resources about UX. Smashing Magazine has a ton of articles on it.
If you are good at puzzles, love solving complex problems, and contain any shred of empathy, user experience could be a good field for you.
The book it is referring to is the Yahoo Web Style Guide (a great reference, btw) and I've downloaded it to a bunch of devices because it was the first Kindle book I ever bought. I kinda see your point, but this is a reference guide so I load it on every phone, computer and tablet I ever work on.
Sigh. What everyone here saying "just practice!" doesn't realize is that people like OP likely DON'T KNOW WHAT TO PRACTICE. As much as we try to copy other designs, we still totally miss the "behind-the-scenes" theory that holds it all together.
OP, that was my problem. I tried to copy other designs but still couldn't piece everything together without looking sloppy and amateurish.
Then I learned three simple things:
1 -- GRID-BASED DESIGN. If you weren't raised in an environment where good design was appreciated (like me), you likely don't have a pre-developed sense of how things should be spaced out in a design... i.e. how much margin, padding, line-spacing, etc there should be between elements. This is where adhering to a grid will change your life. Specifically, AN 8PT GRID. (When you see "pt" referenced in design materials rather than "px", just know that they both mean the same thing. Google started using "pt" in their Material Design guides to reduce confusion around devices like iPhones, which have 1334 x 750 screen resolutions... but which render content at 667 x 350 to make it retina. In that case, "8 pt" means "8 px" based on the 667 x 350 output.)
Essentially using a grid takes the guesswork out of how much spacing/padding to use. And using an "8 pt grid" specifically is the most universal, device-friendly grid to design to. If you want, you can play around with other grids in the future when you've developed a sense of design taste. But for now... stick with 8 pt grids. Trust me.
2 -- COLOR THEORY. Which colors go together? Color theory is the science behind that. Once you know color theory, you'll suddenly understand a lot more about the world than you did before. You'll see why some people's outfits are absolutely awesome. You'll see why some the insides of some people's houses look fantastic. And on, and on, and on.
In general, the rule here is 60/30/10: 60% of your design should be your primary color (in 90% of modern app design this is just white or slightly off-white), 30% should be your secondary color (in the CSS for this subreddit that is blue), and 10% should your accent color (in the CSS for this subreddit that is red).
3 -- TYPOGRAPHY. Honestly, I recommend just copying the font sizes used in google's Material Design. It will make everything in your design look proportional and pleasing to the eye. (Or, in other words, you & your users won't notice the fonts in any significant way.)
...
Links:
Ok, with these three concepts out of the way, you should hopefully have an easier time deconstructing really good designs and reproducing them yourself. Hope this helps.
I thought myself HTML/CSS with this book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118008189/ref=redir_mdp_mobile
The book is design very well and eases you into everything with clear visuals.
And am still learning javascript with this sites regiment : http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly/
But I'm struggling finding the time to thoroughly understand it.
Here's a list of all the tools we use at our small studio
Content:
UE4
Maya LT
Substance suite (painter, designer, pro)
Photoshop (we have the suite so sometimes we also use video editing tools, website tools, etc, but not day to day)
Mudbox
Visual Studio
Company related stuff:
asana
perforce
We spend about $80 a month for software, and like $80 up front for mudbox for a month. I spent about $4000 on equipment to startup.
I guess if you learned the stuff in the content subheading you'd be able to make a game!
A personal note: a lot of people (everybody here probably) will talk about programming etc ... but I think that the most valuable time I've ever spent with a book was one on 3D lighting, which taught me behind the scenes what's going on in lighting engines (like UE4) and also general tips for getting stuff to look good.
A lot of writing on game design is crap. But a great great thing to read is the grim fandango design doc
http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2008/11/13/GrimPuzzleDoc_small.pdf
We do not have a lot of these sorts of things in the game business, and reading something like that put into perspective for me exactly how a game is laid out before programming.
Watching the double fine documentary is good, too, and taught me a lot about managing a group of people. Also taught me what a "typical" studio looks like making a game from start to finish.
Here's a great book on color theory/design/how to use tools to color grade film
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1483171621&sr=8-2&keywords=film+color+grading
And if you read nothing else on game design, read this:
http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/05164.51146.pdf
And you should read good critical game criticism, here, from andrew plotkin:
http://www.eblong.com/zarf/gamerev/
He taught me a lot about game design.
I also recommend playing some early text adventures. I learned a lot from playing through two or three.
If I had one piece of advice it would be to design something on paper before you even do code. Lots of people will recommend how to start programming and stuff, but I think that is secondary to design. It's a means, but not really the destination. Once you've spent about a month with a project it gets pretty locked in, so you want to make sure that you have designed something you are proud of before you actually start making the thing
Yes! This is the book. It was just updated in January. Read the reviews and you'll see that it is highly thought of.
I just got mine a few weeks ago and it is great.
Expert Python Programming by Tarek Ziade. Tarek is the individual responsible for spearheading the overhaul of Python packaging over the last couple years.
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (2nd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321929667/
Seriously.
> I just don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to color correction. Forget about color grading.
Alexis Van Hurkman's book
I know you want a tutorial, but get this book. It's not hard to read or digest.
This is a huge topic, an art and science blended so finely together.
Check out Color Correction Handbook by Alexis Van Hurkman
This goes really deep into the fine knowledge you need to know about color.
For practical software usage, I say checkout Colorgradingcentral.com, TaoOfColor.com, MixingLight. They've got a bunch of information, an archive of newsletters, and some paid tutorials as well.
Check out DaVinci Resolve Lite. It's a professional color grading program that's free.
This may be a little off topic, but since you are starting to learn I wanted to give some advice!
I've been doing HTML/CSS for about 3 years but never touched Javascript/jQuery. Boy, what a mistake. I just bought a book: "JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual" (recommended by someone on here!) and it's so great. There's also some courses on Codecademy :)
js/jq work together to make your website look really fresh and most of the examples you see in this thread will use them. js/jq allow the website to respond to user actions without loading a new page; and this (to me) is one of the biggest signals if a website is "up to date" or not.
I highly recommend starting to learn js and jq.
Bonus: To stay on topic, check out the winners of the Webby awards here! Although many aren't made with simple HTML/CSS there is some serious talent there.
Ooooh you're a super new :)
Many people hate it but w3schools can get you started:
If you want to buy books check out:
It's super noob friendly and the book looks amazing.
Note for others: The same authors have a book on JS. Again it's mostly introduction material but it's fun to flip the pages :)
(Not affiliated to the authors).
Before becoming a developer, I was running a part-time freelance design studio while working at a coffee shop for a few years. That worked out well for where I was at in my life, but I always wanted to move towards working in an agency to get more experience.
I ended up applying for a few designer positions at small local agencies, and finally got an interview... even if it ended up being a job opening for a front-end developer, not a designer (the job posting wasn't very clear).
Although they would have liked to hire me as a designer, they just didn't have the need. They said they would hire me if I learned HTML, CSS and a little JavsScript to do some front-end templating and design. And so it begun.
I bought a couple books and crammed in some late nights learning how to make a simple website. Learning JavaScript (basically how to use jQuery) was probably the most rewarding part of that. A few months later, I came back to go over what I learned and landed the job as a front end developer and designer. I started out at around $20,000.
Fast forward to where I am now, I am the lead developer for a small agency. I held onto that drive I had in the beginning to delve deeper in computer science via MIT's OpenCourseWare on YouTube. Within just a couple years, I've more than tripled my salary, and pushed myself to areas I'd never thought I'd be able to go (or even be interested in going).
I still do a little bit of design, but I found that my real passion is in development and I plan to continue growing my skillset.
I hope this at least encourages somebody to pursue their career in development. If you can't land a job now, just continue learning until you do land that job. I had to wait nearly 6 months before I finally got that second interview, and it changed my career (and really, my entire life). There's a plethora of courses online at sites like Treehouse and of course YouTube.
Good luck!
I like these books:
> Expert Python Programming practices
> Python in Practice: Create Better Programs Using Concurrency, Libraries, and Patterns
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117
Everything is a question of Luma or Chroma. That's it. All else derives from that.
> I know practice is important (I have all my flat footage I can practice on), but are there any recommend tutorials, courses, etc?
Nope. Flat is irrlevant.
You'll want to start with with the Color Correction Handbook
And then you'll probably go to Lynda.com - and depending, if you need more, Mixinglight.com. Your local library probably has a lynda account.
Lynda is the 900lb gorilla in the video training space. ML is three colorists who have created the "next" level after you're a novice.
Great story. I love the vindication element of everyone in this key market considering the Rift a toy without even giving it a try. What's amazing to me is that arch viz is something we've known would be a killer app for VR since the '90s, there's an extensive section in Howard Rheingold's seminal book about the research that was already well underway at UNC Chapel Hill by the time the book was published. Rheingold describes how architects used comparatively crude VR tech to experience exactly the same kind of foresight when planning a new campus structure, but the architecture industry never really caught on to the idea due to a combination of extreme costs, unsatisfying hardware, and lack of administrative vision. The real trick Oculus has pulled is solving the first two challenges, not just the second - all we need now is leaders who can see the technology for what it is.
I've said it before and been shouted down, but I still believe it: Architecture firms that don't embrace VR in both their creative workflow and their customer relations within five years won't be architecture firms in ten.
I agree with /u/Supernovadm I like tutorials where you can type the code rather than just read it. I think treehouse is great, especially when it comes to just starting.
If you pay for a month or two there you can rage through most of the html/css content they have and have a pretty good grasp.
If you're looking for a good book to start on these topics though I would suggest Html & Css: Design and Build Websites by Jon Duckett.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
It's a super simple book. Very Visual and easy to read. Great start. Hope this helps!
Good news: there's no need to be scared.
It was a previous version of this tutorial from Themeshaper that got me started on WordPress myself. Like anything else, just play with it until you're comfortable.
User roles are the last thing you need to worry about. Here's the summary from the WordPress codex. I'd actually recommend reading it from bottom to top. I make clients editors at most; I've never had one insist on being an admin.
What you'll really want to focus on is learning PHP if you haven't already, and WordPress themes.
If it's a good book you're after, the best one out there I've used is Professional Wordpress: Design and Development
Edit: Although it's good to build a couple themes from scratch — meaning creating all the template files yourself to understand how they work — eventually that'll get tedious as you'll find yourself constantly adding the same elements over and over. Underscores remedies this perfectly: it basically gives you a blank theme with everything you need ready to go. It's not a framework, just a head start. Highly recommended for picking apart and experimenting — and for building themes.
The article image reminds me of a book about web design I saw once. I think it was green and it had a pixelated photo of a guy with a hat looking up from either behind the title or from the bottom. Does anyone know which one I'm thinking of?
At first I thought it might have been Eric Meyer on CSS but the cover of that one looks nothing like it. Neither does More Eric Meyer on CSS. I thought it might be about web usability instead but the book I was thinking of then was Designing Web Usability by Jakob Nielsen and that one has no images on the cover at all. I tried to google green book webdesign but none of them look like the one I had in mind :/
---
Edit: Found it!
I searched for web design site:goodreads.com using Google and then I spotted it through http://www.goodreads.com/genres/web-design under "Popular Web Design Books". Designing With Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman. No wonder the article image reminded me of the book, it's the same guy!
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Web-Standards-Jeffrey-Zeldman/dp/0735712018 - First edition, red
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Web-Standards-Jeffrey-Zeldman/dp/0321385551 - Second edition, green
https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Web-Standards-Jeffrey-Zeldman/dp/0321616952 - Third edition, blue
I can help you with that!
I'll recommend von Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook, which is exceptionally helpful. And thorough.
Resolve will be easiest for you. Plugins are great, but they won't help you shot match.
www.mixinglight.com
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117
If you don't have a calibrated monitor, there is no point.
It's a dull topic to learn, but necessary. Adobe does a bunch of things behind the curtains, which makes it more nebulous and confusing.
This is the book that helped me a lot.
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (2nd Edition) (Digital Video & Audio Editing Courses) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321929667/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_HEAdAbV5W15YK
This book is very good.
https://www.amazon.com/Nuke-101-Professional-Compositing-Effects/dp/0321984129/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1510068543&sr=8-1&keywords=nuke+101&dpID=51FZJBWmODL&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch
Have you guys validated your idea? Do you have hundreds or thousands of people who already gave you feedback that they would put down money for your idea?
If you don't have validation yet, that is the number one thing I would say you need to get. If I had to recommend three books for you to hold close by your side, they would be:
Also, don't become the Winklevoss twins!
To further elaborate, you're describing an antenna and any antenna book will discuss various versions of the problem at length. Balanis is good : http://www.amazon.com/Antenna-Theory-Analysis-Design-Edition/dp/047166782X
JQuery CookBook! Yummy!
> but did the masses really have the ability to render decent 1008x1024 pictures in 1994?
The Amiga 2024 from '88 actually took four consecutive images from an Amiga 500 (about VGA size) and assembled them to one large picture, requiring special display drivers. So it was technically impossible to display more than 15 frames per second or any decent animation, not even in 2D. The mouse pointer was flickering during movements.
But even in 1994 there was nothing outside the workstation world that could render 3D in high resolutions. The 3dfx Voodoo Graphics released in 1996 was the first 3D graphics hardware accelerator for PCs, and it came as an add-on to your 2D card. The Playstation 1 was way ahead compared to PC graphics back then. The expensive graphics card I mentioned had no 3D acceleration at all.
One of the primary reasons for me and my flat mate to connect our machines via Thinwire-Ethernet was to play the just released first version of Doom, which was the first game to smoothly display a complete virtual environment in 3D @ 320x200. Without 3D hardware acceleration, using 2D sprites and a lot of trickery from John Carmack's Id Tech 1 rendering engine. And here I am, 20 years later, still relying on Carmack's genius to bring me the best VR experience possible on current technology.
If you used an N64, you were actually using a graphics chip developed by Silicon Graphics. VR in the early 90s almost always involved Silicon Graphics workstations, the kind you see in Jurassic Park. A Crimson with RealityEngine graphics would cost you about USD 100K, there was nothing faster on the planet and whatever smartphone you have today could easily wipe the floor with it. Add a VPL EyePhone for USD 50K and one or two DataGloves for USD 9K each and you are set, but be prepared for a rocky experience, because rendering even untextured stereoscopic VR with 720x480 per eye was quite taxing for this machine.
The earliest VR systems from 1968 could only dream of this kind of graphics power. VR back then was black and white and rendered in wireframes. Nonetheless it was VR, immersion worked. People broke into sweat when they crashed in early flight simulators, which basically meant that the blue part of the screen (sky) was becoming smaller and the green part (earth) bigger. This is still relevant because it shows one thing: Virtual Reality happens in your head. Your brain makes it real, even a very primitive version.
And something has actually been lost with the current iteration of VR. We are discussing DK1 resolution vs. DK2 and CV1, screen door effect, black smearing, low persistence, all important aspects for improving the experience. 20 years ago there was no way you could to get close to photorealism. You had to work with the mind, which lead to some pretty fucked up experiments. I remember one where you were placed inside the body of a crab, and the extra legs of the crab were mapped to your fingers in the DataGloves. Within a few minutes people "forgot" that they had fingers and were naturally walking around with their new legs. I doubt many people felt they were a chicken in "Chicken Walk" just because they picked up corn by nodding their head.
Outside the "Sightline" demos I haven't seen a lot of software for the Rift that actively messes with your perception. And this is why I am kind of sad when I see comments that "the old guys are just jealous they missed the boat". I feel more like begging everybody to take a look at the great work that has already been done, partly even triggered by the restrictions of the hardware, because todays focus on the technical improvement and "getting more real" ignores so many great opportunities to have your mind blown.
For a great introduction to VR from the past I recommend Howard Rheingold's Virtual Reality: The Revolutionary Technology of Computer-Generated Artificial Worlds - and How It Promises to Transform Society from 1991, a used copy of which you can pick up from amazon for a few cents.
I found Lynda.com to be extremely dry and slow. To me it was the equivalent of those old school mandated educational movies you would watch in classrooms back in the 90s on your faux-wood tv. Take this opinion with a grain of salt though as it has been almost two years since I have looked at anything on Lynda, I hear it may be better today.
If you are looking for web development in particular I would suggest the following:
In addition, StackOverflow; A general programming Q&A website, has an answer to just about any programming issue you may be running into. If the answer is not already there, then chances are you will have one within 24hours.
I began my pursuit into web development about 2 years ago. In that time I have gone through the resources listed above as well as the following books which have helped immensely:
Some personal career history if you're interested:
In the last two years I have gone from making 18k a year as a Technical Support Representative to 80k a year as a Front-End Engineer building JavaScript applications at a large FDIC Bank. It was only in the last two years that I really dug into Web Development (and programming for that matter) and I really can't see myself ever doing anything else for a living. The job requires an immense amount of learning (which I love) and will keep your mind sharp. I really do get a kick out of problem solving all day. Programming will require a major adjustment to the way you think. I can say that the way I work through problems now is completely different to the way I did before. I feel as if critical thinking has eluded me until the last two years and it has been a major life changing event. By far the biggest contributing factor to my growth has been the team I work with. You have to do your best to find a team that is willing to work with you as a junior so you can siphon that knowledge. Even if that means taking a low paying job, however; know your worth so that you can ask for the right amount of money once you have gained the necessary skills. As a personal rule of thumb, I will not stay at a company where I am the most knowledgable member of the team. This inhibits growth as a developer and will prevent me from realizing my true potential.
Feel free to hit me up if you have any questions.
Theres a book callee HTML/CSS HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118008189/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_WwD1CbAZFSF55
I second Alexis Van Hurkman’s Color Grading text book. It is the bible of colour correction and includes access to a website where you can download all of the files to do each and every exercise in the book.
Yup. This one right here. Color Correction Handbook is a great foundation the others can build upon.
Don't spend money to build a room just yet, lets take this from the beginning. Having all the right tools in the world isn't going to help you from ground zero.
The software I use to do 85% of my professional work up to 4K/UHD is Blackmagic Resolve, and it is available for 0$. Totally free. Make sure you have a computer that can run it.
https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/davinciresolve
(Download link on page)
Read the resolve manual included in the installer package. Written by Alexis Van Hurkman http://www.alexisvanhurkman.com/wordpress/
It basically can teach you the fundamentals of color, through explaining features of the program.
His Ripple Training is also very comprehensive and something to look at. http://www.rippletraining.com/products/davinci-resolve/davinci-resolve-12-5-core-training-bundle/
That being said, you should also read the following books:
Begin with this:
Color Correction Handbook also by Van Hurkman
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321929667/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=QEGXRDSHFHYDDGD6QTX8
If you really want to go deep:
Color and Mastering for Digital Cinema
https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Digital-Cinema-Industry-Handbook/dp/0240808746
All that being said, a basic foundation in color can also be gained through stills manipulation in lightroom or photoshop first. This is how I learned, and I feel like it really gave me a head start.
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
Read EVERY ONE OF THESE TUTORIALS. This site is an amazing resource for all levels of mastery, I find myself going back to it again and again to refresh and then reach deeper into the void.
(Disclaimer: I am NOT Alexis Van Hurkman, he's just a good dude, and kinda unavoidable when it comes to learning Resolve, since he literally was contracted to write the manual. Also hes good.)
Anyway. Once you've chewed through all that, youll either find its not for you, or youll be back for more, and youll have a much more targeted idea of what your first gear purchase should be to help you get the most milage.
You can do a lot of great work without any gear. Learn how to use the scopes, then a monitor can come later.
Hope this helps.
Here are a few:
Elements of User Experience, Jesse James Garret: What a typical experience design process is made up of.
Designing Interactions, Bill Moggridge: Seminal thoughts on Interaction Design, holds up to this day
Don't Make Me Think, Steve Krug: One of the first books to gave the issues of IA and UX design a human, customer point of view.
About Face, Alan Cooper: Another take on the whole process, dives a bit deeper into every stage than Garret's book.
Designing For The Digital Age, Kim Goodwin: Human-centered digital products
Sprint, Jake Knapp: A condensed prototyping methodology
100 Things To Know About People, Susan Weinschenk: How people think
There are a few more Product Design related books I recommended in another thread.
IDEO's design thinking methodologies are also a great resource:
Design Kit, A book and toolkit about human centered design
Circular Design, A guide for holistic design, organization friendly.
Cheers
Interaction Design
Interior Design
Landscape Architecture
Lighting Design
Product Design
Product Design
Sound Design
Urban Design
* Cities for People by Jan Gehl
Web Design
Well, you can start at microwave engineering and work your way back to DC: Pozar
edit:
Antenna engineering is fun and mathy:
Balanis
Stutzmann and Thiele
Definitely more beginner, but I loved Jon Duckett's books when I was starting out. If you're looking for intro level, front-end stuff, they're very visual and easy to grasp.
HTML & CSS: Design and Build Websites
JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development
Same thing happened to me at my last job. I was actually led to believe in the interview that it was a job relevant to my experience but I quickly learned on day 1 that it wasn't. Read as much as you possibly can in your free time for a while, you would be amazed at how quickly you can pick things up. Three books I recommend as a crash course are:
Hi there,
If your primary interest is in blogging, I would recommend an existing platform like Ghost to get you up and running quickly. However, it sounds like you're more interested in web programming, with blogs being an interesting application.
These days, a lot of web applications are written with scripting languages, primarily Python, Ruby, or Javascript[1]. Each of these have many web frameworks to help you write your server application, but the big ones are:
If you're already familiar with one of those languages, obviously you should heavily consider exploring its frameworks. Alternatively, you should research the languages and their frameworks on a high level and get an understanding of their core differentiating features before choosing one.
Personally, I'm a lover of JS and node since that allows you to write your entire stack in Javascript, but there are those in this subreddit who call me a fanboy :)
Regarding your client, any behavioral logic is going to be done in Javascript, the markdown will be in HTML, and your layout and style will be in CSS [2] - no way around that, so you better get familiar.
Excellent intro to modern HTML/CSS
Excellent intro to Javascript
[1] Javascript executes in a unique server environment via Node.js, utilizing Chrome's v8 JS engine.
[2] Of course there are languages like Coffeescript and Compass that compile to JS and CSS, this is probably beyond the spirit of the question.
I just picked up "HTML&CSS" by John Duckett. The author does a really good job explaining the construct. here you go
This is a great beginners guide. Covers the same aspects as "HTML&CSS" but allows you to focus on one lesson at a time.
This book might be what you're looking for.
First up - do you have hosting? Can you install WordPress there? Have you written or edited posts and Pages on a WordPress site? If not, make that a priority.
mrstejdm's suggestions are excellent - much depends on how you prefer to learn (books? videos? articles?) so here are a few to get you started.
Resources
The Codex is surprisingly good, you could start there and supplement your learning with books and courses. Look out for Morten Rand-Hendriksen at Lynda.com and on Twitter. Great instructor.
The WordPress Handbook, also full of great, searchable information.
The Loop
The WPMUDev blog (https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/) has some great content too.
Books
Digging into WordPress by Chris Coyier and Jeff Starr could be a good starting point (it's visually very attractive).
Professional WordPress: Design and Development 3rd Edition is also very good.
I personally enjoyed reading this book and also https://css-tricks.com/ is good to follow, but in the end only a lot of practice and seeing how others do things will do the trick. Also have others look at your code and critique it.
and me this
Rocket surgery.
Honestly, I don't even know where to start.. No offense intended, but you are in the very beginning of digital design. This is not to say that you don't have the technical skills, but that you should study more visual design theory. Good design has rules, which are learnable. Below is a book list, which I think will be a great value to you:
http://www.amazon.com/Ordering-Disorder-Principles-Design-Voices/dp/0321703537/
http://www.amazon.com/About-Face-Essentials-Interaction-Design/dp/1118766571/
http://www.amazon.com/Principles-Beautiful-Web-Design/dp/0992279445/
I don't want to discourage you, your page will look much better if you read only one of these.
I would absorb everything you can as far as tutorials go. Try to also watch some on the scopes because those are very important. I know there are some on mixinglight and Lynda.
This is also a great resource.
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117/ref=nodl_
"Brightness" and "Contrast" controls are very imprecise. While a bump in Brightness will probably lift some details out of the darker areas, it's also likely to overexpose some highlights.
You'd be better served with a tool that offers a little more finesse in the colour control. Usually colours are separated into Shadows, Midtones and Highlights, allowing for specific control in each tonal region.
You could look at Balckmagic's free Davinci Resolve Lite product if you want to really get some power. Or Magic Bullet's free Colorista 1 plugin for Premiere.
There are many many many tutorials online for various tools. If you want to know more and learn some of the overall principles in a somewhat application-agnostic way then I highly recommend Alexis Van Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook.
If you need principals and some theory - https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_1?crid=25KJGUHR9XZQT&keywords=color+correction+handbook&qid=1562776577&s=gateway&sprefix=color+correction+%2Caps%2C203&sr=8-1
​
Pretty much the CC "bible"
Alexis Van Hurkman:
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667
And yeah, great book to walk you through the fundamentals of the craft, and a little of the science.
Sure thing. You can also go back over the timeline and adjust the grade for a different deliverable in a different color space. This is called a “trim pass.”
Consider reading the Color Correction Handbook. It will answer a lot of your questions.
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (2nd Edition) (Digital Video & Audio Editing Courses) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321929667/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_29tYBbHNJV4VG
Hello! sure, first of all you'll need to read the bible lol
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
I learned by doing and by asking, specially at liftgammagain.com, there you'll find people who have movies in hollywood, cannes or running tv shows... they won't say anything about that but you can google them haha
To grade in an efficient manner... calibrate your monitor and learn to read the scopes and If you are shooting try to use at least a grey card.
The definitive how-to is in Kim Goodwin’s book Designing for the Digital Age. It is far more comprehensive than Alan Coopers probably because while he invented the concept she was the one putting them into practice at Cooper.
It does the best job describing exactly how to identify patterns in research that lead you to how many Personas actually exist and how to frame them. I wish more people were familiar with it because I see so much confusion about Personas based on bad templates not process.
Here’s a testimonial:
“Her work on Goal-Directed Design and persona development has set a standard." —Jared Spool
It already is! In the form of textbooks!
Read this:
If you don't have a strong multivariable calculus and differential equations background:
Read and understand these. Than go and answer your own questions.
(These are all (non-fiction) books. If you want research papers I can give you a bibliography of things you might find a few interesting things within.)
Virtual Reality by Howard Rheingold is a very good place to start for a founding in the history of VR (right back to the invention of the HMD by Ivan Sutherland in the 1960's) but was written before the current reignited interest in VR that Oculus has triggered;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Reality-Revolutionary-Computer-Generated-Worlds--And/dp/0671778978/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396019470&sr=8-1&keywords=virtual+reality+howard
If you like Rheingold's writing style then The Virtual Community might be of interest to you. Not directly related to VR, but as VR becomes more mainstream (& especially with players such as Facebook expressing interest) it is only a matter of time until VR becomes a popular interface to virtual communities;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262681218/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If such sociological aspects of computers/VR interest you, then Sherry Turkle's books are fascinating;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262701111/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0684833484/ref=oh_details_o04_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262012707/ref=oh_details_o08_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
As somebody else already mentioned, Infinite Reality is a nice read, but is very 'light' on science/technical detail;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0061809500/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
If you like your cyberpunk fiction then Cyberspace: First Steps is great - it even has a foreword written by William Gibson;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0262521776/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For more of a brain-fuck read, take a look at The Cyborg Experiments;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/082645903X/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For basic virtual environment/virtual world background I can recommend these two (Richard Bartle is the guy who invented MUD1);
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0131018167/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0631182144/ref=oh_details_o07_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
And if by 'the VR experience' you mean 'immersion' or 'the sense of presence' then the first section of Virtual Space is a good start before diving into back issues of MIT Presence;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Virtual-Space-Spatiality-Inhabited-Worlds/dp/1447111001/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396019722&sr=8-1&keywords=virtual+space+spatiality
This is a good introduction to HTML and CSS: https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=mt_paperback
I have successfully used it as the starting point for high school students and non-technical marketing people.
Hi there. I'm a professional web developer by trade. Your website looks like it's from the 1990's...I understand that both of you are working full-time, but I highly recommend completely re-doing your website.
I don't even know where to start, so I'm just going to give you examples, resources, and inspiration, and relevant comments.
Inspiration:
This is by far, THE best website for tea I've ever seen.
DavidsTea
Mid-tiered websites:
Harney&Sons
Some more sites you can look at:
Adagio Teas
Mighty Leaf
Verdant Tea
Lower-tiered websites:
TeaVivre
Den's Tea
Absolutely not:
Upton Tea
Resources:
Let me know if you have any other questions, thanks!
HTML to specify the page content and CSS to style it. Add javascript to make it more "responsive".
Useful website: https://www.w3schools.com
Book: https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
(His Javascript and jQuery one is also good)
Once you've got that down you can use a python web framework such as Flask to add more functionality (if you so chose).
http://flask.pocoo.org
As many have recommended online sources, I’ll recommend a great physical source. Check out Jon Ducketts book! It teaches all the necessities for html AND css (although it is a bit dated at this point so there’s that). I used it to learn and it’s done wonders! https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=mp_s_a_1_2_sspa?adgrpid=55477128705&gclid=Cj0KCQjwuLPnBRDjARIsACDzGL1d1JwzTYFepv6lTztDq_3hZlMBADGYXubYcngdgqHEmKGbtWf1aDUaAr2SEALw_wcB&hvadid=274706420603&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9011492&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=18367512556725691839&hvtargid=kwd-320506985194&hydadcr=21343_10176684&keywords=jon+duckett&qid=1559065605&s=gateway&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1
Does only coming from a sys admin background count as no prior experience to web programming? I just was given access to the static company site about a year ago and was tasked with updating it since then. Fast forward to about 5 weeks ago and I decided to teach myself WordPress + LAMP then LEMP. L(A/E)MP = Linux, Apache/Nginx ("Engine-X"), MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP/Python (bottle.py).
I knew PHP and Linux from system management of random servers at work and through consultations with my personal business.
If you're asking for advice on where to start, it seems that the current best practice is to go on codeacademy.com and accompany that work with the Jon Duckett books on at least front end stuff including HTML/CSS/JS and maybe some jQuery.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/
Cloud9 and GitHub are great first destinations for starting in development. You can go my route if you're feeling confident with system management and go for Amazon Web Services EC2 with a free (for a year!) micro instance that you can load with all kinds of stuff, including a basic Ubuntu server with LAMP (MySQL, PHP) that in-all takes less than an hour to get comfortable with and ready for a new page or even WordPress.
A significant amount of people here swear by laracasts.com as well once you're through the basic front end tech :)
I learnt through a mixture of Codecademy (which has already been mentioned) and a book called [HTML & CSS: Design and Build websites by Jon Duckett (this links to the UK amazon)] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Sites/dp/1118008189). I think Codecademy misses a few (non-vital) things out, so a secondary source would definitely be worth while; whether that's Duckett's book or not.
I basically agree with Synthetic88. I'd ditch the Flash site altogether, though. I didn't realize there was an HTML version until I went back to the "start" page and scanned carefully. The HTML page is a lot better, I think. I'd set that as your main page, though it definitely could use a palette change. Check out that close-up picture of those mallets for inspiration. Also, to make things more obvious links should be a different color than plain-text. In the links section the "launch related site" link is redundant as clicking on the link preceding it will take you to the same destination.
It may be worth investing in a book on HTML (this looks like a good one) so you can have finer control over your site. It may seem like a daunting task, but it's really quite easy to get a static site such as yours up and running in HTML once you get the syntax down.
This is a pretty good book to learn the basics of HTML and CSS. You could also try Adobe Muse.
[HTML & CSS - Design And Build Websites] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Sites/dp/1118008189) is a good one. No doubt what ever job you go into will require some kind of knowledge. I had none prior to having this book. It's written and designed for graphic designers rather than computer people, so everything is visually appealing and written in a language you can actually understand. So when I'm asked to produce an email or something, I know this will get me through it.
Thats great! Unfortunately CubeLFG took a lot more than html and css to make. I highly recommend purchasing a book called "HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites" by Jon Duckett. It really is a fantastic book to get you started. http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373185565&sr=8-1&keywords=html+and+css+jon+duckett
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites is a fantastic book to start with. It has a beautiful layout and is the top choice from Amazon when searching for html books, with almost two hundred reviews at a 4.5 rating.
remove the ref and tracking ID please
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189 is the right way
Best book to get moving: http://www.amazon.com/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/111844227X
Find a few solid plugins, download them, and then start browsing through their source code. Literally start at index.php and follow every function call to see the application flow. There are a million ways to write a plugin, but pay particular attention to ones who use standard design patterns like MVC and the like.
Read through this series of articles to see how WP bootstraps itself. Regardless of whether you'll be working on Core, it will help you understand some of the complexities and might even be useful when debugging.
Read up about Hooks, Actions, and Filters and try using them. For fun, do a default setup and use the 2012 theme or the like. Then make a child theme, and see just how much you can modify content-wise across the site strictly with action/filter functions defined in the child theme's functions.php file. I.E. don't modify any template parts or other .php files except functions. For starters try inserting content above common template tag calls: i.e. use "the_content" action to stick some additional information before/after the content of every post across the site. Then see if you can figure out how to modify the output of a wp_nav_menu call. Continue on from there.
Here's a pretty good article for the business/personal/social skills side of things: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/23/how-to-become-a-top-wordpress-developer/
I had a brief stint as something of a junior tech writer, in that I was hired to paint a company's new office, and they offered to teach me how to write since I was a hard worker. I'm a pretty good writer, but I'm not sure I know the finer points past just how to make style guides, write PRDs (product requirement documents), and type up end user help guides.
What I can tell you though is that Yahoo put out a book (kind of a text book) called The Yahoo Style Guide which very much helped me understand how to make style guides for freelance work I have done in the past. The couple of companies I have worked with as a freelancer seemed to have been impressed with my work, so maybe this book will help you out in that aspect of technical writing, though I don't know if this is really what you are looking for. Anyway, good luck!
Hi!
No problem! I'm gonna hit you up with a few subs that might be helpful:
/r/personalfinance
/r/drupal
/r/web_design
/r/DesignJobs
/r/webdev
https://www.reddit.com/r/Wordpress/comments/3ht54z/how_do_you_guys_get_jobsmake_money/
https://www.reddit.com/r/drupal/comments/37logm/best_drupal_job_boards/ (Oh! LinkedIn might be a good place to look and promote yourself! Don't skip that one!)
If you're serious about web dev, you may want to look into these too:
https://alistapart.com/
https://abookapart.com/
https://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/books
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321616952/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 (Start with this book, swear to $DEITY! Read that one religiously!)
Get a domain name, cheap hosting and build your own tiny website. Could be a blog, could be a small portfolio. Anything goes. For the sake of anonymity, I won't post mine. But here are some examples:
https://ma.tt/ (Dude who leads WordPress)
http://www.zeldman.com/ (Yup, the one from the book)
https://studio.zeldman.com/ (Prime example of a cool, one page website to promote yourself. Beware though, this is a complex example. You can get away with far more simpler designs)
https://sindresorhus.com/ (Like this one. This dude is a JavaScript god. You wanna follow him on Github. Don't have a github.com account yet? Shame. On. You. Get one!)
http://www.webchick.net/ (This is a Drupal leader. You wouldn't tell from her site, but she's an important person in the Drupal community.)
https://github.com/iRaul/awesome-portfolios Yeah, okay why bother. Someone did an Awesome list. :-)
About that cheap hosting: Github Pages. Check it out. It's totally free. Get a domain name on HostGator or something. Shouldn't cost more then 15$ a year.
Just, get yourself an on line presence.
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best of luck!
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If you can find 2 laptops and 2 rooms you can do user testing.
Find some internal people as your participants (since you don't have a budget it's better to find people that don't bill their hours in your project). Ideally you would like to have people corresponding to your real user personas but it's still better than nothing.
So you're having the computer that will be used by test participants. You can use a free tool like join.me to broadcast sound and screen to the other laptop in another room. You need 1 person to help the participants in the test room. You should be in the observation room (any other room).
Ideally you also record what's happening on the screen of the participant (Camtasia can be useful but you can simply use Quicktime if you're on a Mac).
In one day, you can interview 5 to 7 person (1 hr sessions) and you'll get great insights about potential usability issues.
If possible, have one of the stakeholder spend some time in the observation room so they can experience the value of user testing.
This book is a really good guide on doing user testing on a small budget: https://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Yourself/dp/0321657292
A good book about streamlined usability testing is "Rocket Surgery Made Easy" by Steve Krug:
https://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Yourself/dp/0321657292
Some thoughts about user testing from Jakob Nielsen:
https://www.nngroup.com/articles/why-you-only-need-to-test-with-5-users/
I'd be glad to. To start, here are some terms to look for:
"The Crystal Goblet" explains the aim of print design, which is a good precurser to reading about interactive design media.
As far as books go, I strongly recommend About Face 3: The Essentials of Interaction Design. It's a fairly long book, but it's worth reading to build a strong foundation of understanding in IxD.
A lot of IxD is about effectively using visual design to achieve goals. If you want to understand the visual tools of IxD after finding the theory interesting, you might read the mistitled Layout Workbook (or any other overview book; it's not actually a book about layouts — nor a workbook), followed by Bringhurst for advanced traditional typography.
Rocket Surgery Made Easy and other Steve Krug books are commonly suggested for more IxD topics, but I haven't gotten around to reading them. It's likely they're lighter reading than About Face 3.
I think you may need to read this.
http://www.amazon.com/Rocket-Surgery-Made-Easy-Yourself/dp/0321657292
1: The Color Correction Handbook by Alexis van Hurkman.
You can find the ebook of this on your school's library site if you have access to your old college login.
2: Tao of Color. Subscription website
3. Jonny's website. His blog style site posts a lot of resources regarding color
I'm sorry if this comes across as rude, but why did you volunteer/get hired to color correct an entire feature film if you had zero experience, and extremely little knowledge about the subject matter, and more importantly, who agreed to let someone with zero experience color correct their film?
Anyways, the answer to your questions fill an entire book.
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117
I recommend buying this and reading the whole thing, cover to cover.
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117 seriously.
To me, scopes are useful for three things: troubleshooting issues like undesirable color cast, comparatively between multiple shots to ballpark match values, or to maintain spec compliance.
Beyond that, does it look good on a calibrated monitor?
Yes, the human brain is sensitive to how healthy skin looks but it's also contextual. You could have skintones that read near neutral gray but if the scene is substantially cooler, they'll appear correct.
Human skin, no matter the shade, doesn't vary much in hue which is why some vectorscopes do have a skintone target. It also assumes the shot in question has been lit for, or corrected to, neutral (typically 6500K edit: probably 5600K which is considered photographic white rather than display white).
https://www.amazon.de/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667
Step 1: Get this book. (or borrow it from your library)
Step 2: Learn it.
Step 3: Profit.
Yeah, I used one node to match exposure using the scopes and then a second node for color using the color wheels. Super easy if you have image wipe on to compare. Learn the absolute basics of color correction and grading and you'll be able to do this in 10 minutes.
I learned from this book and have heard good things about this one as well.
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1478642518&sr=8-1&keywords=color+correction+handbook
This book is amazing and is essential
PS. I recommend this book as a good starting point: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321929667/
For learning about color correction/grading in general: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321929667/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Then use YouTube/Google for specifics on Resolve.
I highly recommend that book (or find some other resource that teaches color grading in a more general sense). Most of the the Resolve tutorials you come across online are nothing more than showing you how to apply a LUT to your footage and even within that simple scope they manage to give a lot of bad information.
Kim Goodwin's - Designing for the Digital Age
> Balanis
Is this what you're talking about: Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, 3rd Edition?
MSEE (wireless & communications) here. I perform studies and do various research on communications technologies and am involved in all 4 of the items you listed (though I am more of an antenna user than theorist).
I would start by trying to do some reading of introductory books on all of these subjects and at the same time trying to do something practical to reinforce these things. RF instrumentation is generally VERY expensive, but check out /r/RTLSDR. There is some pretty neat stuff that you can do yourself for a $20 investment.
As far as books, I just got a great new book that really provides a substantiative, modern overview of communication standards. Balanis is basically the gold standard for antenna reference books though most find this text pretty dry. I am not going to be very effective at providing you an overview of RF Engineering book or Networking book, I have many but none I would recommend as a good 'overview' since the subjects are so broad.
If you have any more specific questions I would be happy to help if I can. Just read, read, read and back that up with some practical knowledge. Being able to communicate some information about practical experiences during interviews etc... will go a long way.
The above book really is a fantastic resource. Once you're more familiar with the syntax and feel as if you can read most javascript code with a basic understand of what's going on then this book is a good resource dump of jQuery examples that's pretty handy to have laying around, especially if you're new to the game.
EDIT: Technologies change, ink on a page doesn't. The real key is to keep yourself up to date.
No, problem. As far as advice goes.
I'm at the point where I'm comfortable enough to start charging to build websites. That's a great way to make money while in school.
If you have anymore questions, let me know.
Of course, to learn all the important basics for HTML and also the CSS use a site called www.codecademy.com which was very helpful. I then bought this [book] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Sites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410108746&sr=8-1&keywords=html+and+css), and that was more or less it; I started making the site and as I went along if I got stuck I just googled or looked on this subreddit for a solution
I was in a similar boat. I learned A TON through taking the coding bootcamp over at Free Code Camp. You should check them out, you go through several hands of modules and the community is amazing. People are always willing to help. You also have the opportunity to build a portfolio through the years they have you do at the end of the modules.
I would also recommend the book HTML & CSS: Design and Build Web Sites by Jon Duckett
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118008189/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ExHxDbCEW19Q4
I highly recommend Free Code Camp though. For even more fun and access to a community checkout the #100DaysOfCode hashtag challenge on Twitter.
Good luck!!
Beginner: HTML/CSS
Intermediate and up: Read up as others have said, A list apart, Smashing.
Javascript: I read Head First jQuery and Head First JavaScript
Check out Head First HTML5 Programming: Building Web Apps with JavaScript as well.
You could also look into take an online class at Udacity (Free ones) .
I HIGHLY HIGHLY Recommend Pluralsight as I have been using it for learning ASP.NET MVC and Kendo UI but they have so many classes available with full exercise files and hold your hand from beginning to end. There is a 10 day free trial and it is $49/month.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
How and where to learn web design depends a bit on what your learning style is. If you prefer sitting in a classroom and having someone guide you, then you may wish to take classes. Personally, I do my best learning when I have a book in front of me and can play around with ideas as well as skip ahead or repeat chapters.
One of the best books for designers I have found is this little gem:
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/
Its a pretty good book for those who know little to nothing about web design. But I think the best part about the book is the way it is designed. You can tell just by flipping through the pages that the author is a designer, not just some code monkey. There are also a plethora of images so you can see the link between what the code looks like and how it affects the look of a page.
HTML and CSS are mandatory for doing web design. Java and Flash are completely optional depending on your job. Java is an actual programming language that allows you to run programs on their own or even within a web browser. It looks great on a resume and you may find jobs that want you to know it, but for right now I wouldn't worry too much about it. Flash is mostly used for animations and user interaction, however, it is slowly being overshadowed by HTML5. It is still a big deal though, so knowing it can be very useful. If you did want to go beyond your basic HTML/CSS my recommendation would be Javascript and PHP. Both are extremely common scripting languages and worth at least being familiar with.
As far as software, you can start designing with a simple text editor really Notepad or the Mac equivalent. But I would recommend something a tad more advanced. For something free and simple I would check out Notepad++ ( http://notepad-plus-plus.org/ ). Personally I use Dreamweaver because I get it as part of my Creative Cloud subscription. It does off a lot of useful features and plays well with Photoshop/Illustrator/Flash, but in the end those bonus features are just that: a bonus.
You should start with a book.
this is a good one
Here is the good start, with html/css :) https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467748410&sr=1-2
You'll have to learn HTML first, and incorporate styling [CSS] soon after and from there expand your knowledge of using both synergistically. I recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409625374&sr=8-1&keywords=html+book
Afterwards, find out what type of functionality you're going towards [Canvas games (you don't know what I mean yet), social platforms, blogishness, etc.]. That will determine what javascript aspects you should be serious about after learning the basics. Look up 'Professional Javascript for Web Developers'. It's a damn good introduction for going from beginner to cool-guy. Have fun, I myself am a 14 year old on the web-dev journey. Also, even though I'm not in complete support with their methods, make a Stack Overflow account. It'll have the answers to all your questions, and if not, ask it! If you want more info on anything just ask me.
Here are a few links to help with my suggestions:
Mastering Object-oriented Python.
http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Object-oriented-Python-Steven-Lott/dp/1783280972/ref=sr_1_26?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407239223&sr=1-26&keywords=python+programming
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407239898&sr=1-2&keywords=front+end+development
JavaScript the Good Parts
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742
No worries! We were all in your shoes once. It's always great to have help instead of spending hours trying to figure out what you did wrong.
There's a lot of good resources for learning html/css
Hey there! I recently finished this course and also recently got my first offer for a Jr. Front-End Developer role after about a year and a half of self-study. Colt's course is awesome, and I found it to be the best single resource on web development I encountered. So I think you've picked a really good place to start. But, that being said, it is just a starting point (even a full-time $10k boot camp is just a starting point), and you probably will need to look into other resources as well.
I will second what others have said that I found the Rob Percival course underwhelming, but there's a lot of other stuff out there that I would recommend. Note: I'm going to go a bit link crazy here, and I know that might seem a bit overwhelming, but I'm figuring it's better to give you more rather than less; your mileage may vary, and you may not need all of these. These are just the resources I found most helpful.
Free Code Camp is a great place to find practice problems to work through, mainly when it comes to front-end. I can't stand using it end-to-end as a learning path, but others love it. So, different strokes and all that.
CSS Tricks is a really great blog and site for learning how to do advanced CSS stuff. And the site founder Chris Coyier, also hosts a really great podcast called Shop Talk that's all about front end.
John Duckett's books HTML & CSS and JavaScript & JQuery are really pretty and very noob friendly. The JS one does have some errors, so be wary of that, but I found it really helpful for getting a sense of the underpinnings of the language while reading on the train.
You Don't Know JS Is a great book series that is all available online for free and will really help you solidify your JS knowledge.
JavaScript: Understanding the Weird Parts is another Udemy course that does a deep dive of JS (Udemy always has sales, by the way, so never pay full price for their courses).
JavaScript Design Patterns is a free course on Udacity that is super helpful in introducing you to JS frameworks and MV* design patterns. Note that, while you can pay to do a "Nanodegree" through Udacity, you can also access a lot of their courses for free, so I would recommend trawling through them--there's a lot of good stuff on there.
JavaScript 30 is a 30-day structured course in building stuff with vanilla JS by Wes Bos, who has a lot of other good courses as well (though some of them are paid).
Practical JavaScript This is one I've actually just started working through, but so far, I'm really enjoying it. Again, this is free. It will introduce you to test-driven development and give you a better sense of how to plan your own projects, while also not getting mired in any frameworks.
If you want to go into the bowels of the framework world, though:
The udemy course I did first for React/Redux now seems to have been taken down by its creator so that he can update it. But it was called The Complete React Web App Developer Course by Andrew Mead, and when it comes back in updated form (hopefully soon), I would definitely recommend it. If you like Colt's teaching style, Andrew's has a lot of the same feel (excited, but really detailed explanations, and goes over things 50 times in different projects and contexts so that you really learn them). I've also started doing Stephen Grider's Modern React with Redux, and it seems really good so far (though I'm not that far into it, so take it with a grain of salt).
React Fundamentals is another awesome free course by one of the developers of react-router.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
This is the best book you could ever get to start you off.
HTML and CSS is a pretty popular book. You mentioned your HTML skills are pretty good but what I like with this book is each chapter ends with a nice example that incorporates styles and markup to give you a pretty good CSS foundation.
I'm also a big fan of Treehouse which is along the lines of Code Academy or Plural Sight.
Mozilla's Developer Network has great documentation as well.
I absolutely recommend this. It's a great run down on a lot of things.
Don't bother with w3school, has many flaws. I would sooner recommend html dog. It really does a good job explaining things.
And also this book: HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
Certification is not worth it. Knowledge and experience will land you that job/contract.
I commented before, but I misread your question, sorry.
When it comes to design, Hack Design helped me out a lot. You can either read it all at once or get easy to tackle sections in your email inbox every week. If you like books, HTML & CSS by Jon Duckett touches on design a little bit but is also a great reference resource.
Html & css:
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
Also I assume you mean Javascript? Otherwise that's a pretty odd combo. A good Javascript book is this one by the same author:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1118531647
Used both of these for school. Very easy to read and surprisingly comprehensive. Very pretty as well
PS: people don't generally call html and css programming languages
This book has some fairly positive reviews: https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1118008189&pd_rd_r=P0R19VFP1MJ26HQG8BJN&pd_rd_w=CQ3Th&pd_rd_wg=2Jtkr&psc=1&refRID=P0R19VFP1MJ26HQG8BJN
If you're looking to start with Photoshop, XD, or Sketch maybe try a video tutorial site like udemy.com.
https://www.amazon.ca/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
HTML and CSS are typically complete different from JavaScript. I learned HTML and css first, but I see no reason why you can’t do concurrently. Just note JavaScript these days is pretty much using frameworks such as jQuery, Angular and React.js.
Regarding CSS being buggy, it’s something that just comes through experience and some stack overflow. I do use an IDLE such as Coda (for Mac) that helps me fill in the blanks for css.
Also, w3schools.com is my best friend.
Anyways hope that helps!
If you're just interested in learning for yourself, don't take it at ASU. It'll be cheaper and you'll probably learn more through other resources. Here's one put together by the University of Michigan on Coursera: https://www.coursera.org/learn/introcss
Or, you can do it the old fashioned way and pick up a book. This one, in particular, is very good.
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
After you get through that book pick up the Javascript and JQuery one (same author):
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=pd_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=72Z6B7X975GSJ4VVAZG9
I'm no professional either but I'm graduating in a year with a concentration in web...to help myself out on the side I got this book this summer.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345693534&sr=1-1&keywords=html5+and+css3
I knew a lot of things from the book, but it goes into great detail and even I learned a lot. I think it's a great resource to learn the basics and even some advanced things.
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
This book and this one
I bought the first one a little while ago (a few weeks) and have really only sat down at my computer and worked through some stuff for 2 or 3 nights a couple hours a night and have my site up already. While it's suuuper basic and there's going to be a lot more to come and probably a lot of design changes, it's exciting to know that you have a working website up.
I'm a full time student with a part time job and I've been working on webdev in the little free time I have and it's awesome. Start with some books, see if you're interested, then continue. I don't have any info on colleges or anything, sorry, that seemed to be what you're looking for.
Also, /r/webdev and /r/web_design are great resources! Good luck!
Do you want to start web design? Then learn to code. If you can spare some cash, get HTML and CSS by Jon Duckett.
If not, just go to w3schools.com or similar sites and try it out online.
Most of the code I know I learnt in only a few months.
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
It really simplifies the process and teaches you everything step by step and has a really great design.
I believe there is specifically a book called "Professional WordPress Design and Development" that goes over PHP's implementation on the back end. I've read it, and it is an excellent book.
https://www.amazon.com/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/111844227X
Not trying to be mean, but it sounds like you're in over your head. Seriously, if the site needs to be completed any time soon, I'd recommend outsourcing it, or advising the client to go a different route.
If you weren't given a design, and could jam whatever they wanted into an existing theme, then your "little HTML & CSS knowledge" would probably suffice. You're talking about building a custom theme. You need to know some PHP. You need to know how the WordPress templating system works. You need to be able to set up an SQL database.
Luckily, WordPress has some great documentation: http://codex.wordpress.org/ but it sounds like you won't have the time to learn WordPress properly. If you are serious about WordPress, and would like to get a firm grasp of it at some point (and I think you should, it's very popular and useful), you can check out this book: http://www.amazon.com/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/111844227X/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1409097469&sr=8-5&keywords=wordpress
EDIT: Also, check out /r/wordpress
If he/she is serious about wordpress development, at some point or another this book will come in handy:
http://www.amazon.com/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/111844227X/
If she's interacting with a lot of users I would suggest reading Practical Empathy. Observing the User Experience is another great resource for learning about user research. User experience is all about people so it's always a good idea to read up on human behavior, psychology, cognition, perception, learning and memory etc. e.g. books like Hooked, Bottlenecks, Design for the mind, Designing with the mind in mind, 100 things every designer needs to know about people, 100 more things every designer needs to know about people, Thinking fast and slow, Predictably Irrational and I would also recommend Articulating design decisions and Friction.
Read Articulating Design Decisions. It offers great advice on how to talk to stakeholders and different members of an organization.
In the meantime, I can tell you that people respond positively to slide deck. Lean on your presentation skills!
Before a client meeting or review, put your ideas into a deck. It's a much cleaner way of sharing ideas or updates, it looks much more professional and authoritative, and it helps you get into a natural flow so you can make sure you hit all of your talking points.
Plus, whether your meeting is in person or remote, you can easily email your work out to get feedback later.
Articulating Design Decisions by Tom Greever may be what you're looking for.
​
Check out Javascript and jQuery: The Missing Manual. It's got solid step-by-step explanations of it's tutorials.
my personal favorite. http://www.amazon.com/Expert-Python-Programming-practices-distributing/dp/184719494X
covers all the necessary things to become an expert programmer in python.
Lea Verou's CSS Secrets:
http://www.amazon.com/CSS-Secrets-Lea-Verou/dp/1449372635
it's a seriously great resource even if you think you know CSS.
Recently read a rather wonderful book called 'CSS Secrets' by a CSS wizard by the name of Lea Verou, within the book she talks extensively about creating your own background patterns:
https://www.amazon.com/CSS-Secrets-Solutions-Everyday-Problems/dp/1449372635/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1467577766&sr=8-1&keywords=CSS+Secrets
It's well worth a read not just for the background patterns, but a host of other cool CSS stuff.
After discovering this book and having a mooch around the web for similar effects I realised she had a gallery of some of the designs shes made already. Perhaps some of these might fit the bill for you?
http://lea.verou.me/css3patterns/
Your new home will be the Chrome Developer Tools. If you prefer Firefox, the built-in tools are also pretty good, but consider installing Firebug too. With these tools, you can debug JavaScript and even interactively run JavaScript commands, but you can also inspect HTML and CSS to find problems. If you ever find yourself randomly changing lines of code and reloading the page to see what happens, you're doing it wrong.
If you don't already know JavaScript, I'd recommend JavaScript: The Good Parts to learn JavaScript as a pure language. It's actually a pretty decent language if you stick to the good parts. A lot of complaints about web development are rooted in earlier versions of JavaScript and earlier versions of browsers that had incompatible DOM APIs - the world is much better now.
HTML itself is pretty easy. It should take you hardly any time to learn HTML by itself.
For CSS, consider CSS3: The Missing Manual. Even if you're not a graphic designer and don't want to do fancy layout, you should at least dive into CSS enough to see how it can be used for things like animation and transitions (so you know what's possible with CSS and don't try to reinvent it with HTML and JavaScript).
The last step is putting it all together - using JavaScript to modify the HTML DOM in real-time using JavaScript, and using software running on your web server in Python, PHP, Ruby, or whatever language you prefer to generate the HTML dynamically. Once you're comfortable with the other pieces, you can dive into this last step - but here's where there's more than one way to do it. Some people prefer jQuery on the front end plus PHP on the back end, others prefer Node.js so they can use JavaScript throughout, then there's Angular plus Google App Engine, and so on.
I did this about a year ago, diving right into python and having to go somewhere after the beginning tutorials/books. Some great resources have been idiomatic python and Intermediate and Advanced Software Carpentry in Python
There is also Expert Python Programming which discusses not only some of the more recent/advanced features of python like co-routines etc, but also using the tools in the python ecosystem.
Something that a friend of mine, Python dev, suggested to get:
Expert Python Programming by Tarek Ziadé
I suggest learning basic JavaScript, going into depth with jQuery, then, if you're up for some pretty crazy stuff, go into advanced JavaScript.
I highly suggest you buy the Missing Manuals book on Javascript and jQuery. It is the BEST book you can get for learning JavaScript.
Here's the thing;
You can look at learning a programming language like learning a spoken language. You can get by just learning key phrases like "where is bathroom" and the equivalent to limited personal pronouns like document.getElementById().
But to really learn the language, and how it works you have to get into the nuts and bolts. Understand prototype inheritance, what javascript types are beyond string and int, you have to read a book like this.
Having said that, beginner books are great so long as you read with that realization.
I started with O'Reilly | Javascript & jQuery: The Missing Manual and it was good to me. Haven't read it in too long and I'm by no means an expert, but have fond memories.
Some people might sometimes recommend Javascript: The Definitive Guide but that one's really more of a tome or reference book. It's sort of the be-all, end-all of Javascript, but really REALLY not fun to learn from. Very dense and dry.
I've heard really good things about JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development. Or you could get the combined HTML, CSS, JS set.
I don't know those first-hand though. I've just heard good things and the design is beautiful. First-hand, I know that JavaScript & jQuery: The Missing Manual is good. I really like The Missing Manual series in general.
The bible is very much Lea Verou's CSS Secrets - give that a read!
When you learn JS you learn super basic stuff like variables, loops, and functions, and then everything from that moment on is just learning all the first and 3rd-party APIs - treat CSS the same way. Lots of functionality in CSS is locked behind attribute-pairs, and so that's a good way to approach it.
For example, super basic - you want to change
height/width? You need to unlock those properties withdisplay: block;becausedisplay: inline;by its nature doesn't support it. Once you've got that you've unlocked margins, padding etc. If you want to move an element about then you need to specifypositionfirst, because that's whattop,left,bottom,right, andz-indexare hidden behind etc etc.You've been doing this for a decade, and you're coming from a technical background - so all you need to do is approach CSS in a similar way - that is, procedurally! Hit me up if you want a more solid step-by-step on a good learning order.
I rather like this book, but I read it many years ago: http://www.amazon.com/CSS3-Missing-David-Sawyer-McFarland/dp/1449325947/
As for fonts, it's okay to use 2 fonts, but generally don't use more than that. Less is more. Here's a good website that lists good Google web fonts (and some font pairings): http://hellohappy.org/beautiful-web-type/
Also for medium/larger sized projects, I recommend using a framework like Bootstrap, follow their markup and you can restyle after. This way you can have more consistent look.
Yeah, WordPress.org has a learning curve.. don't let people tell you otherwise. The web is full of bad advice and out dated blog articles. The Codex is a good place to start, but even that has problems at this point. It's old tech with some weird parts.. very useful, but not modern. And there has recently been a push to modernize it.. that's great, but it's even more confusing to learn now, imo.
I read a useful book about WordPress aimed at developers just to help me wrap my head around the weirdness of WordPress. It isn't complete, but it was a good start for me (helped me sort through the trash pile that an open web search produces).
WordPress for Deb's
My route to building websites was basically Codecademy for HTML/CSS and then these two books (probably out date here):
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creating-Website-Missing-Matthew-MacDonald/dp/1491918071/
&
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/1118987241/
and any foundation knowledge gaps from these two were plugged by searching the Wordpress Codex which is the knowledge base: https://codex.wordpress.org/Theme_Development and quite often WP Beginner: https://www.wpbeginner.com/
I also saw this posted here which I bookmarked as I though it was useful: https://medium.com/@adamchodson/barebones-approach-to-developing-a-modern-wordpress-theme-6fc44ab7a25b?sk=0511e966debf50d4b6e88a966c7791d7
I didn't really use YouTube although it's undeniably has the potential to be a great learning resource.
Only disclaimer I have is that I'm a hobbyist Web Dev and don't do it as my full time job. There's people out there who can definitely recommend a better approach to take to learning WordPress then what I've written. YMMV.
I agree in regard to that anyone can learn this material if they are motivated. The same can be said about a lot of academic subjects. University degrees are a good thing when the subject matter does not lend itself to a portfolio of work. With webdesign/development your portfolio and knowledge is going to be the deciding factor in getting the job you want. Of course the other benefit of a university/tech school like Full Sail is the industry connections and networking you'll get. Having faculty members with connections tell you about jobs and recommend you to their industry peers can get your foot in the door that would otherwise be closed.
However, if opting for the DIY approach, there are a TON of really good books out there on this subject. If you committed to reading and practicing several hours each week, you'd quickly become an expert - Even reading something like Yahoo's style guide will put you way ahead of most of the professionals in regard to the way things should be done. You may not yet know how to accomplish them, but you now have a goal that you can work towards. Goals are especially important in self-instruction.
Looking for a related degree: human computer interaction, information science, computer science, graphic art - would give you a back-up plan and open more doors for career possibilities.
When I first started learning to write proper, semantic code I used this book: [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0321616952/jeffreyzeldmanprA/](Designing With Web Standards)
It goes into great detail about why you should code certain ways for SEO and business needs. It also had lots of coding examples and use cases. It was a great single resource like you want.
I read the first edition so I'm not sure how much has changed.
This one?
It's even a book!
I would actually recommend Don't Make Me Think, Revisited and maybe Rocket Surgery Made Easy, both by Steve Krug.
The first book is a fantastic introduction to the core mindset you need to have when approaching interactive user design (like that you find with websites and mobile interfaces). It's also an easy read - you can easily digest it within a day.
Read the first book and if you find yourself having more questions about the actual execution of usability testing, pick up the second one.
See also: Rocket Surgery Made Easy.
I don't know exactly, but this book will make it easy for you... http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0321657292/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/175-1138342-1236566
I would be tempted to run a user testing session (with boss present) and go through three users asking them to do critical tasks on the site and see what works. I'd guess that you are right, but if your boss happens to be right - better to know and adjust than to spend that time arguing over who is right.
If you are interested in this style of testing checkout Steve Krug's book Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems
Seductive Interaction Design, Ordering Disorder: Grid Principles for Web Design
Alexis Van Hurkmann - Color correction Handbook
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117
Best book there is.
I'm a big fan of Alexis Van Hurkman's Color Correction Handbook as well, very well thought out and explained color correction technique.
There are two books that most colorists will tell you to read first:
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321713117
http://www.amazon.com/The-Technique-Digital-Color-Correction/dp/024081715X/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=512wwrdbKXL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR131%2C160_&refRID=0ZSA0GM1EBXWY6WJ7NHF
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519583420&sr=8-1&keywords=color+correction+handbook+2nd+edition
This is the standard recommendation on this sub and a terrific long term investment.
https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667
There is also a follow up book on achieving particular looks and styles.
There are also courses recommended online such as Mixing Light.
If you're just starting out another thing you might choose to do is follow photographers who do their Lightroom work on YouTube. It will at least start the process of getting to see color and how it can be manipulated.
If your interested in learning more I would highly recommend this book for learning more.
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0N1GVV79P7KGMP7X6W32
from,
A lowly film student who likes computers to much
Is this the book you recommend
This is your bible. Read it. Know it. Embrace it.
Three things:
No Money? - Watch all of this guys videos. His lessons in 12 will also transition into 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDPDpWLSNkY
Some money? - Buy this https://www.amazon.com/Color-Correction-Handbook-Professional-Techniques/dp/0321929667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1520105245&sr=8-1&keywords=color+correction+handbook
Want to learn it all? Friend of mine highly recommends this set of courses: https://www.fxphd.com/new-resolve-v14/
For starters, I think this book has helped me a lot:
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (2nd Edition) (Digital Video & Audio Editing Courses) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321929667/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_RYrXCbSPFBN3C
... And I found this book super helpful as well, it's less about grading and look development and more about the technical bits: (full disclaimer, I haven't finished it, it was at my school's library so I was reading it in bursts)
Real World Color Management (2nd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321267222/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_u0rXCbKEE8JQE
I learned basic color grading through a FCPX course I took.
I'm a big fan of books and this is the one I'll work through next: Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema.
Best wishes and happy grading!
I'm late to the party, but I made a cheat sheet for my boss niece last week: here's all the ressources I can think of to kick butts at matte painting.
The sites where we pay per month
Gnomon Online School
Super school of vfx in California. They have on their site a lot of tutorials from 8 to 20 hours to learn to make your own camera projections. You can either pay (expensive but worth it) for a private class with a teacher via Skype. Or you pay (cheaper) for a bank of tutorials.
private lessons
https://www.gnomon.edu/courses/online
the bank of tutorials
https://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/tutorials?tags[]=matte-painting
I recommend: All the tutorials of Dylan Cole (vol 1, 2,3), Camera Projection Techniques in Maya, Matte Painting Production techniques, etc.
Plural Sight (formerly Digital Tutors)
a site that has courses on a little everything. This site is very good when you want to learn new programs. Excellent serie on the 3D which becomes more and more present in the matte painting, and some tutorials
https://app.pluralsight.com/library/
related to 3D
Quick start to modeling in Maya (volume 1,2,3)
Professional Tips for Modeling Complex Shapes
related to matte painting
Photo manipulation and Clean Plating Fundamentals
Matte Painting Basic and the Static Camera Shot
Sites where we pay per tutorial (Gumroad, etc.)
The tutorials of Anthony Eftekhari
Good DMP tutorials that show you the latest techniques and how to do it step by step.
https://gumroad.com/anthonye
The tutorials of Eytan Zana
More concept art, but the main lines apply just as well to the DMP.
https://gumroad.com/eytanzana
Free sites and tutorials
Garrett Fry's blog
He also has a Facebook group that helps each other in DMP, it is THE technical reference for matte painting. His blog is full of technical stuff for camera projections (aka moving your matte painting). A treasure of information.
https://www.gfryart.com/blog
Other
TEXTURES! (Or can we find good textures to make DMP)
CGtexture
http://www.textures.com
Flickr (Matte Painting References)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tjframe/sets/72157605581901392/
Flickr (Matte Painting Resources)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dman3d2000/sets/72157629164518650/
Photobash.org (paying a card)
https://www.photobash.org/
Pictures of Jacek Pilarski
https://gumroad.com/jacekpilarski
Books (yes yes, it's a thing)
Digital Matte Painter Handbook
it's old, the drawings are ugly, the photoshop stuff in it is pure candy though. Full of stuff in DMP that I have never seen elsewhere but that is the basis of the trade. Still actual today. The matte painting of the castle in is also an excellent starting point if you start from scratch.
https://www.amazon.ca/Digital-Matte-Painting-Handbook/dp/0470922427/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523975893&sr=1-1&keywords=Digital+Matte+Painting+Handbook
How to draw and How to Render
Scott Robertson, a big shot of concept art, shows the basics of traditional drawings, perspective, etc. An essential.
https://www.amazon.ca/How-Draw-sketching-environments-imagination/dp/1933492732/ref=pd_sim_14_4?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=GWB27RDDYF5E0JG7TTY0
https://www.amazon.ca/How-Render-fundamentals-shadow-reflectivity/dp/1933492961/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=K9W1RK5K9KVWMPY14EAE
Imaginative Realism and Color and Light
James Gurney is an illustrator who specializes in realistic fantasy artwork with traditional mediums, excellent cues on light and color
https://www.amazon.ca/Imaginative-Realism-Paint-Doesnt-Exist/dp/0740785508?th=1&psc=1&source=googleshopping&locale=en-CA&tag=googcana-20&ref=pd_sl_2y2j9az9y9_e
https://www.amazon.ca/Color-Light-Guide-Realist-Painter/dp/0740797719/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YCNYYJCTNJ4405KD1S6B
Nuke 101
We can make the projection of matte painting in Nuke or Maya. An excellent book for Nuke.
https://www.amazon.ca/Nuke-101-Professional-Compositing-Effects/dp/0321984129/ref=pd_sim_14_8?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FNST5YS1F7464SZY3QZV
Best thing to do before jumping in is making sure you have an understanding of what it is you're getting into! There are so many different moving parts in the VFX world / pipeline. As someone already said Nuke is for creating shots and is the go to compositing tool right now.
The video below gives you a very basic / general overview of all the different bits that can typically go into a shot.
https://school.rocketjump.com/learn/vfx-container/vfx-core-concepts-101
Plural sight can be good as a beginner because the lessons are typically 10 mins each so it's easy to digest, the flip side is that it doesn't always dive deep enough to get into the real meat of problems you'll typically going to face on any production shot.
FXPHD normally goes a lot more in depth, each lesson being roughly 40mins - 60mins. It's a lot more expensive and is easier to become overwhelmed, especially if you're new. I believe they still do some beginner courses however.
I remember reading this book a lot when I was starting out. Not sure how up to date it is but may be worth checking out.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nuke-101-Professional-Compositing-Effects/dp/0321984129/ref=dp_ob_image_bk
My advice would be to get good at using the interface / how nodes join together, understanding how channels work (specifically the alpha channel) and getting good at roto and cleanup. These are typically junior tasks. The more advanced stuff will come later once you're comfortable with the basics. Just remember everything is going to feel alien for a while but once it 'clicks' it becomes a really awesome tool to use.
Best of luck!
Thanks a lot!!! This is exactly what I needed! Someone else also recommended https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Digital-Age-Human-Centered-Products/dp/0470229101 to me!
https://www.amazon.com/Building-Site-Dummies-David-Crowder/dp/0470560932
I built my first site when I was 11 on a little server that sat on my home intranet. My dad was a network engineer and I told him I wanted to learn to build web sites. He bought be "How to build a Web Site for dummies" (Updated version of the book) and set me up to publish to that private server. After a while he decided I could have a site on the public facing internet and I can't remember if I went with Geocities, Freewebs, or AngelFire (I know I used all three at one point or another).
I can remember it was just a bunch of random stuff jumbled together with a crazy star background and lots of animated gifs.
I love my jQuery Cookbook
This is a really good book for her to get her feet wet. https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
She will know right away whether or not it's something she might be interested in.
By far, the most beautiful thing I have touched and own to gently bring a mature person into the craft I find great satisfaction from is HTML & CSS by Jon Ducket. I have it solely to share with others, this book isn't for me.
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
The author guy fucking really cared about order of introducing things and the packaging he put it in. The paper quality-- the book is just nice to touch, there is stonking obvious attention to graphical detail. It makes no sense for me to be saying these things in a normal conversation, I'm not one of those "I love books, you'll tear the crusty pages from my dead hands" guy-- I just don't buy many paper books anymore. I bought this one and it is by far the most luxurious paperback I have ever come into contact with just in book binding and construction alone.
Amazon is charging $17 according to my screen. Worth every god damn penny. Perfect for a mildly computer literate beginner.
While I agree with /u/MatthewMob for the most part, I think that a book like this one might be very useful for someone starting off:
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485557790&sr=8-1&keywords=html+and+css+book
It relies heavily on graphics to describe the components of the html markup and does a great job with CSS properties.
When it comes to CSS, the biggest hurdle for people is understanding the position property (relative, absolute, fixed, static) and how it ties into the box model.
Personally I would suggest you learn flexbox from the get-go as it makes layouts incredibly simple.
I would recommend this for learning the specifics and this for designing sites in general
Obviously you're not going to be able to learn HTML and CSS in a comment on reddit. Buy this book, it's one of the best on the subject.
Then use an HTML editor like Adobe Dreamweaver or Sublime Text.
Also, BACKUP EVERYTHING.
this is what i used for html and css, i think it lays everything out very easily for a beginner, i just got the JQuery/JS book, and its also good
This book is fantastic and beautiful.
The usual recommendation: code academy. But don't rely on it too much.
These books are pretty good too, if you can afford them.
I love that book
TML and CSS: Design and Build Websites von Jon Duckett http://www.amazon.de/dp/1118008189/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_1WEktb0RMDJSR
Definitely learn a client side framework as conservative_punk suggested, but I won't take for granted that you even know HTML. You need to learn HTML before anything else, and then some basic Javascript.
Read this book in less than a week and then move on from HTML:
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
Consider something like CodeSchool for its JavaScript path as well (which includes frameworks like React/Angular). It also has an ASP.NET Core MVC course. Good luck.
HTML/CSS
This is a good resouce. If you want to work for a company, Id suggest learning asp. net. You can still primarily work with html/css but makes it easier for other back end developers to implement working forms, log in, etc
ASP .Net
There are tons a great resources online like http://css-tricks.com, http://marksheet.io (this one is great for beginners) .. play around on http://codepen.io .. Lynda.com was a great help for me when I first started, and if you're more into books.. it doesn't get much better than this ... https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
Have fun!
A co-worker of mine teaches an into to web development course at a college here in Cali, he uses this book: http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
> Learn enough Wordpress / CSS to build myself?
This is the book I used to learn HTML/CSS: http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407007366&sr=8-1&keywords=html+and+css
After I read the book I did this tutorial in about a week: http://courses.tutsplus.com/courses/30-days-to-learn-html-css
After that I knew enough to mess around and edit Wordpress templates and actually got a job "building Wordpress sites" aka just customizing themes with CSS.
The reason I really like that book is it's great for a beginner. It's not overwhelming at all. It's basically left page is code, right page is what the code will look like. Later on I went back and read 2 books that were more like textbooks on HTML and CSS to get a more in depth understanding.
Hope that can help.
I was also planning on buying this book https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
This is the series I used to learn the basics of HTML + CSS. I owe a great deal the author of the series, Jeffery, for helping me kick start my passion for front end development, despite some personal challenges I had to overcome. Anyway, also look at teamtreehouse.com and see if you use a free trial, or sign up. I have learned so much through them too. My advice would be to take it slow & steady. There can be a lot to learn (and that might be intimidating at first) but by taking it one step at a time, you are ensuring that you are building a successful foundation for your future success.
My only other advice is try not to jump right into building full page website layouts without a basic understanding of how HTML & CSS work together. I think it would be best to focus on individual elements OF a car dealership mockup (such as navigation or a header) and then after learning each concept over time, apply it to a full web page mockup. Also make this your bible for the time being. This type of knowledge is invaluable. Last thing- learn it for yourself first and foremost. Don't just do it just to impress an employer, as it will make learning a drag. There are so many "A-ha!" moments that will come along with learning. Cherish those moments as they will provide you with motivation to keep moving forward.
Good luck!
Thanks a ton for the sub, glad you found the video helpful :). Not sure of any tutorials off the top of my head, but this book is a fantastic companion for anyone looking to up their HTML / CSS skills:
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
Very clear and easy to understand explanations, I haven't come across a better resource yet.
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
This is very helpful. Gives all the basics, but honestly if you want to learn on an interactive website just use, https://www.codecademy.com
Are you a visual learner?
There’s Jon Duckett’s HTML & CSS
I would say this book is an oldie, but a goodie because even though this was published almost 8 years ago, it’s a good book to learn the fundamentals and it has good visual aids that go along with the concepts being taught.
There’s also Jennifer Robbins’s Learning Web Design
This book teaches you HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It’s a good book, it has plenty of exercises and from my experience, it’s a good reference book for concepts.
Hi James!
One of the best books for a novice web developer/designer (and not just novice, for anyone who wants to get up to speed with the newest editions of HTML and CSS) in my opinion is the "Learning Web Design" by Jennifer Robbins. The 5th edition was published in May last year, so it's pretty recent. You won't be learning any outdated stuff from this book.
The book is quite big, with around 800 pages, but the author is really great. She explains everything you need to know and she explains it really good. Throughout the book you'll be building an example web site by doing a lot of exercises.
The book starts with an explanation of how Internet works in general. It doesn't go too deep into this topic, just enough for a beginner. You'll then learn HTML, and after that CSS. There are two chapters on JavaScript, but it covers only bare essentials. You'll need another book(s) for JavaScript, though. The one I would recommend is Head First JavaScript Programming, which somebody already recommended it, too.
The Head First HTML and CSS and HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites (also already recommended by other users here) are also great, but they are a little bit old now, as they are from 2011. Not that you won't learn anything from them. You could read these two, and then the book by Jennifer Robbins, so you get better familiarity with HTML 5 and CSS 3.
>https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118008189/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_apa\_i\_g0UyCbF9DXJ3W
will be purchasing this tomorrow, due to your and others recommendation. thanks!
I love to recommend this book
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118008189/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_g0UyCbF9DXJ3W
Two of the best books on beginning web development are those by Jon Duckett IMO. They are an absolute master class in simplicity and understanding for those new to web development.
https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
The physical copies of these books are absolutely beautiful, the typeface, margins, and colors are very well thought out and done.
The book isn't structured like typical programming books. There is an emphasis on completing projects every chapter rather than "theory."
If you are a beginner I would definitely recommended it. Please look in the "peak inside" on amazon. They are definitely unique and well made.
Look into Pluralsight, Lynda.com or O'reilly learning paths. There's loads of free content online but some teach incorrectly which really annoyed me when I started. Those providers are around 30 bucks per month and usually you can try for 7-10 days free.
This is a good starting point if you want to learn from a book. Really breaks down the stuff:
Duckett HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites - https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/
Word of advise you don't have to learn everything. Enough to build site up and you can just learn stuff when needed. Stackoverflow is a friend when you get stuck.
Hey Joao,
I've started with codeacademy html/css courses and then I bought the Jon Ducket's 'HTML and CSS: Design and build websites'' book. Those gave me a great base and six months later I'm glad to be here at reddit giving you those tips even if I'm not a webdesign ninja (yet!).
Here's some links:
http://www.codeacademy.com
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
Feel free to PM me if you need more tips and good luck!
I can code HTML5 and CSS3 pretty well, honestly it's really easy for me now. - Once you get the hang of them look at a couple of frameworks - I have used Bootstrap and Skeleton and putting them on a resume is an easy +1.
The biggest thing that has helped with Javascript for me is game development, it's really fun and you have to have a decent understanding of javascript to make a playable game, it also gives you an opportunity to work on a bigger project. (thousands of lines of code) So you can get a better idea of how the overall layout mechanics of Javascript work. - So I would recommend making some simple games using just HTML5 canvas and vanilla Javascript with no libraries.
Books I would Recommend --
Youtube Channels
No, don't look into it lol I'm in a similar situation as you and the HTML & CSS book by Jon Duckett is helping me out a lot! Check it out here: http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189#immersive-view_1421509903370
He also has a JavaScript & jQuery book as well that you can get once you start learning JavaScript.
I like the idea. I'm currently working on Jon Duckett's HTML&CSS book.https://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189
As far as touching up on HTML/CSS, try out this book.
I have zero experience with either and I've actually picked up on both mark up languages very quickly. I had the mindset of theres so much information on the web - why buy a book? It's a great tutorial that touches upon other topics that would be of interest to web development - design, seo, etc.
I highly recommend this book. You can always learn through free, online courses (try Codecademy), but having this book for reference is nice, too.
I was in your situation a few months ago! I finished Codecademy and didn't know where to go next. I did Shay Howe's HTML/CSS course, which was great because you follow along step-by-step, but are continually building one project so you end up with something nice. Now I'm working through a free Udacity course (not sure yet whether I'd recommend it) and then I'm going to try the Code Camp or Odin Project like a few people here recommended. Also, I bought myself this book, its awesome.
If you have the money, check these books out.
http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452192319&sr=8-1&keywords=html+css
Hey dude! I want to send you a huge long explanation I did a while ago about Wacom tablets (which are "industry standard") that didn't get much love in the original post, but I put a lot of work into figuring everything out for this dude so I thought I'd share it again.
Before I paste in my response to this question someone posted, I wanted to mention a few things about your unique situation.
When starting out in design, it's probably more important to invest in a mouse, the Creative Cloud Suite, and some sketching supplies. I use my tablet all the time, but in my classes only about half of the people use tablets. Everyone else gets by just fine (even in illustration) with a mouse. Trackpads are asses to work with, and a good sketchbook, a set of Micron pens, a nice .5 mechanical pencil and some Prismacolor pens are gonna do you a lot more help than a tablet, especially if you're just starting out in classes. Other supplies you might need include a T-Square, a right angle measure (is that what they're called?), a good X-acto knife and a bunch of blades, a good ruler, some tracing paper, and a case to carry it all around. Oh and a portfolio (one of the cloth ones so you can carry your print work around).
If you're specifically looking at web design, i'd invest in a couple amazon books like this book and this book
In terms of graphic tablets, I'm posting an explanation of all the ones available right now. The person for whom I was originally responding was looking to buy one as a gift for, I think, their SO who was primarily a photographer using Photoshop. And just as I post at the bottom of the quoted message, feel free to PM me if you have other questions about anything that I've mentioned here :) Good luck OP, and sorry for the wall of text!
> First off, it's much easier to navigate the different models via the actual wacom site[1] . Here's a breakdown of Wacom tablets:
Almost all wacom tablets come in different sizes. Typically they are small, medium, and large. Very simple, it just dictates how large the tablet is. On the other hand, it also dictates the ratio of calibration to the screen. Let's pretend that your tablet is 4"x5" and your screen is 8"x15" (for the sake of an example, ignore the absurd dimensions). Since every point on the tablet is directly calibrated to a point on your screen, it'll take 1.5 times longer for your cursor to travel horizontally than it will vertically. Not an issue, but it makes the learning curve for using a tablet a little steeper because you have to learn how to change your hand-eye coordination from 1:1 to 2:3.
Ok so about the different models: Bamboo is an older model that is no longer sold. Now they have Intuos Pro and just plain old Intuos. Bamboo is great, fine, wonderful even, but as time goes on it'll be harder to find replacement stuff (like pens, which I have lost once or twice) for the tablet itself.
Now, in the plain old (newest) intuos family, you've got Draw, Art, Photo, and Comic. Draw, the cheapest one, is not a touch tablet. It won't respond to your fingers on it, just the stylus. The rest are all touch tablets too. All four are considered "small". Draw is the bare minimum. Nothing special comes with it. Next level up, you've got Art. Art is touch sensitive and comes with Coral Painter. Next one (Photo) comes with Tonality Pro, Intensify Pro, Snapheal Pro, Noiseless Pro (and I know nothing about what each program does). Then Comic comes with Clip Studio Paint Pro and Anime Studio® Debut 10 (again with the not knowing what it is).
Next up You've got the Intuos Pro, which is what I use (i'm a senior design student with four years of professional design experience, to put it in perspective I do a lot of illustration and I'm very happy with my Intuos Pro). There's really nothing too complex about these, there's small, medium, and large. That's really the only difference among them.
In terms of which one to get, here's my thoughts. The Intuos Pro family is great, but if he's only editing photos then it might not be worth it to get the more expensive tablet. The bamboo tablets are adorable and easy to bring around, but they jack up the price for absurd programs that you most definitely don't need (Adobe suite is standard in the industry. While he sounds like he's only working with Photoshop, if he ever needs to share a file with someone who doesn't have the programs that come with the tablet, they'll also have to own the software in order to read the files).
I have an older generation Intuos Pro that does not have touch-capabilities. It's fine, I have learned key commands to compensate for my inability to quickly zoom and move around artboards, etc. If you're trying to save money, go for the Intuos Draw. It's a great starter, and within the next year-and-a-half to two years he'll probably upgrade. Or you can drop a hot dollar on the Intuos Pro family and kinda bite the bullet. I started out with a bamboo (back in 2007!) and used it until I came to college. I got an Intuos Pro, loved it to bits, and lost the stylus. For about 8 months I was too lazy to buy an $80 new stylus so I used my 2007 bamboo for all my work, and it went fine! I have since sold my little baby bamboo, but it served me well for a long, long time. The only problem is that the appeal of a new toy is sometimes greater than the practicality and logic of playing with an old one.
Best of luck! Let me know if you have any other questions...
Code academy is not job training, it's an introduction to syntax.
For instance, after finishing their Ruby course, you will know how to work with strings and vectors and so on, but without more knowledge, you wouldn't even know how to start to build a Ruby application. If shown an existing Ruby program you might be able to read a bit of it and change some stuff here and there, but you would be far from any significant changes.
I, as a full stack developer, don't use Code Academy as a learning resource but as a refresher course kind of thing. When I haven't been using bootstrap too often, I go do the code academy course and relearn the basics in order to smoothly transition into using it on my own.
Better alternatives would be an actual book. Go to the library or a book store and find an introduction to web development book. I've heard that this is a pretty good book, http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448997572&sr=8-1&keywords=html+for+beginners.
Edit: Beyond the absolute basics, Code Academy (and other things like it, FCC for example) are basically useless.
I started out learning by reading this book, HTML and CSS. Then I did a bunch of free tutorials on Tutsplus.com as well as watch a bunch of YouTube videos. After that I went back and bought another HTML/CSS book but it was more "textbook" like so I could learn it further in depth.
After this I had enough skill to get hired at a company doing HTML/CSS work, it wasn't great pay but it was a job and it allowed me to further learn on the job.
Then I did the same thing with Javascript, using this book first, Javascript & JQuery, followed by free tutorials online, then purchasing a more "textbook" type book on the subject.
Also for some of the "textbook" type books I ended up buying, I just recently got a membership card at my local library and they had those book there so if I'd known that when I was learning I could have checked out those books for free, so check and see what your local library has.
Also another thing I did was check out my local community college, they had really cheap classes that I ended up taking online.
Without seeing the site, I can't really tell you how to properly make it fit the page. I would assume the other poster is probably correct (or close).
As to the question about learning... I'd start with either a place like CodeAcadamy or http://teamtreehouse.com/.
If you don't mind spending 40$, I also really like the 'HTML and CSS: Design and build websites' book. It's a great starting place for learning proper markup from a beginner level.
I recommend this book highly. Great illustrations, and it covers a great deal of information.
HTML is extremely easy to learn. Honestly, unless you're trying to get into the new stuff with 5 (and that's unlikely) you could probably learn all you need to know in a day, and be zooming through page source code by the end of the week. CSS is also pretty straightforward to learn, but shit gets complicated when you put it into practice, what with browser support and display sizes. I used this book to learn and would highly recommend it: http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369522717&sr=8-1&keywords=html+css
If you want a very basic book that you can use to start making your own websites then I'd recommend this.
I used to read this on the bus and then try out some things I learnt later (when I got home). It's also a good reference book for when you're starting off.
I'd advise you to buy that book and then just pick a project and start work on it
Other good sources for people wanting to get into Front end are:
They have this really good track system for learning Web design, Front end Development, Ruby, PHP, Python etc.
If you prefer to read, these books are the best in my opinion to get started in web development (more front-end).
Also refer to anything u/codingtrails suggested. Only thing i wouldn't suggest is getting into bootstrap until you have learned the key concepts of HTML and CSS.
Only if you let me take you out out for dinner.
LOL, I knew someone would get interested if I kept vague about the book.
Since our date went so well, I present to you the hyperlink:
HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites by Jon Duckett
This is the only book of it that I found on Amazon.. Doesn't look like its the 2nd Ed.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118008189/sr=8-1/qid=1331514018/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1331514018&sr=8-1&seller=
Thank you for this! I wanted to buy a couple of books but wasn't sure where to start.
Also, what do you think of this book:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118008189/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1/189-5148247-3957408?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_r=12CG4MKRTY7SK0CBTYCG&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=1944579862&pf_rd_i=1590596897
"camo style" is not really a thing that your internet browser recognizes. You'd have to create a picture and set the rules to point to that picture instead. You'll need to upload an image (you can do that on the same page that you edit the stylesheet) and then tell reddit you want your background-image to be something.
You should ask your parents to buy you this book: HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites. It's one of the first books I read and it really helped me figure this stuff out. I know you sort of just want to get your website to look how you want, but you're figuring this stuff out on your own, which means you could probably do a lot more! People like us get paid to sit at the computer and make websites look how we want, and its a lot of fun. I worked for a video game company and got to do this all day!
Yes defiantly don't look at JavaScript first its a lot more difficult and you need to understand HTML first. Check out this book http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1118008189/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1425731084&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SY200_QL40&keywords=html+and+css.
You should be able to learn HTML and CSS within a couple of weeks. Odviously with web development you never stop learning. Good luck
I think it's a great idea. You could start off by simply having a static HTML/CSS website, and then as you progress you can add more advanced stuff like AJAX webforms and event calendars, online bookings, etc. The possibilities are endless.
Buy these two books: http://amzn.com/1118008189 & http://amzn.com/1118531647. Not the kindle versions, actual physical copies. Read them and practice. If you run into problems, just Google the problem. 99.99% of the time someone has had the same problem and has posted a solution online.
http://www.w3schools.com is a good website for diving into almost everything related to web development.
This one is great for where you're at: http://www.amazon.com/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/111844227X
Sounds like you're looking for something like this. I bought it and it's really good, but really the best way to learn is to figure out what you want to make, and then figure out how to make it by Googling. If you really want to learn Wordpress in the thorough way you're describing, I'd have thought you'd want to start with PHP.
Are you talking about reading up on how to develop for WordPress? If so, the links provided by others are a great starting place. I'd also recommending checking out "Professional WordPress" by Brad Williams:
http://www.amazon.com/Professional-WordPress-Development-Brad-Williams/dp/111844227X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414536372&sr=8-1&keywords=professional+wordpress
It's almost two years old now, so some of the information may be dated, but most of it will still be relevant.
I'm going through the process of diving deep into wordpress and so far the best resource that I've found that delves into the specifics of using wordpress as a dev is this book. it should save you a lot of googling time.
This is completely unrelated to PHP. What is this post doing here?
These two books are what started me on my path. I already had bags of experience working with a multitude of programming languages but both of these books will assume zero experience and you should be able to learn the basics of everything you need. Read them in this order as all you need to actually make a static website is in the first book.
HTML & CSS - John Duckett
http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Sites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342981331&sr=8-1
Learning PHP, MySQL and Javascript - Robin Nixon
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-MySQL-JavaScript-Animal-ebook/dp/B0043D2DZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342981357&sr=8-1
Bearing this in mind, it is now possible (just as it was when I wanted to learn) to learn everything you need to know online for free. There are loads of websites that get talked about on this subreddit that will teach you how to make websites. A couple I hear a lot are:
http://www.htmldog.com/book/
http://w3schools.com/
Good Luck!
I have this book and it's awesome. The book is well-designed so you aren't constantly sidetracked with thoughts about "why did they use this typeface here?" and "this alignment sucks".
May I suggest...?
www.w3schools.com is my go-to favorite for learning basics. There are courses laid out to learn the basics of HTML, CSS, Java, and more scripting, and is pretty well done if you're the kind of person who needs to do it yourself to see it work. Other than that my new favorite book is HTML & CSS that is super well laid out and newbie friendly.