For those who know Javascript...

[IAIHMB]

How long did it take you to learn it, well, how long have you been working with it and how well can you work with it?

[pacmania_2001]

I know a small bit of it through some programming I did for a university course last semester.

I know the basics and can usually understand what a code is programmed to do. I can't do anything too advanced though, I'm not a huge programming person though so if you're interested in doing it you'll probably learn and retain the information better than I can.

[Dr. DOS]

I know a small bit of it through some programming I did for a university course last semester.

I know the basics and can usually understand what a code is programmed to do. I can't do anything too advanced though, I'm not a huge programming person though so if you're interested in doing it you'll probably learn and retain the information better than I can.

Ditto.... there are thousands (maybe millions) of free javascript apps already built that you can plop into your html pages. I used two yesterday and it only required some obvious changes to file names. (One was a table column sort function (ARRAYS) and the other was a page search tool.)

[IAIHMB]

So I take it both of you are web designers? That's what I want to be, I want to get a head start now and learn everything as fast and thoroughly as possible. Which languages did you guys start with, and what would you reccomend?

[pacmania_2001]

I'm a uni student who studies e-Commerce so part of that is learning some programming/web design.

I do design websites as a side business for small to medium businesses that can't afford to have a professionally designed site. Most of those though are primarily static HTML sites with Javascript features.

If you seriously want to get into web design I'd start off learning the ins and outs of HTML and then move into more advanced stuff like Javascript and VB.net.

[bunyip]

IAIHMB:

I manage and develop several web services for a government organisation. I use PERL as the prime language for the sites, the perl scripts interface with the databases and servers, handle security, handle on-line credit card transactions, provide management tools and dynamically generate the HTML code with embedded Javascript in the HTML to perform the client-end tasks before results and queries are sent back to the Perl scripts for processing.

To be effective, your knowledge toolset should include HTML, Javascript, PHP, Perl, VB, SQL and JAVA and you should have an understanding of web servers such as IIS & Apache and some databases like MySQL & Access, plus you should have a good working knowledge of Windows and Unix/Linux and most importantly, Web security. There are lots of other things you'll need to be familar with too but they will come in time.

Oh, and don't forget a good knowledge of handling multi-media.

You see, what people want out of their web sites is functionality so you'll need a wide skill-set to develop good sites for other people, especially if they want it for business purposes.

[IAIHMB]

Ah, thanks alot for the help guys. Just wondering, where did you learn all of this? I've been a big fan of www.w3schools.com, but I have a feeling that the information that they provide me with isn't as thorough as it needs to be.

[bunyip]

Just wondering, where did you learn all of this?

There is no easy answer to that, you start with knowing very little and you never stop learning, you really do learn something new everyday.
If you are adept in any computer language then you will quickly pick-up on any new langauge, usually just the syntax changes, and the built-in functions.
Your skills will increase through a mix of trial-and-error and learn-by-example, a lot of programming is just tailoring existing code. Looking at documentation alone won't do it, you won't really start to learn until you find yourself knee-deep in serious development, where you are faced with making things work the way the user wants it to. So you try things, and research the way others have done it and finally develop the best solution for you.
You also keep improving the way your products work, as your knowledge and skills increase, then you redo your earlier work, you should never be satisfied with anything you develop. Technology changes daily so you keep up with what's developing, remember your clients will hear about the latest trends and will always want them, but you have to balance needs with practical solutions, you also need to be a diplomat to convince people they cant' always have the latest.

And above all you Keep-It-Simple.

So keep reading sites like W3Schools they will help give you the basic knowledge to get started, but try and get involved in some serious project, it's also better to start learning in a team where you can share ideas and solutions, or if you can't do that just yet, start one of your own.

(I could go on and on but I'm starting to sound like a teacher.)