First off: there are many excellent tutorials on the net which will fulfill all you need to learn how to create Web pages. From my experience (and I have learned HTML, etc. just from the net and the occasional book) I must emphasize one point: the most difficult task in learning designing/coding is separating the grain from the chaff. As many excellent tutorials as there are, there are more completely useless tutorials, which promise the moon and end up giving stale cheese.
For those of you just beginning, I would seriously suggest http://www.w3schools.com . Don't be concerned about the staid look of the website. The content is solid gold; you get complete references, accurate information and short and sweet tutorials with loads of examples. Again, for the beginner: try reading/coding HTML - xHTML -> CSS -> Javascript -> PHP & SQL -> AJAX. This is roughly the order I went in (though I learned Javascript before CSS). Stuff I know that you (& I) should cover, but have no idea about where to fit in: XML and Flash. When (and if) I learn more about these, I'll edit this post.
A few tips while coding up websites:
- From the beginning, ensure cross browser compatability. Whether or not you consider IE6 worthy enough to be included in the list of browsers your site appears perfectly in, depends on your personal opinion. There are those who would argue much more for all round accessibility, and those who consider the 8 years old (malfunctioning) browser obsolete. Personally, I agree with the latter. (Very few websites I design work completely in IE6).
- Write code as if someone else will grade it. Do your best to keep stuff well commented, neatly tabbed and avoid unsightly hacks put together at the last moment. Remember, unlike coding a program, where (in most cases) the code is a secret you can carry to your grave, clicking "View Source" does allow everyone to see your sloppiness. And it ain't easy to find bugs in messy code either.
- Keep everything W3 compliant. Always ensure that your websites are xhtml, css valid. Don't forget to put in a !DOCTYPE.
- Try to use the best Search Engine Optimization practices from the beginning so that you get into a habit of using the proper elements at the right places. I'm afraid I still struggle and accidentally use
h1
where I should have put an
h2
. (If you don't understand what I'm talking about, you will, later.)
- Use sprites while handling images. One of the worst impressions I can get of a site is having non-preloaded roll-over images.
- Look at the source code of sites that you like. Wonder about how certain effects might be created and then check from the source code.
- Use Firefox and its excellent plugins: Firebug (for looking quickly through a page, editing to find those pesky bugs on the fly and making your life much more comfortable) and Web Developer Toolbar (to do the few things firebug doesn't).
- At all costs, never use GUI based webpage creators. Hand-code, use libraries, whatever. Don't use something which doesn't even give you a glimpse of the code.
Apart from the above, it's always good to read stuff all over the web. I'll keep putting up links here to interesting websites which give useful information, but it's better if you search for yourself.
Learning Web Designing
Life at IIT can be directly compared with one long, never ending race composed of many mini-targets to be achieved along the way. The loads of exams merely act as speedbumps -- cover them properly and you just might get ahead; or, you can trip and fall behind.
The UGLY: Life just before exams. Minors / majors are around the corner; preparation levels are generally at an all time low. Professors are doing their level best to complete their syllabus -- while simultaneously threatening us with extra classes. All the extra-curricular activities you tend to be involved in? Well, this is the time to do all that last minute, time-consuming work which just suddenly seems to pop up.
You can clearly tell the mental health and preparation levels of people around by their greetings. People who nod, and perhaps even manage a small smile -- well, they're going to ace the exams (having completed preparations 10 times already) [This breed is almost extinct; whenever you believe that the last one has died [passed] out, another pops up]. Most of us will manage a non-committal grunt -- we've covered some stuff, but still have that assignment to do and that chapter to revise, etc. etc. Those who don't (or rather, can't) notice you -- pity them, for they are doing their best to avoid slaughter.
The BAD: IIT during exams. The only redeeming point during the exams is the night messing where you tend to get decent food from the mess (I agree, that's an oxymoron if there ever was one, but it's true). Secondly, you can finally concentrate on a single subject at a time, without worrying about those before and after.
Student behaviour during this period has already been extensively cataloged by me in an earlier post which also has supporting illustrations.
The GOOD: IIT after exams. The difference between IIT before and after exams can be basically summed up by comparing a graveyard (with a hint of zombies) to a playground. People more or less tend to go crazy during this pleasant purgatory -- after the exams and before the results. Very few institute rules remain unbroken; very few methods of relaxation are not indulged in.
This period lasts for a very short time, as most professors seem to love to ger their hands off papers as fast as possible. They quickly check everything, note the marks in their various lists and hand us our heads on paper platters.
Afterwards, it's almost time for the next set of exams. And, not unlike Stephen King's The Dark Tower, everything starts again.
IITD tGtB&tU 1: Life during, before and after exams
As far as I can remember clearly, I have always felt bound by the flows of time. Achieve that by this time; start that then; been there, done that. By when? seems to be the all important question while doing any work -- studies / web design / anything.
We all seem to truly show that we are manacled by time by our wrist watches. The amount of freedom left is dictated by that tiny little clock on your left (or right?) wrist, that bigger one on the wall; that tiny rectangle on the monitor. Alarms and clocks are everywhere -- in the cellphone, in the iPod, occasionally in keychains. Bound by the invisible, ever-shortening chains.
Why are we all so completely controlled by time? Why do I constantly feel the need to glance at my watch and see if I can relax a bit more; or if I should/have to do some more work within this much time? Always fretting, always worrying; more so since I started college.
Part of the reason is perhaps that we are all mortal; but in the short term -- which is as far as most of us look (at least I do) time is still as important as in the long. After all, success is simply a measure of how well you managed to use all the time you had.
Time is, after all, just another dimension; the only problem is that we still haven't managed to go backwards (and sideways) through it at will; just forward, at the same rate as the rest of humanity. It's not really a surprise that time-machines are one of the most popular concepts in science fiction.
The only way to be free of this bond, is perhaps, only by not caring about the passage of time. Which, is much much easier said than done, or even attempted. I, for one, cannot imagine life without my metaphorical steel manacle which just displays the length of my invisible, unbreakable chain.
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