Learning HTML+CSS

If you took 3 hours a day to learn html and css alone you could probably write it fluently in less than a month. I learned from Davesite.com.

For templates I usually use one when I need the pages to validate with the w3c.

If you are learning there are many good web tutorials out there, I can name three good ones.

• Davesite
• W3schools
• Tizag

You can get through these fairly quickly.

Have fun learning!

Hi Kitty,
I think an important question is what you plan to do with your 3 hours. I think whatever approach you take you need to do a bit of coding yourself. Also try a variety of appraoches initially eg
work through a slim book on it, download firebug and look at real code on simple sites, save simple code from sites and tinker with it, check out web tutorials. If you get stuck, hit the forums or just carry on reading till things are clearer. I think you could get a handle on the basic script code within one session. 30 hours and your flying.

With regards to your second query, some people design websites with no code knowledge, it is a matter of taste. Sometimes you can do things quicker with packages and templates but ultimately you trade it for understanding and control. Sometimes using the handy packages can be more frustrating than actually sussing out the code. Personally I use packages to get a handle on some process I am not familiar with, then I apply my new understanding with pure code.

all the best

Monker
Acorn Superlinks, a pro handing linking service.

Some people use "templates" to save time and money and they almost always look canned and unoriginal - but they may serve a purpose, such as driving traffic to a main site.

Most "professional" coders (myelf included) keep references handy for syntax and use. I know I am on W3Schools and php.net several times a day to look up stuff, to get it right the first time.

We also keep "snippets" of code we used and reuse them. Along these lines, there are many sites where people collect snippets or entire applications that can be used, some times for free, such as HotScripts.com and dzone and code.google.com

In addition, many developers will use an existing CMS architecture (Drupal, WordPress, Joomla etc) as a basic frame for a site, then add functions with plug-in modules and dress it with an existing theme and/or add customizations with css.

That sounds like "automatic" building or "cheating" but it's not as easy as it sounds to create a complex highly customized site, often developers "roll" their own modules to add functions.

Starting at the aforementioned tutorial sites AND looking at sites with Firebug and examining the source or the pages is a good approach. You should be aware that many sites use "server-side" code (PHP, ASP etc) to preprocess the pages before they are sent to the browser as HTML, so you will not "see" the original code, but you will see it's "processed" rendering...

Well, I think a month is a good goal. I would recommend Head-First HTML with CSS and XHTML (http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596101978/), however, you can learn (as I did), without a book. There are plenty of great websites out there.

If you are just getting into web design, this is a good place for you (this forum).