Best web development & design books according to redditors
We found 1,033 Reddit comments discussing the best web development & design books. We ranked the 238 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 1,033 Reddit comments discussing the best web development & design books. We ranked the 238 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
The books get outdated too fast.
This should help you though.
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Validate Your Skill Level
Are you currently a web programmer? If no, please do not attempt to become one to code your own dynamic website as security is a huge issue and it will take you years to catch up. It is not a reasonable effort to put forth if you want to keep your sanity, not burn your spare time, etc. Not saying you can't learn it, just saying it takes a lot of work and time that most entrepreneurs don't have to use and in some cases waste.
You can learn how to do html and css within a few months but using a CMS system is much cleaner and easier and if you need something dynamic, you will probably need a developer.
You generally need to know at least php and mysql for dynamic websites unless you want to get into the confusing worlds of joomla and drupal. I hear decent things about Ruby on Rails though on par with php and mysql learning curve I think.
Want to Learn Web Programming Anyway?
Try CodeCademy for interactive programming learning.
No Coding Skills Start Here
Get / Use the following:
Need Something More Dynamic?
You have a few options. This list goes from least expensive to most expensive. Just know that most things you want to do already have a plugin or theme designed for them for WordPress. There are however a lot of exceptions to that guideline and that is why you look at the following options.
The reason why WordPress is mentioned a lot is because it is a CMS aka Content Management System which allows you to manage a ton of the pages and posts and various other aspects of the website. If a developer really needs to, they can modify the core parts of WordPress. Rarely will you need someone to build you a brand new website and honestly you really do want a CMS or you are going to have a hard time.
Some developers can be found here: Elance (freelancers), Matchist (freelancers), and Glowtouch (dev company vetted by Bluehost)
Things to remember with website development
I am actually writing a series on this because this guide is way too small. You can sign up to be notified on this quick google form I threw up.
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.
I’m a print and basic web designer that’s been making an overhaul towards UI/UX the past few months so maybe I can offer some help. I’m actually working on a mobile app’s case study as we speak! You may have already noticed that UI/UX tends to get many different definitions depending on who you ask. With this said the path I took was focused on research methods (competitor research, demographic research, user testing, etc), UX deliverables (personas, user flows, wireframes, etc), prototyping, high-fidelity design and front-end coding (I’ll touch on that a little more in a bit).
 
When it comes to UX research I found the following resources immensely helpful:
Books (Reading? Yes, reading. Trust me these are worth checking out…pretty short too)
Podcasts (Listen on your commute, while you’re folding laundry, whenever)
Websites (It’s also a good idea to Google some successful UX designer’s portfolios)
 
Basically what UX teaches you is that all design decisions need to be backed by an informed reason. That reason is found by doing proper research and testing.
 
Now for UI design. There’s always Bechance and Dribble for inspiration, but a lot of the pieces you find on there lack context and are merely pretty to look at. So don’t get too obsessed. For software, personally, I’m a Photoshop to Sketch convert. It’s $100 but MAN is it worth it. There’s a number of things that make Sketch attractive (vector based, easy exporting, etc) but I guess the simplest way I can put it is that Sketch just feels…lighter than Photoshop. But it’s really personal preference, if you’re a master at using Photoshop for web design then don’t feel like you have to get Sketch. With that said I HIGHLY recommend investing in Meng To’s Design+Code. While it mainly focuses on iOS design, there is a lot of information that goes across the board for UI design, and it will give you an organized learning method (plus a discount on Sketch).
 
It’s also a good idea to familiarize yourself with Material Design. Google’s presentation of the topic gets a little too in-depth at times so you may just want to Google search for other explanations of Material Design (that’s a bit ironic huh?).
 
Okay so now you know how to design a basic UI right? Well what if you want to make your designs interactive? There’s quite a bit to benefit from actually seeing your designs work (or not work). Over the past couple years there’s been a gigantic influx of prototyping programs. They all have their pros and cons. Personally I use Pixate but at times it can be a little restricting. My iOS developer friend recommends Origami, it has a pretty steep learning curve but I think I may switch to that at some point.
 
The key to becoming effective at UI design is the same with any other form of design: practice, practice, practice.
 
Okay, now on to coding:
 
Depending on your goals you may have to alter your studies a bit. For example, knowing your way around HTML/CSS and jQuery will give you more control of the design process, improve your relationship with developers on your team and make you EXTREMELY marketable. However, in many cases, only a basic knowledge of those languages I mentioned is required (jQuery being more of a bonus). As a designer you may not even touch the coding side of things at all, it really just depends on the team you’re working with. With that said I HIGHLY suggest taking a dive into front-end coding eventually, you’ll hate yourself for not learning it earlier. Ditch dreamweaver too, pickup SublimeText. Team Treehouse and CodeAcademy are fan-fucking-tastic. Learned a lot from their education programs.
 
Whew, if that seems like a lot it’s because it is. Hopefully I broke it down into digestible chunks though. Remember, design is a never-ending learning experience. Don’t stop learning.
Don't Make me Think A good design philosophy book. It's relatively old, but a lot of the ideas are still used today.
First of all, for any software development questions you may have, I suggest you post your questions on Stackoverflow because the people there will surely provide you with answers.
Now, for a list of books I recommend:
JavaScript
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide; if you're new to JS, start with this one.
JavaScript: The Good Parts; not a beginner's book, but a must-read if you are going to use JS
If you are going to be using JS, you will most probably be developing using a framework, and for that I seriously recommend mastering jQuery because as they say, you will write less and do more!
CSS
CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
Web Usability
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability; the book that shows the users' perspective when viewing a website
Performance
High Performance Web Sites: Essential Knowledge for Front-End Engineers and Even Faster Web Sites: Performance Best Practices for Web Developers;if you want to get serious about performance for your websites
https://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
The way I learned UI design quickly was to put together some designs and ask for critiques from designers. There used to be a website where you could get critiques for your designs (in exchange for giving critiques yourself).
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.
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Patterns-Stoyan-Stefanov/dp/0596806752
This absolutely.
Here are some things I (and I know others) have struggled with. I think the web is exploding with resources and information, so I don’t necessarily think we need to explain what a prototype is. There’s better places elsewhere to learn things about UX, but I think we could provide some good resources for not just people new to UX but everyone else too. I’m coming at this from what I wished I would have access to when I was trying to get into the field. I know that /u/uirockstar has some good walls of text that probably should be included as well. Feel free to suggest any changes to what I have here.
I really want to begin a career in UX/UI. What do I do?
Well, first it’s important to know that UX and UI are not synonymous. While many job postings combine them, UI is a subset of UX, just as research and information architecture are. UI is still important and if you can do both, you do increase your value. While many see UX as a research field at its core, the UX/UI title implies that it’s only about creating pretty things.
The first step is learning more about the field, which brings us to…
What kind of education do I need?
If you are still in school, there are more places recently that are offering courses in human-computer interaction. You can even try to create your own internships. There are very few UX specific schools, though they are starting to pop up, like Center Centre and General Assembly.
Yeah, yeah, that’s great. But I already graduated, so where do I start?
Any focus on people or technology can act as a solid foundation for learning UX. Because there has never been a set entrance path into the field, UX roles are filled with people from many different backgrounds. The most common degrees for those in the field though are design, psychology, communications, English, and computer science. link
There are a number of people in the field who are self-taught. There are tons of books, blogs, and designers (here are some helpful resources) which provide enough UX stuff to keep us all busy. When I first started reading about it, I quickly got overwhelmed because there was so much information available and most of it was intended for those who already had a pretty good grasp on things. The Hipper Element’s crash courses in UX and user psychology are great places to get a fairly quick overview.
There are books like The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman, 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People by Susan Weinschenk and Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug that make for great first books.
UX Mastery has a great eBook for getting started, appropriately titled Getting Started in UX. Kevin Nichols’ UX for Dummies is both very readable, yet detailed. You can even buy the eBook if you don’t want people on the bus to think you’re a “dummy.”
Lastly, Fred Beecher has a very extensive Amazon list of recommended UX books, depending on what area you are looking to learn more about.
Great. I’ve read a whole bunch of stuff and have a pretty good idea how UX works. Now how do I get someone to hire me so I can gain experience?
Hey, easy there. While, yes, there are lots of UX jobs out there, very few are entry level and not many employers will hire someone who has only read about it and not actually done it. You can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job. I know. Frustrating, right?
You have to prove that you can do it. One way to do this is site redesigns.
Go find a website that lacks in it’s user experience and figure out how to fix it. Maybe it’s a small business down the street from you or maybe it’s a feature on eBay you think could be better. Redesigning sites is a good way to practice a process and make mistakes on your own time. If you can involve the owner from that small business down the street, that’s even better because then you can get a sense of the customers (users) that you will be designing for.
Once you have done this, you have (some) experience! Start a portfolio and add to it!
But I have a resume. Why do I need a portfolio?
Resumes are great. But resumes won’t get you a job starting out. It’s a million times more effective to show potential employers what you have done, rather than showing them a resume showcasing that you are a team player and proficient in Microsoft Office. But you should still have a resume that outlines your UX skills.
But I’ve never worked in UX! What should I put on my resume?
You don’t need to put all of your old jobs on your resume if they are unrelated to the field. Most places still want to see some work history so they know you haven’t been living in a cave for the last four years, but they don’t care about how you sold vacuum cleaners or trained circus horses. Maybe you can relate some crossover UX skills to your previous work.
Back to portfolios. They are a lot like elementary math class in that you want to show your work. Potential employers are much more interested in how you made a design decision rather than the final result. If your portfolio just has a bunch of fancy wireframes, that doesn’t tell them how you took specific personas into account and you are simply showing them something that looks pretty. And just because it looks pretty doesn’t always mean it makes sense.
Okay. I have a portfolio with a few unsolicited site redesigns in it.
Congratulations! But I have some bad news. Are you sitting down?
No one wants to hire you yet. You haven’t worked on any “actual” projects that showed how your UX skillz helped a business. I know I suggested you do site redesigns to get practice and you should because that is work you can take to a nonprofit or another small business and say, “here are some trial runs that I’ve done that prove I know what I’m doing and now I can help you for free in exchange for adding it to my portfolio.”
They’ll probably be skeptical and say, “hmmm… I don’t think my website needs this newfangled user experience you speak of and—wait did you say free?”
You both get something out of it and you’re doing it pro bono, which relieves you the pressure of making one tiny mistake. (There is a great site called Catchafire that matches non-profits all over the country with people looking to donate their time and skills.)
Once you have a portfolio displaying your work and some experience, start applying! But there is one more aspect that goes into getting hired and that is the people who will hire you.
Ugh, but isn’t networking just using people for my own professional gain?
I had this same mindset and it probably delayed my entrance into the field. I wanted to rely only on the quality of my work and trusted the rest would follow. I avoided networking and meeting people in the field because I didn’t want it to seem like I was only mooching for a job.
But the fact is people are altruistic in nature and like helping others. Many people also enjoy talking about themselves, and those are the two main principles of an informational interview. You’ll also find that people are excited to help others get started since they remember how difficult it was (see: this blog post).
It wasn’t until I started getting those informational interviews and talking with people at UXPA and MeetUp groups that I learned another side of UX, but also got more familiar with more hiring managers or those that knew them. Whenever possible, people will hire those they know and like. Until you get out and start shaking hands and kissing babies, you will be just another faceless name in a stack of resumes.
Meeting with recruiters/staffing agencies is also a good route as they make money by finding you a job, so they have a vested interest in giving you constructive criticism.
I've heard that you have to live in a big city to get a job in UX.
Move. Just kidding. But while it’s true that larger cities like New York, San Francisco, and Seattle are full of opportunities, there are plenty of other places around the country that have jobs. Here are the top 20. If you live in a tiny city, expect a tougher time finding a position.
Okay, I got an interview. How do I not mess this up?
Some great advice is to go all UX on your preparation and treat the interviewer like a user.
.......to be continued.
Blogs:
Other:
Personally I am a UX generalist and work as a freelancer for early stage startups. I don't seek work on "game changer" projects like Fitbit, Snapchat and Pokemon Go but instead projects to improve processes that make current businesses more efficient and profitable. There is so much money to be made on these projects.
I design the app from top to bottom.
Here is some of the knowledge one would need to be successful:
App Design Basics
Overall Concepts
Psychology for microcopy (short instructions) and influence in design
Software needs
Places to see samples of work
My general suggestion is to start by designing something to solve a problem you care about for a business/industry you would want to work in. Don't expect perfection but practice constantly. Build your process and constantly improve for 6 months to 1 year. Then you're probably going to confidence, skills, and samples of work that are good enough to get a job.
Edit: formatting always gets me
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
doing this line by line with as we speak with this amazing book. It definitely helps!
Expert Python Programming by Tarek Ziade. Tarek is the individual responsible for spearheading the overhaul of Python packaging over the last couple years.
I'm biased of course, but you can get my book Learn Ruby on Rails on Amazon for 99 cents.
There are other books to recommend, including Michael Hartl's Ruby on Rails Tutorial, but Learn Ruby on Rails is the best for beginners.
Start with Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition
Then read GUI Bloopers 2.0, Second Edition: Common User Interface Design Don'ts and Dos
Then possibly The Design of Everyday Things
And follow up with The Non-Designer's Design Book
Don't Make Me Think
Color Correction Handbook: Professional Techniques for Video and Cinema (2nd Edition) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321929667/
Seriously.
I would look for a template that you think is good for his content and then adapt it. I'm not saying that you copy it, but you can inspire yourself in another's work. I'd suggest http://themeforest.net/
That said, you are not changing the design, you are changing the position of the content. You could maybe start rethinking the content tree. I would make always available the contact info. It's the best thing to do for the users and clients love to be always available ;)
You could think about the design in little pieces. For example: you have a book gallery to redesign, look for other book galleries that you like and then design stephen's.
This is my attempt. It's super simple. but I think that's what make it understandable.
http://i.imgur.com/VqwTj.png
Ask me anything you need.
I would also change the body text line-height: to 140% to make it more readable.
*edit: I would also make bigger the 'men and women' titles.
I suggest you to read Don't Make Me Think. It's a little old usability book that you could be read in half a day and will blow your mind :)
PS. Sorry for my English.
This is quite the mess you've got here. I'm sorry to be so negative, but there isn't a single thing i like about this.
Your 'nav'/login section is too large, garish & out of place. Not to mention the fact that the login button shouldn't be in the nav.
The colour scheme feels like an afterthought. Everything seems so random. I don't know why your two lists are styled so differently.
Your text is too large in places and the line height is too small. Everything is very bunched up and cluttered.
The arrow on the about link is nothing short of horrific.
Going back to the text, there is no sense of hierarchy. Decide what information is most important and make sure it is clear at the top of the website. Secondary info can go below the fold if needed to keep it from looking messy.
The contact us bit again looks like an afterthought.
The logo is hideously lazy.
Overall, i don't know where to look first to find the information i'm looking for. Don't make me think!
My advice? Start again. But before you do so, have a look at some similar websites for inspiration, USE A GRID!, if you want to do a text-based design, learning the basics of typography is an absolute must.
> 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.
Designing for the web? First thing to do is read "Don't make me think." It's a thin book you should be able to knock it out in no time.
If you are coming from a print world remember CMYK and inches mean nothing, this world is RGB and Hex colors and pixels. Telling the web guy you want a 15% tint of a Hex color isn't helpful.
Be aware the site, text and text flow will look slightly different depending on the browser and platform. How the page, text and forms look on a Mac in Safari is not the same as a PC with IE7 (or 8 or 9) or a mobile device. Your careful word wrap and precise leading is going to be lost.
Map out the likely clients who are the target of the website and their likely viewing device and browsers. Design for those first. If you are designing a site targeting corporations chances are the viewing will be on a PC with some version of IE. If you are designing a site for photographers targeting designers and ad agencies then a Mac with Safari or FF is your most likely target. If most of your viewers are going to be on laptops or mobile devices keep that in mind first.
Include a Photoshop page with all the main colors used. Text color(s), link colors (link, visited, hover and active colors) and all other colors (background, page, dividers, etc.) that will be showing up.
Finally, online is not like working in InDesign, Quark, Illustrator or even Photoshop. Approve everything at 100% size. Just because the vector files, and 6 point type, look great at 1200% in Illustrator doesn't mean they will translate to 72 ppi in a browser.
Other than that, what everyone else said.
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.
Eloquent Javascript
You Don't Know Javascript
Wes Bros (not all are free, but lots are and he has lots on Youtube. if you want some of the paid ones, there are ways, Yarrrrrr. But if you can, buy it as it's not that expensive and he's a kick ass teacher. If you can't afford them, yarrrrrrrr! Then when you get a job, go and buy them so you're not a dick.
Advent of Coding - Great fun, you'll likely only get the first few to start, but you can read other's code to see how "professionals" do it.
There are a number of other sites for coding practice like... I think... leetcode? Something like that. Codewars. There's a ninja themed one as well. Do a couple google searches and you should have tons.
Oh, and the book JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development is a great book for starting out, it's dry as hell, but it's full of everything you want to know. The link is not an affiliate or whatever, I get nothing, just read it.
It sounds like you don't understand the basics of programming logic, and not JS / JQuery. There are fundamentals you need to first learn before you take on any kind of programming and that is how it actually works and how things are manipulated.
The difference between HTML / CSS and any programming language is that HTML / CSS are declarative languages meaning you say what you are going to do (i.e. background-color: blue;) whereas programing languages are dynamic. It will take some time for you to get used to, but like all things it requires a lot of practice. I would also suggest reading some books. I bought and read JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development and it helped me make sense of things.
Others have said build something instead of just doing codeacademy and I completely agree. Though it will be confusing and hard to begin with, it will help you understand the basics. A few good things you could build could be:
I would say do the web calculator, you would have to do the HTML / CSS (yes make it look pretty like the calculator on your phone), and then build the functionality.
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!
JavaScript and jQuery by Jon Duckett
Amazing book for anyone starting JavaScript and jQuery. Great examples and clear explainations. Wish Duckett wrote more JS-related books. I'd buy them all!
If you have some money and time and want to go full time, there are places like http://theironyard.com that can get you a solid foundation and entry level jobs.
Otherwise https://www.codecademy.com is a great place to get started. /r/learnjavascript is a also great resource as they are open to all questions no matter how "dumb" they are. They go through a lot of things together as well, great place to learn. I'd also really recommend this book.
The hard part is getting the experience to know the best way to do things. I am doing some backend stuff as well (node.js and mongoose) to speed things up.
Once you get enough knowledge and get dangerous my biggest suggestion would be to get a recruiter and do a bunch of random contract work. You'll not only learn faster, but usually there will be smart people to learn from.
Don't Make Me Think is an interesting book that if you can find it in your local bookstore and browse through it might be helpful. It's a small book so you could scan through and see if there are interesting bits that might be useful.
On the whole, though, I'd suggest you find an editor to SEVERELY cut down the amount of text that needs to be read for instructions if you find that people aren't reading it.
Page 45 of the book I mention is a chapter called Omit Needless Words (needless is crossed out). A couple of quotes from the chapter:
"E.B. White's seventeenth rule in The Elements of Style:
"17. Omit needless words.
"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should contain no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts."
On the next page a section starting with the bold line:
"Instructions must die
"The other major source of needless words is instructions. The main thing you need to know about instructions is that no one is going to read them - at least not until after repeated attempts at "muddling through" have failed. And even then, if the instructions are wordy, the odds of users finding the information they need is pretty low.
"Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible. When instructions are absolutely necessary, cut them back to the bare minimum."
Then there are some examples. The writer is a consultant for web usability and has been doing it for years and the suggestions are based on his (and others') research. You are finding the same thing that others are finding: they aren't going to read the instructions. See if you can find another way. If you want some ideas, poke through the book (or others that are like it) and see if you can configure a method that makes it self-explanatory as suggested by the writer.
Without seeing the site itself, I cannot offer much else.
Good luck!
Took me too long to figure out the search box wasn't a button.
Don't make me think
Edit: Its not even a cursor on mouseover in chrome.
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Amazon link
A few assorted musings...
I was looking at the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance website yesterday and I was thinking that Lisk could benefit from its own business alliance. Is marketing trying to accomplish something similar?
Also, it seems like Lisk will be in a perfect position to offer well-established businesses something that Ethereum cannot: a platform to build their own blockchains. Would love to hear from the marketing team if this is something on their radar at the moment.
Finally, I got this in the mail yesterday and I am super excited to jump in with both feet: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1497408180/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Cheers everyone!
My recommendation to learn modern PHP:
• http://www.phptherightway.com/ (free)
• Modern PHP written by Josh Lockhart, the guy who created Slim framework: https://www.amazon.com/Modern-PHP-Features-Good-Practices/dp/1491905018
I like these books:
> Expert Python Programming practices
> Python in Practice: Create Better Programs Using Concurrency, Libraries, and Patterns
I found this really good. Plenty of copies of the PDF floating around online.
I found blogs and twitter kind of infuriating as everyone is trying to sell something and you get a very scattered approach to the fundamentals.
First off, I'd be careful of describing yourself as a WordPress developer if your knowledge doesn't really go past using the loop as far as PHP and WordPress goes. Not because I'm one of these 'you're not a developer' types, but because it could land you in legal hot water because of misrepresentation when it comes to clients.
Anyway, what I would currently describe you being – based on what you've said – is a junior front end developer. You have a good understanding of HTML and CSS, and a you know how to get JS working – even if it is just copy and pasting.
Personally, I would recommend signing up to somewhere like Treehouse as they have a great deal of structured content around WordPress that will take you from the basics of PHP and how they relate to WordPress upto more advanced topics like dealing with WordPress' APIs.
As for the most important skill? I would say that is having a good understanding of how PHP and JS work. Once you understand functions, variables, methods – and to a lesser extent, classes – you'll have a pretty good grasp of how anything works within JS and PHP.
I would then recommend spending some time reading PHP's docs, which are very well written and give examples of how those functions work.
If you're more of the read-a-book kind of guy, I highly recommend JavaScript and jQuery by Jon Duckett (Amazon link).
Hope that helps.
I've recently been working on my JS skills and heres a few resources I've found super useful:
Books:
Javascript Patterns
Javascript: The Good Parts
Javascript: The Definitive Guide (While an exhausive resource on the topic, this one is a bit verbose)
Web:
Mozilla's Javascript Guide (One of the best free online javascript guides/references.
How to Node (Tutorials on server-side Node.js)
Daily JS (Interesting JS related news)
Echo JS (Similar to above but updates less frequently)
Hacker News (This is more general tech news but there is a ton of useful web stuff, especially as node.js is currently a hot topic. Reddit actually spawned from HN)
Online Videos (free)
Douglas Crockford's Javascript Lectures (I would recommend these to anyone getting into javascript)
Yeah JS:TGP is really required reading for professional Javascripters. I've also heard great reviews of Javascript patterns by Stoyan Stefanov. The sample chapter is good, I'm hoping to buy it later.
Felix's Node Style Guide is good too (basic style guide) and has some good rules to apply to your normal JS as well as NodeJS.
After that, browse through http://javascript.crockford.com/
Learn the module pattern and it's prettier sister the revealing module pattern and understand how it works. I use RVM everywhere by default, pretty much.
Once you've done all the above you should be able to say confidently:
More generally;
General tips:
Install firebug, JSONView. Get a good editor; I've had good experiences with textpad (win), Komodo(mac) and sublimetext(x-platform). Worry more about readability and maintainability than performance in general.
A nice phrase I came up with the other day: Simple code doing clever things is great, clever code doing simple things is bad.
Read other people's code. Read the unminified jQuery source, and other libraries. Try writing pure JS before going down the heavy-reliance-on-jQuery route.
First of all, don't worry too much about a single interview. A lot of interviewers don't really know what they're doing / why they are actually asking the questions they are asking. Usually, they're programmers--not experts at hiring people.
Having said that, you definitely want to be familiar with common "gotchas" and major issues in the languages/frameworks you will be using.
For JS, I recommend two books in particular: JavaScript: The Good Parts and JavaScript Patterns. I found these helpful because they cover all the major issues with the language and they are quite concise. These don't cover any frameworks like jQuery or Angular though--that's another matter altogether.
Also take a look here: https://github.com/h5bp/Front-end-Developer-Interview-Questions
There's a good chance the interviewers will straight up copy questions from this list and you researching the answers will be a great learning experience.
Advanced
Medium
Old, but probably still relevant
Yet to be released, but you can get the in progress pdf from the publisher
Docs
The one that everybody recommends
HTML5 spec
HTML5Rocks
Latest Webkit News
Other than that build build build. Make demos and play. Ask questions here or on stackoverflow and read other people's code. Also, lots of great old JSConf videos out there.
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.
I've said it once and I'll say it again, Eloquent JS is not for beginners. You will get stuck almost immediately, especially with no CS background. And, I haven't read the other two, so I can't really recommend one over the other.
Depending on what you're looking to do/get out of reading a book, you might want to checkout Jon Duckett's Javascript & JQuery. It's much more "noob" friendly, and is much easier and nicer to get
It's called web scraping. You can do that with many programming languages like Python, C#, Java, C++ and more. Python is the easiest way to scrap the web IMO, take a look at the BeautifulSoup library. I also recommend the book [book Web Scraping with Python: Collecting Data from the Modern Web] (https://www.amazon.com/Web-Scraping-Python-Collecting-Modern/dp/1491910291/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481884244&sr=8-1&keywords=beautifulsoup) which is a great introduction to web scraping with python
These gentlemen above my comment will be the exact answer you are looking for. Especially the save/make money comment. That is job security/advancement/streamlined processes all rolled into a concise statement. Pull information about what you need from UX/UI design, Steve Krug "Don't make me think" with small real world cheaply produced benefits, and also add in the fact of how many hours wasted to the company that the developers are spending trying to update something.
"Don't Make Me Think" by Steven Krug
How E-bay make 300 million dollars by moving a button. Design matters
I've read this book a couple times, technically it is about UI but it helps with how you should layout your page and the reasons why to lay it out that way.
Steve Krug's Don't Make me Think.
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
​
You can also torrent it legally.
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.
Dont make me think
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324518680&sr=8-1
Undercover User Experience Design
http://www.amazon.com/Undercover-Experience-Design-Voices-Matter/dp/0321719905/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324518703&sr=1-1
I'd recommend Don't Make Me Think, which is a crash course in UI design for people who are not designers in their day job.
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
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
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
If I could do it all over again, I would:
** I am not Jon Duckett but I do love his books.
I recommend this book. I learned HTML/CSS from the HTML/CSS book by those authors. And then after that I went back to a more "textbook" type book to learn further in depth. And then I did the same with Javascript. I felt like those books were a real nice jumping in point because they're so simple and filled with visual examples.
I'm currently taking it right now (going through web development 101 because I am a complete noob to it), and OP isn't kidding when they say it doesn't hold your hand. I finished up the HTML/CSS basics and just started working through the beginning JS sections (learning basic syntax, if/else statements, switch function). Each lesson can take anywhere from an hour to 3, depending on how quickly you are able to grasp the concepts or how big the hands-on project is.
Don't be afraid to get outside resources either! I picked up this Javascript and jQuery book that has a lot of great reviews, and it gives another perspective/way to learn the language. I might actually trade this back in for the authors book on HTML/CSS because I'm still struggling with those languages. Let me know if you have any questions on it!
I have recently read this book. I didn't like it at all. Just to give you an idea of my skill level, so you can compare it with where you are at, I've been doing HTML/CSS/Javascript for over a decade. My Javascript skills though have been more script line by line style as opposed to OOP intermediate level stuff. So I bought this book look to increase my Javascript skills.
While the book says its HTML5 with Javascript programming, it doesn't really cover the basics very well for either, even saying you should be familiar with both before reading it. At the same time, it spends half the book, quickly covering the basics, in such little depth, I would struggle to understand who its for.
The second half of the book, just spends one chapter at a time going over the various HTML5 APIs and how to use Javascript with them. For a 600 page book, there is so much fluff here, its unbearable. Its a really poor book. Its not for beginners, but its probably too simple for intermediates.
...
If you need to know HTML/CSS I'd highly recommend http://www.htmlandcssbook.com/
You'll want to install Sublime Text to do your work in it.
You'll want to create a Github account and download the client and learn how to version control.
After you've done the HTML/CSS book. I'd recommend learning about SASS from DevTips https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XmUUa_pWw8
You can install CodeKit to make compiling it easier.
...
For Javascript, I recommend "A Smarter Way to Learn Javascript" https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Way-Learn-JavaScript-technology/dp/1497408180/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473808304&sr=8-1&keywords=a+smarter+way+to+learn+javascript
It's a really good, QUICK, and straight to the point book on beginner Javascript. ~250pages
Then... If you want to round it out, I'd recommend Head First Javascript Programming https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-JavaScript-Programming-Freeman/dp/144934013X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473808479&sr=8-1&keywords=head+first+javascript+programming. While being full of fluff, as is Head Firsts way, is a much better book than their HTML5/JS one. With a lot of great examples ~600pages
After that, I'd recommend Learning Web App Development https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Web-Development-Semmy-Purewal/dp/1449370195/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473808519&sr=8-1&keywords=learning+web+app+development ~300pages which will start to introduce the full javascript stack to you.
...
I hope that helps mate.
There's a chapter on that on Automate The Boring Stuff :
https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter11/
and you can read the BeautifulSoup docs and learn about urllib.request and requests.
And if this is not enough material :
https://www.amazon.com/Web-Scraping-Python-Collecting-Modern/dp/1491910291/
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
Read Don't make Me Think, it's pretty good. It goes through design and layout ideas.
Don't make me think by Steve Krug. The holy bible of UX.
Read it, learn it, love it.
I realised that UX design could be fun only after reading http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
Read Steve Krug's: Don't make me think.
There's also a case for web underdesign. Also, learn the practical implications of
Fitt's law
Principles of Design.
Rules of Gestalt
There's maybe a few more things, but if you can do this, you'll be pretty well off. Also, The last rule is functional trumps pretty. Something ugly and working is better than something beautiful and a pain to use.
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.
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.
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.
Pro JavaScript Design Patterns
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Design-Patterns-Recipes-Problem-Solution/dp/159059908X
JavaScript Patterns
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Patterns-Stoyan-Stefanov/dp/0596806752/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303912468&sr=1-1
High Performance JavaScript
http://www.amazon.com/Performance-JavaScript-Faster-Application-Interfaces/dp/059680279X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303912468&sr=1-3
Object Oriented JavaScript
http://www.amazon.com/Object-Oriented-JavaScript-high-quality-applications-libraries/dp/1847194141/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303912517&sr=1-1
JavaScript: The Good Parts
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Good-Parts-Douglas-Crockford/dp/0596517742/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303912536&sr=1-4
Everyone loves to swing from Crockford's nuts, but I found this book a little hard to read. I lack a CS background and I fully admit I need to re-read this book as last time I read it was beginning of 2009
JavaScript: The Definitive Guide 6th Edition
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Definitive-Guide-David-Flanagan/dp/0596805527/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1303912643&sr=1-1
I just ordered this yesterday, the 5th Edition is the book that really kicked it off for me back in 2005.
jQuery is cool and all (as are all the other libs) but you should try to learn core JavaScript as much as possible.
I wonder why nobody mentioned mixins?
Make your models DRY and inherit!
blogpost
Two Scoops of Django The book treats the topic nicely.
Slightly outdated, but you need Two Scoops of Django. It established this and many, many other great practices.
I would suggest Django, IMO one of the best web frameworks out there
You will learn about DB design, ORM, models, separation of concerns, MVC etc..
Get the book tow scoops of django : https://www.amazon.com.mx/Two-Scoops-Django-Best-Practices/dp/0981467342/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501773360&sr=8-1&keywords=two+scoops+of+django
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/
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410413069&sr=8-1&keywords=javascript+and+jquery
There's a reason this book is the number one best seller in Javascript Programming on Amazon.
I haven't used it yet, but if the reviews and his html/css book are any indication this would be an amazing book.
Check out "Javascript & jQuery" by Jon Duckett
I picked up this book and have been going through it along with CodeAcademy and Treehouse. The book has lots of examples and simplifies a lot of things that aren't neccessary taught on the tutorial sites so I find learning through mutiple resources pretty good.
Jon Duckett: Javascript & JQuery + The Odin Project
These two sources worked wonders for me.
HTML & CSS by John Duckett was very helpful when I was first starting out with front end dev. He recently released a followup on Javascript & Jquery that is also quite good.
He also wrote a book called [JavaScript and Jquery]
(http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1118531647?cache=3e10930602aec822ac1b09f06d245fb8&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1413723858&sr=8-1#ref=mp_s_a_1_1) , which is an awesome book. Beautifully designed and easy to follow.
Funny because I'm on the same one. It definitely is tough and for one, I'm definitely going to redo the Basic Javascript section at least one or two more times. I've never learned JS before so I don't expect it to come "easy" to me and I kind of expected to have to put in extra effort.
I did pick up a textbook on the side A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript, I don't know how it is because it was just delivered yesterday.
I've also been parsing through parts of this guide.
I’d recommend checking out “A Smarter Way To Learn JavaScript.” It’s an easy read with clear explanations and even has exercises to practice at the end of each chapter.
A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript. The new tech-assisted approach that requires half the effort https://www.amazon.com/dp/1497408180/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_iJfvDbBD0VNSZ
codecademy.com also has a ton of great resources, many of which are free, that you code along with the exercises. I’m a big fan of this site because you’re not watching videos, you’re actually going through the motions and typing everything out yourself.
Try a few different approaches from a mix of resources. For me, it helps to the hear the same concept a few different times in different ways in order for it all to click.
Good luck!
This book is excellent.
The problem with books is that they cannot keep pace with the rapid change in the industry.
Therefore, the internet is the best place.
You're welcome.
It has been available for free on Amazon for a while. I downloaded it last night. If you prefer going the Amazon route and having it saved to your account:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9S0CZN/
Here's some more:
http://www.learnjavaonline.org/
http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-HTML5-Programming-JavaScript/dp/1449390544
https://www.webcodegeeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/HTML5-Programming-Cookbook.pdf
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/759094/Step-by-Step-PHP-Tutorials-for-Beginners-Creating
It is not possible to become a good programmer overnight. It's not just about learning a computer language - that is the easy part. The hard part is about how to apply that knowledge. Becoming a programmer requires a lot of hard work - making mistakes, lots of mistakes and learning from them as you go. Develop a mindset that allows you to analyse any problem and synthesize a solution from there. And perseverance - countless hours of frustration before reaping the reward of a finished product.
I’ve got an old copy of Don’t Make Me Think that features lists of screenshots of websites from the turn of the millennium. It’s remarkably interesting
It's fun, although unconventional. People may have trouble navigating your site because of the layout. The movement of all the site elements also has my eyes bouncing up and around as I scroll through the page. Is it critical that those navigational elements scroll with the visitor?
The design you have to display work progress is clever ( I would love this if I were a backer), but I'm not sure it works in the scrolling format you have now.
An image of a face will draw the attention of visitors to what you want them to do. Right now, my attention gets drawn to the bouncing navigation bar, which fights with the video for attention through movement.
I think what you want the visitor to do is play the demo and then become a backer based on their enjoyment of that. Is that correct? The cute three liner of features does not convert me into a demo downloader. The other box of features gets me a little closer, but I'm still confused as to what your game actually is. The video makes it look like HOMM with more units.
I would think hard about what you want the person to do and then design it around that. You want to guide the visitor down a path that leads them to the single action that you want them to make. Once they go down that path, then they can explore the other site content (like the bestiary and so on).
Here's my take:
Good
'Needs Improvement'
Suggested Reading
Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug
This is an industry standard book on web design that is still applicable today and is well-regarded.
If you believe that your current design is strong, do a coffee shop usability test where you take a laptop and buy coffee for random people, ask them to accomplish one of your site objectives, give them a short survey, and watch how they do without providing them with any assistance.
Designing Interfaces is great, and I find myself coming back to it when I'm stuck on something. I should note, however, that the examples focus primarily on desktop applications. It's not a stretch to apply most of the concepts to web apps, but some of the patterns aren't really applicable. However, I primarily do web work and I still think it's worth getting.
A classic Web usability book that's really easy to get through is Don't Make Me Think. Much of what makes for good web design is common sense, but it's nice to have it reinforced/verified.
If you're interested in site architecture (you should be) or some theory behind decisions behind visual design (particularly regarding heavy information), I'd also recommend The Information Design Workbook. Half of it is theory and the other half is examples and case studies. It also has some really nice guidelines for working with clients, such as "What is a design brief? Why do I need it? What should be included in it?"
Designing for Interaction is alright... The interviews in it are interesting, but the subject matter is pretty basic. That being said, it is a good primer. I'd definitely pick Designing Interfaces over this, though, if you're choosing between them.
I've heard good things about Designing Web Interfaces, but I haven't read it myself, so... I can't personally recommend it. (O'Reilly generally has pretty high standards, though, so it's probably a safe bet.)
I'd second useit.com and smashing, but sometimes, nothing beats books.
(If you're interested in getting more into the psychology of it, or are interested in a specific topic regarding UI/UX, let me know, as I have more recommendations... I just don't know what you're interested in.)
Web design books? Meh. However, I highly recommend books like "The Design of Everyday Things" and "Don't Make Me Think". The latter does take a bit of a web focus, but they aren't your typical how-to book, they're just intended to give you some perspective on ux design (as applied to the web and elsewhere).
There's a book called Don't Make Me Think which is about usability and is quite good (I think) at teaching the right mindset for a developer. You want your interfaces to be as simple and easy to use as possible, everything else tends to flow from that.
More generally it's about looking at interfaces you like and trying to work out what makes them good. Usually when devs make something there's a tendency to cram everything in, so giving things more space is often a simple-but-effective technique. But yeah, be critical of others' work and try to work out what you can shamelessly steal.
Don't make Me Think is a book I read while in college for interactive media design. If I remember correctly, it focused more on web usability, but the basic concepts hold true for most types of UI design.
As for tools, it would depend on your platform.
that's the name of the book; don't downvote
It's less than $20, a PDF is also easy to find.
If you're going to read any books to learn something about UX, start with this.
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/
I started in market research as well before transitioning to a UX Researcher. These are the standouts from the reading list I started with:
The Elements of User Experience - A great intro to the whole field of UX. In-depth and covers the user centered design process.
Don't Make Me Think Short but comprehensive book on usability.
Handbook of Usability Testing Everything you need to know about usability testing.
Interviewing Users This book is great and is one I go back to regularly. The author Steve Portigal, also has a podcast on user research, "Dollars to Donuts" which is worth checking out.
Another comment mentioned the Jeff Sauro book which is very good, and also the Userfocus blog and newsletter. I've done David Travis' courses as well and would recommend them to people new to the field.
https://www.usability.gov/ is a great resource for templates, methods, definitions etc.
NN/g and UIE are my two most read blogs/newsletters.
Don't Make Me Think, by Steve Krug
Well, I know UI and UX are not interchangable terms, but if you want to build UI's, either get really good at front end design at a smaller shop and design things yourself, OR go into User Experience Design, Interaction Design, or Human Computer Interaction (there's lots of names for things) and work on larger teams.
And they don't actually "do" any one thing on a daily basis. And differences between stakeholder needs, legacy, scope, and testing methods will radically change a project.
But here are some examples of stuff I've done in my first year doing freelance UX work:
So there's no one thing you'd be doing if you dedicated yourself to UI design. There's elements of project management, front end development, graphic design, behavorial pyschology, and marketing in your toolbox and you just need to figure out what works best with what project.
As for schools: My degree is in "Interactive Arts and Media" from a local art school, but my boss on the cancer project studied Ancient Roman History and another UX pal I worked with studied Feminist Literature at an Ivy League school. So there's really no "path" per se.
> I need a structured environment
Well, this is the bad news... design tends to be a passion for people, which attracts self-starters. This isn't really a framework for what we do because it's not an exact science. So you kind of need to be able to discipline yourself.
But don't worry! I was like you too, and I figured it out because I have a passion for it.
My favorite book (and it's a classic) is Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think." I've got like three or four used copies around my house because I loan them out a lot. And if you're close to a big college, they probably have a bunch of used copies for less than $10. But it's a great intro to how people look at interfaces and how folks gets started doing this work, and probably a good starting off point if you think this is for you.
"Don't make me think" by Steve Krug and the Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper.
This rant is going to be substantially larger than the last one but I Hope i will clarify my point a little better.
Before I go into this, let me set some ground work. Regardless of the field you are in design tends to have a number of tenets and rules.
The most prevalent one in web design for example would be the "three click rule".(It should take no more than three clicks to get from any start to any destination point on a site)
Personally though I believe the rule of "Expectation" supersedes all other UI and UX rules.
Joel on Software explains this much better than I, that article is a fantastic read (and leads-in to reading Don't make me think one of the preeminent books on ui design)
Here is the excerpt I specifically mean:
> One day Pete's friend Gena asks him for some computer help. Now, Gena has a Macintosh iBook, because she loves the translucent boxes. When Pete sits down and tries to use the Macintosh, he quickly gets frustrated. "I hate these things," he says. He is, finally, able to help Gena, but he's grumpy and unhappy. "The Macintosh has such a clunky user interface."
>Clunky? What's he talking about? Everybody knows that the Macintosh has an elegant user interface, right? The very paradigm of ease-of-use?
>Here's my analysis of this mystery.
>On the Macintosh, when you want to move a window, you can grab any edge with the mouse and move it. On Windows, you must grab the title bar. If you try to grab an edge, the window will be reshaped. When Pete was helping Gena, he tried to widen a window by dragging the right edge. Frustratingly, the whole window moved, rather than resizing as he expected.
>On Windows, when a message box pops up, you can hit enter or the space bar to dismiss the message box. On the Mac, space doesn't work. You usually need to click with the mouse. When Pete got alerts, he tried to dismiss them using the space bar, like he's been doing subconsciously for the last six years. The first time, nothing happened. Without even being aware of it, Pete banged the space bar harder, since he thought that the problem must be that the Mac did not register his tapping the space bar. Actually, it did -- but it didn't care! Eventually he used the mouse. Another tiny frustration.
>Pete has also learned to use Alt+F4 to close windows. On the Mac, this actually changes the volume. At one point, Pete wanted to click on the Internet Explorer icon on the desktop, which was partially covered by another window. So he hit Alt+F4 to close the window and immediately double-clicked where the icon would have been. The Alt+F4 raised the volume on the computer and didn't close the window, so his double click actually hit the Help button in the toolbar on the window which he wanted closed anyway, which immediately started bringing up a help window, so now, he's got two windows open which he has to close.
>Another small frustration. But, boy, does it add up. At the end of the day, Pete is grumpy and angry. When he tries to control things, they don't respond. The space bar and the Alt+F4 key "don't work" -- for all intents and purposes, it's as if those keys were broken. The window disobeys him when he tries to make it wider, playing a little prank where it just moves over instead of widening. Bad window. Even if the whole thing is subconscious, the subtle feeling of being out of control translates into helplessness, which translates into unhappiness. "I like my computer," Pete says. "I have it all set up so that it works exactly the way I like it. But these Macs are clunky and hard to use. It's an exercise in frustration. If Apple had been working on MacOS all these years instead of messing around with Newtons, their operating system wouldn't be such a mess."
>Right, Pete. We know better. His feelings come despite the fact that the Macintosh really is quite easy to use -- for Mac users. It's totally arbitrary which key you press to close a window. The Microsoft programmers, who were, presumably, copying the Mac interface, probably thought that they were adding a cool new feature by letting you resize windows by dragging any edge. The MacOS 8.0 programmers probably thought they were adding a cool new feature when they let you move windows by dragging any edge.
>Most flame wars you read about user interface issues focus on the wrong thing. Windows is better because it gives you more ways to resize the window. So what? That's missing the point. The point is, does the UI respond to the user in the way in which the user expected it to respond? If it didn't, the user is going to feel helpless and out of control, the same way I felt when the wheels of the dough bathtub didn't turn the way I pushed them, and I bumped into a wall. Bonk.
okay. big excerpt...
The point behind that is , it doesn't matter how clever your UI is if people are not getting the desired and EXPECTED results from the actions they take. If you see the word "File" in the top corner of an application and when you click it it opens a window instead of showing a menu strip....you will be annoyed.
What does this have to do with VR input?
Well, Let's take the xbox controller. If I showed you a game on a screen, one you had never seen before, showing a character in 3d with a third person camera and asked you what the controls are, despite never playing the game you can make a very safe bet that:
this is the point of expectation. it is bordering on muscle memory. It removes the barrier of entry for a new game. you can sit down and just KNOW how to play it.
That is an amazing feat. It is a universal standard.
Now let's take this one step further.
It is one thing to say we immediately feel comfortable using a game controller but think of it this way,
we feel TOO comfortable, when you need to turn around and you are holding a controller you instinctively use the right analogue.
you do not use the oculus or actually look around.
I have seen this time and time again. watch someone play an oculus game involving a controller and count the frequency of them turning around and looking at things outside of looking 20 degrees either side of their starting position.
now do the same in a game which has them standing and has no controller. It seems stupidly obvious but if they HAVE to turn to look then they will and they will start associating real world actions of looking and dodging, if you give them any kind of "out" via an established "game" mechanism they will always subconsciously treat it like a game.
There is one exception to this.
Framing the reality.
this is something I have talked about a lot in other posts on this subreddit and still feel it is sadly lacking in most games.
The best and easiest way to deal with input limitations is to translate that limitation INTO the game and impose it on the characters themselves.
Alone is one of the few games to have done this well. You can't move from your seat....neither can the character. instant experience buy-in.
another example is a game i played on steam "Analogue: A Hate Story" In the opening section of this game you are talking to an AI. they ask you to type in a command...
the ai say's they don't recognize it. there must be something wrong with the command parser, and they guess they will have to try to anticipate what you would like to do
and provide context options. Bam Dialog wheel. ...but it is NOT a dialog wheel. it is an in-universe workaround to a problem. it is no longer a separate mechanic to interact with the world
it is an in-world experience.
this second sidetrack brings me back round to Lunar Lander. A game where you control the lander....with an xbox controller! this is 100% perfectly fine. because it is NOT an xbox controller,
It is a lander steering device that looks remarkably LIKE an xbox controller.
THIS is the crux of my point.
The best User interface....is NO user interface. While that is an almost impossible scenario to reach the next best thing would be a context sensitive absolute minimal user interface. and I mean that with hardware too.
When games (like most source engine stuff) have a keypad or button you actually press the number on yourself it is 1000 times more immersive than a little popup window with additional interaction options. stay-in world
and only use ui if it cannot be expressed in-world. even then EXPLAIN it . it can be the hokiest crap in the world but at least say it is a headset, or ocular implant or a hallucination or SOMETHING. ensure the character as well as the player
is aware of it.
I get it. I should give the article the benefit of the doubt, like you gave my comment.
The first sentence was an exaggeration, maybe intended to provoke and make you read the rest. I don't blame you for writing off my comment -- there are too many bogus opinions and malformed arguments and conclusions, that not using past experience as a filter would be quite the test of patience, not to mention, a waste of time.
For what it's worth, I did skim ahead and read parts of it, and it seemed to try to convey "common sense" concepts, using conjecture and complicated constructs. It hurts my brain when I try to understand what is meant by "to use up cognitive resources". The more convoluted an explanation is, the less I feel it has been understood by the person explaining it. I have a strong distaste for psychology terms that add depth, but not clarity, as if trying to validate and give authority to the field or explanation.
A bit ironic for an article trying to explain the concept of "minimizing drainage of the cognitive tank" (to paraphrase).
So, what is this article really about? This.
Let me change my reactionary first sentence from "What a stupid article", to "What a waste of time -- anecdotal, conjectural, and even the bogus psychological experiments she references are completely misrepresented".
Thanks.
"Don't Make Me Think" is probably outdated but it used to be the best book on the subject. http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0321344758
The Smashing Books (there are four now) are fantastic. Worth the money every year. You can also subscribe to the entire Smashing Library. https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/smashing-book-4-ebooks.html
"Stop Stealing Sheep" is an excellent typography book: http://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/0201703394
and me this
Rocket surgery.
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
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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.
First of all, read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
It may be old in internet years, but it's still very relevant and one of the best books when it comes to understanding how to create a user-friendly website.
There's definitely a lot more to creating solid website and to be honest, this might be a bit ambitious if you've never been involved in creating a website before. Don't let that stop you from trying though.
I think it's more common to go from web design to UI/UX, it's a natural transition. There's a lot you can learn from web design that applies to UI UX.
As far as straight up knowledge goes:
Nielsen Norman
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Material Design
Smashing Magazine
As far as practice goes I'm currently doing something that has helped me immensively lately. I'm copying an app or web site UI that I like every day in Figma, but you can use any design software - like Sketch, XD, Photoshop, etc. And then at least once a week, I make something original with the knowledge I've gained from the practice.
That's a very logical reason to learn Java and C.
My motivation actually started with web design, I always thought the internet was shit and I wanted to make it a more attractive and navigable place. That led to learning how the back end of those internets worked, and at the same time I really got into early FPS and thus learned a bunch about servers.
How I got to that point sounds very cliche but experimentation, and trial and error. Spoiler alert: if you write something, and it just works the first time, something is fucking broken I swear to you. Design should always be in your mind if you are designing something with an end user. If you'd like a very good resource for changing the way you think about usability I suggest the book Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug. Here's a free iOS sketch template.
Hands down in my opinion the best way to deal with thinking about design inherently is to draw that shit. You don't have to be good at drawing, but you know what you want it to look like in your head, just mock it up a little bit. I might also suggest mocking up your idea a bit in HTML5/jQuery if you could, just to get a nice process flow going.
Sorry if that was kind of ranty, I could wax poetic for days just answering the questions of user experience.
Waffles duhhh, specifically Belgian.
If this is truly a web design class, you should cover the html box model in general, so the design students can understand the implications of making a design that's intended for web. What I really mean is that everything on the web is essentially a rectangle. Design with that in mind and you will save your developer a lot of headaches. Maybe study the layouts of some popular sites to illustrate concepts of web usability and good layouts.
User interface design is the really difficult part of web design, so you should consider trying to lend some time to that side of things. Here is a book that I've heard rave reviews about, although I haven't read it directly.
Don't Make Me Think is a popular book on usability that I often see cited.
Joel Spolsky from Joel on Software also wrote a book, User Interface Design for Programmers
I'd pick up a copy of Don't Make Me Think. It's not about design per se, but if you want to work on interfaces it's important to learn about usability.
"Too many clicks, gotcha"?? That's not really what he was saying...
In any case, a good read on the subject of (web) usability (or, generally, any piece of software), is Steve Krug's "Don't make me think". Do yourself and your employer a favor, and order 5 copies for you, your colleagues, your manager, ....
The reason I'm saying that, is that reading this book introduces you to a new mindset on how to look at issues like this. If you introduce your colleagues to that same mindset at the same time, you might be able to start building better software that is easier to use. It's really not that difficult once you start thinking about it, but you first have to start thinking about it, which is why you should get this book ;-)
Read the book "Don't make me think" by Steve Krug
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
Great that you've been reading Psychology, good start. Here's a few resources that might help. These are in order as I'm not sure what stage you are at in terms of research/learning.
16 Must-Read Articles for the UX Newbie
Springboard UX
Don't Make Me Think - Steve Krug
Collection of Free eBook by UXPin
TL;DR is cute. It doesn't play well if you're talking basic marketing or UX design or business survival.
The OP's topic touches on a wide swath of issues. Let us start with one of the major fallacies of personas. Posit: Do people think this? At 69,200 results, I would say yes ... a whopping lot. Persona Non Grata explains the problem...
>The main cause of this mess is that half of the personas out there are entirely made up, with no user research to back them. In most cases, no one on the design team has talked directly to users to find out who they are, so designers come up with an idea of a user type. The resulting personas are like the designer’s imaginary friends.
Imaginary friends. Or Cooper's elastic user. Same difference.
An introduction to personas and how to create them if you thought what I wrote was long, don't bother clicking.
Finally Reconciling market segments and personas brings this full circle to the OP's situation.
But wait, there's more to it. The OP touches on the basic problem: Designers think their designs work. Web galleries think the designs they feature work -- the whole vapid trendoid lot of 'em (see ...now that's opinion). Basic aesthetics transcends ...well pretty much everything, including segmentation and demographics.
Why Your Site Doesn't Need to be Pretty puts this proposition to the A/B split run test. Pretty loses.
Just adequately addressing the introductory basis for discussion of these issues could take another ten articles. Try to boil it down for people, they accuse you of just spouting opinions. TL;DR doesn't help ... but it does bolster my argument about how people also misinterpret what Krug wrote.
I've liked this book. It is from 2005 but many of the principles are still relevant.
Don't Make Me Think
The Design Of Everyday Things
Designing Interfaces
Read http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
As suggested, modern UI frameworks really help -- it is harder to make something shitty in bootstrap than it is to make something OK looking.
Probably the biggest piece of advice I've got is to not overextend yourself here. Focus on making something that is usable that doesn't look horrible. Don't break new design ground if you ain't got it in you, that gets some real WTFs.
Don't Make Me Think
Also, see Coding Horror's recommended reading
Not all web dev work is making websites from scratch. Plenty of companies have websites already that they would like to add functionality to.
If you do have clients that want you to handle design you can subcontract without cutting into your costs too much. Designer hours are cheaper than programmer hours. If you really want to do it yourself, I'd recommend Don't Make Me Think for usability and The principles of Beautiful Web Design for making it pretty.
Other suggestions here are good. Use bootstrap and Kuler.
Don't learn flash.
This is what many of the cool kids (and your new competition) are doing:
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There are a lot of programs around right now to help career-changers get their foot into UX Design. Do not follow the advice of youtubers. A lot of the core of UX you cannot really learn without being hands on. Moderating user tests, ideation sessions, conducting interviews, and group/team activities like journey mapping, persona building, affinity diagramming, card sorts, etc. all need to be done in collaboration with other people.
​
Additional knowledge in subjects like Human Factors, Human Computer Interaction, Interaction Design, User Interface Design, Motion Design, User Research, is also attractive in someone who is transitioning into UX Design.
​
Otherwise, start reading through this list: https://designerhangout.co/books
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The first two on the list are especially good:
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A side note: As a UX designer, you'll likely have to wear even more hats. And be better at wearing them too.
The character sheet is much like a website home page or phone/game interface, so you may want to do a usability test.
Print it out and make a mock character with it. Fill out different parts, see how easy/hard it is to enter representative values. See how easy/hard it is to find what you're looking for.
If you're happy with it, then have someone else run through it. Ask them to look up different features and see how long it takes them. It shouldn't take more than 1-2 seconds for them to find anything they're looking for.
You can find more on the topic of usability tests and interface design in Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think.
PLEASE take everything I've said as being directed towards a UX field. If you are looking more into UI design, you may need some additional training/schooling.
It took time for me to get used to the mouse 15-20 years ago as well... but now, I can't imagine going back to console-only.
Likewise, I've been using the Win8 preview for a couple of months (since it was first released on the MSDN) and it was a shame that it had no tutorials or tips or anything like there was with Win7... but once I figured things out, it's pretty efficient for working.
A lot of people seem to be complaining under the guise of "usability", even those who appear to be educated or informed on the topic. There is a concept that some people seem to be confusing though. Usability for a website (a-la the classic, and still relevant, Don't Make Me Think ) is not the same as usability for an OS.
The valid complaint that I've actually heard from anyone who's used it for longer than few days is that there's no tutorial or guide for new/changed things. IIRC, there will be in RTM. Bitching about the pre-release apps (many of which were written by interns - good jobs on their part, but they're by no means production quality, release-day apps) says nothing about the OS itself.
Like I said: I've used it for a couple of months now (didn't install the RC yet - still on the original preview that now has the disabled store) and I can honestly say that I find little change in my work habits, and I enjoy some of the new features (share charm mostly). It's basically Win7 with a huge start menu.
Don't make me think - The seminal book on web usability
The definitive guide to HTML5 - Great book to cement your current knowledge of HTML,CSS,and jscript while preparing you for more advanced concepts.
White space is not your enemy - I think this is the book every non designer should start with. It's the best introduction to the art of expressing through visual communication and introduces concepts that you'll start tweaking on your own as your repertoire and skill grows. It also introduces some valuable habits necessary of all designers.
Naturally these are just the books I would reccomend. I would also supplement them with up to date standards like Opera Web Standards Curriculm and active javascript practice that sites such as Codeacademy offer.
EDIT: Apparently, Opera's updated it's standard and donated them to W3
Don't Make me Think: This book is a great reference for UX design, I've referenced for years: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1341406512&sr=8-1&keywords=don%27t+make+me+think
Also a great book: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
So, again, really cool service. The chrome extension sounds ingenious.
That said, here was my experience:
I assume this is either a bug, or just the best you can do according to whatever arrangement (or lack thereof) that you have with Amazon.
Naturally it's a deal breaker though, and it makes me hesitant to try again with another book.
I'd be less hesitant if your form saved my data on refresh, but it doesn't.
Still thinks its a killer idea once it's refined.
Don't Make Me Think
This PDF will give you a pretty basic understanding of print design, and creating a portfolio, and it's free!
http://www.portfoliohandbook.com/PortfolioHandbook_UCID12.pdf
i've grabbed a stack off my shelf, i'll list a few here
[Thinking with type] (http://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Type-2nd-revised-expanded/dp/1568989695) (Typography)
[Layout Workbook] (http://www.amazon.com/Layout-Workbook-Real-World-Building-Graphic/dp/1592533523/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116370&sr=1-1&keywords=layout+workbook+a+real-world+guide+to+building+pages+in+graphic+design) (Typography & Page Layouts)
[Production for Graphic Designers] (http://www.amazon.com/Layout-Workbook-Real-World-Building-Graphic/dp/1592533523/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116370&sr=1-1&keywords=layout+workbook+a+real-world+guide+to+building+pages+in+graphic+design)
(This one is more technical, Printing, Final Art Production, Etc.)
[Designing with Type] (http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Type-5th-Essential-Typography/dp/0823014134/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116474&sr=1-1&keywords=designing+with+type) (Typography)
[Type & Image] (http://www.amazon.com/Type-Image-Language-Graphic-Design/dp/0471284920/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116510&sr=1-1&keywords=type+and+image) (Combining Typography & Imagery)
[Color & Type for the Screen] (http://www.amazon.com/Color-Type-Screen-CD-ROM-Digital/dp/2880463297/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116649&sr=1-1&keywords=color+and+type+for+the+screen) (Web Typography)
[The Element of User Experience] (http://www.amazon.com/Elements-User-Experience-User-Centered-Design/dp/0321683684/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116686&sr=1-1&keywords=elements+of+user+experience+by+jesse+garrett) (User Experience/Web Design)
[Don't Make Me Think] (http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1374116719&sr=1-1&keywords=dont+make+me+think) (User Experience/Web Design)
There are also a ton of threads here on Reddit about Design books alone, and there is still the rest of the internet!
These are most of the books I got from my first two years at well respected design program, some are more helpful than others. But it doesn't hurt to read!
Also if you really want to give this a shot, work your ass off! Know that there is someone out there that is willing to (and probably is) working harder at it than you! Design is just like any other field of business, you gotta put in the work to get what you want.
Not annoying. It's a good question. Every icon has three states, default, hover, and active. The importance of these states is to give feedback to the user. There is a book called Don't make me think and it explains that the user should be able to navigate a site without thinking. This is done by meeting user expectations.
When a user hovers over a button it should react in some way to inform the user that it is indeed a button and they can click it. When a user clicks the button it should again react so that the user doesn't have to think about weather their click worked.
The button does turn your mouse into a pointer on hover, but that is not the expected reaction. The mouse should stay the way it is and the button should change. That is what all users have come to expect.
Some possible ways to achieve this.
They are many more options like adding borders, shadows, etc. Pretty much anything that css has to offer.
The copy needs some work.
The design, especially visual/aesthetic needs help too.
The main issue I see with the site is there's no order, rhyme or reason as to why it's laid out the way it is. To wit, any benefit is defeated by making me work for it.
It's effectively just taking the products mentioned on reddit and dumping them into an external page. Reddit's value in this case shouldn't be that something was merely mentioned, it's that it was upvoted and advocated for. That's what you need to show.
example: I search for smartphones and your site returns a ranked list based off of upvotes. You can included curated, worthwhile comments.
Just seeing every phone that's ever been mentioned on reddit or forcing me to read the comments to determine what a few people's opinions were does not add value.
Ok so by reading the about section I understand the intent but I'm not sure how it's an improvement over my address bar in my browser.
I don't want to sound like a jerk. I just want to challenge your idea and if you are serious in any way about this project you'll have answers for this, I'm just curious what they are. Maybe the answer is as simple as "it's a personal challenge" or "I think I can do better than Google or Yahoo/Mozilla for this". And don't get me wrong they are all valid reasons.
Here's my honest (and hopefully constructive) feedback: if you're trying to help the user by limiting the input without explaining what's going on: you're making me think. Obviously you're trying to fix a user experience problem (bookmarks are good for specific content but what if I want to quickly access a website in general) so I'd consider hiring a UX expert.
A common advice in the UX world is: if users keep hitting a wall maybe you should put a door there.
These are all really great books:
Grid Systems in Graphic Design
Grid Systems: Principles of Organizing Type
Thinking With Type
Meggs' History of Graphic Design
Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits
Don't Make Me Think
The Design of Everyday Things
How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul
while nothing to do with coding like the others this is just equally important...usability, after all, what's the point of a site people cant use. Anyways a lot of common sense stuff but it's a quick read and very informative.
Here are some good books dealing with web design on Amazon:
Universal Principles of Design
Don't Make Me Think
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
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.
I would like to add JavaScript Patterns, which has several ways to structure your code like this.
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Patterns-Better-Applications-Coding/dp/0596806752/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1511332535&sr=1-1&keywords=javascript+design+patterns
Honestly I don't think there is a need for this since there are a few excellent javascript books. But they are hide to find among the many many crappy books out there.
JavaScript: The Good Parts is pretty much the most important Javascript out there. It basically shows all the quirks of the language and gives tips on what to avoid and best practices.
JavaScript Patterns continues and goes into more depth and covers more advanced usage.
High Performance JavaScript goes into great depths on how you can make your js code more efficient and fast.
Not focused on Node.js, but the following helped me a lot:
​
As already said, not so much focused on actual Node.js, but those helped me to have a better understanding on what was "under the hood", so applying what learned to Node was automatic.
Edit: oh i forgot https://www.codingame.com/ to look at others people craziest things in JS :)
[JavaScript Design Patterns] (http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-Patterns-Stoyan-Stefanov/dp/0596806752/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342784762&sr=8-2&keywords=javascript+design+patterns) by Stoyan Stefanov. Covers more than just design patterns in a traditional sense, but JS patterns of all kind, highlighting and explaining syntax one might not be familiar with along the way.
Call me a heretic, but I found ...The Good Parts to be lacking. While most of the advice is sound, readers are expected to take it as gospel without much explanation. Patterns shown also lack concise implementation examples, and the ones that do tend to rely on utility methods developed in earlier chapters, making it more difficult to use as a reference.
I would add that if they go with Django, Two Scoops of Django is a really good book for helping to go from a website that works, to one that takes advantage of what Django can do. I would also recommend Test-Driven Development with Python which is a free online ebook that can really help you figure out how to build tests.
I can think of a couple good Django books--Two Scoops of Django and Django Design Patterns and Best Practices, however they don't necessarily cover the "basics." I haven't found anything better than the docs for covering the basics. However, they do both cover common problems that come up when developing Django projects, so once you move past the basics I would definitely recommend reading both books.
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/
JavaScript & jQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development by Jon Duckett. I don't know what more you could ask from a beginner's JavaScript book. It doesn't read like a textbook, but instead contains full-color illustrations, analogies, syntax breakdowns, and examples with each new topic introduced on a new page. This is the most "modern" feeling programming book I've ever looked through. Just really good content for beginners presented in an attractive and clear fashion.
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=la_B001IR3Q7I_1_2/187-4834899-6907722?ie=UTF8&qid=1371960862&sr=1-2
It could be non-religious related.
What materials/methods are you using to learn JavaScript?
I'm a web developer and there are times where I find myself struggling to learn something. I've noticed I do a lot better with videos than reading a book. I also do better with some book/video authors than others. It's nothing personal to those authors, it's just like high school sometimes you do better with a particular history teacher than another one.
I'd suggest trying the trial versions of different video services. You might want to look into Safari books online. For $15 a month you can rent up to 5 books. You could try out other authors and see how it goes.
I'd also recommend this book:
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
Jon Duckett is a really awsome writer!
JavaScript & JQuery: Interactive Front-end Web Development I have been working through this and its quite good. Well structured and designed, so it isnt just a wall of text.
Jon Duckett, who wrote the HTML & CSS book you bought (which is the best in my opinion) also just released his JavaScript book, which I am excited to read. Once you get a grasp on it, I would read JavaScript The Good Parts, by Douglas Crockford, who works for ECMA and helped write the language.
Just read Jon Duckett's new Javascript book and this was a good gauge for how much I learned. Thanks!
I just chose some books that looked good from this list and this one.
The one's I got:
Clean Code
(already read)
Cracking the Coding Interview
Code Complete
Peopleware
Don't Make Me Think
Code (currently reading)
Regular Expressions Cookbook
Head First Design Patterns
C++ Primer
Working Effectively with Legacy Code
Elements of Programming Interviews in Java
The Mythical Man-Month
The Design of Everyday Things
JavaScript and JQuery
I figure that's enough reading material to last me until I graduate.
This is a good book for that. There's also many tutorials online, googling will help you out, and check Codepen.io as well.
This was where the first big gap in FCC was for me - you need to know the DOM and jQuery to do these challenges. This is where Duckett's Javascript & jQuery really helped me. There's a good free intro to jQuery on codeschool.com, also you'll need to read up on DOM manipulation to get through this part of FCC. Good luck!
Thanks for the fun contest!
I think JavaScript is the way to go as well. Start with just plain vanilla and then go from there!
I would do the JavaScript course on codecademy (I would dabble with every language they offer too!) and then move on to this book (you can also find it for free).
Just an idea... You could love or hate web design. Who knows! But you have to start somewhere and start narrowing things down while learning general programming structures. Almost everything you learn at first is transferrable to other languages.
A friend who is learning JavaScript got this book I skimmed through it, I wish I had something like it when I learned JavaScript or programming!
A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1497408180/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_5YbIxb6Z6WE5Q
This book helped a ton before my bootcamp. You'll get lots of reps of JS basics which will help a lot in the long run.
Take a look @ "A Smarter Way to learn Javascript"... e-book with companion website that has lots n lots of exercises
You don’t need to be frustrated! Checkout https://www.udemy.com/the-web-developer-bootcamp/#/ and http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Way-Learn-JavaScript-technology/dp/1497408180?ie=UTF8&qid=&ref_=tmm_pap_swatch_0&sr= and do these http://www.asmarterwaytolearn.com/js/index-of-exercises.html
I'm currently in a 4-week summer class and I've taught myself those exact three languages. I use this Visual Quick Start Guide HTML5 and CSS3 as well as this Head First HTML5 Programming Web Apps with JavaScript. They're both great books and maybe you can find them elsewhere without paying. Who knows. They go in-depth with every piece of code you should learn from basic to complex.
did you try code academy? building a website or the like might be fun, I did a course there where you build AirBnB. Although I feel like hand holding, but good learning through fingers and visualizing.
A great way to get exposure through small short lessons and lots of online lessons is A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript by Mark Myers:
https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-JavaScript-tech-assisted-approach-requires/dp/1497408180/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1519871652&sr=8-3&keywords=a+smarter+way+to+learn&dpID=512KPmZIG7L&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
he has books on HTML/CSS and Python too. Have done the former, and also the JS book above. doesn't make you an expert or pro by any means, but it will give some comfort atleast of having processed each small lesson and take you through motions.
A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript
Best introduction to programming in general that I have seen.
I wish every learning resource was constructed the way he did it.
Rails developers don't really need IDEs, just a text editor like Atom or Sublime and the Terminal.
I recommend Daniel Kehoe's Learn Ruby on Rails. It provides more background and explanation than Michael Hartl's book. It's on Amazon but you can get it for free at learn-rails.com.
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.
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.
The Art of SEO. https://www.amazon.it/Art-SEO-Mastering-Search-Optimization/dp/1491948965
Head First HTML5 Programming is a very visual book with a ton of review and quizzing and uses practical examples to teach Javascript, it's a little dated at this point, but a really great resource for book learners .
The Odin Project spends a lot of time in the beginning on teaching helpful tooling that a lot of other learning resources leave out, like git, developer tools, debugging and testing, it takes a little while to get to the Javascript part, but everything before that ends up being very useful .
Brad Traversy's Modern Javascript from the beginning Udemy course is a fantastic and thorough introduction to Javascript . Javascript has seen a lot of cool updates in the past few years, and this is one of the only courses that starts out with the "modern" approach, so you don't end up having to relearn a bunch of things . A great course for video learners .
Practical Javascript,A great course that teaches entry level javascript with practical examples that build on top of each other to form a full project . The paid subscription is a fantastic course that goes into a lot of important subjects often skipped in other courses, but can at times be very boring .
Other resources you're likely to be referred to that I somewhat disagree with
Free Code Camp & Codecademy, if you were instead learning to draw, the teaching methods of these courses would be the equivalent of tracing pictures you liked . Free Code Camp has a really great and helpful community built around it though .
You don't know Javascript & Eloquent Javascript really are some great books and deserve their praise, they're just not the friendliest introductions to Javascript if it's you don't already have some knowledge of Javascript or other programming languages .
Javascript & jQuery by Jon Ducket, this book is fine, but I just don't feel it's as good of an introduction as any of The Head First books, while still being just as dated. It is a lot more comprehensive though, but it doesn't build to a project, use as practical of examples or do as much hand holding .
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-SEO-Mastering-Search-Optimization/dp/1491948965
I bought it, see if you can find it online. It's on around page 60
Well, I suppose that depends on your level of experience with the technologies at hand. If a complete noob, I'd recommend head first html5
Free - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5tcWHG-UPH1fnJw-BvBiiiPUPm1LUKsm
Best - Web Scraping with Python: Collecting Data from the Modern Web https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491910291/
Check out Javascript and jQuery: The Missing Manual. It's got solid step-by-step explanations of it's tutorials.
I found this to be a great reference when I was starting.
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
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http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00QK2T1SY?keywords=Learn%20Ruby%20on%20Rails&qid=1450740356&ref_=sr_1_1&s=digital-text&sr=1-1
Here is the mobile version of your link
Angular 5: From Theory To Practice: Build the web applications of tomorrow using the new Angular web framework from Google. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9S0CZN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_J-tOAbWCWKGT2
I'm learning Angular from this free book: https://www.amazon.com/Angular-Practice-applications-tomorrow-framework-ebook/dp/B01N9S0CZN , it has a chapter about unit testing, you could take a look.
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.
I know you specified PDF books, but this one gets pretty good reviews: https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Way-Learn-JavaScript-technology/dp/1497408180/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1465666569&sr=1-5. I believe the book assumes no prior programming experience. You could also go through the JavaScript course on https://www.codecademy.com/learn/javascript
Third edition is on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Art-SEO-Mastering-Search-Optimization/dp/1491948965/ref=dp_ob_title_bk
I'd recommend reading blogs to keep up with what's happening, things change a lot. I have read this book however - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1491948965/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_wRRGxbYSV6HK4 - and it is pretty good!
Check out this video.
I also recommend her book.
What I've done so far I learned in the first few chapters of this. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1491910291/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Its hard to advise you because I’m coming at this as someone who did a CS BS and went right into the job market. I would spend some energy for the next 6 months on learning to write code which is useful for your PhD program. Two good resources on this are https://automatetheboringstuff.com/ and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Web-Scraping-Python-Collecting-Modern/dp/1491910291
I would join a django/python meetup because a solid chunk of that community comes from a journalism or academic background and they’ll be better able to help you think through where to go.
Try A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript. It's a great resource for beginners.
Modern PHP by josh lockhart (creator of the Slim framework) is a good one to get a kickstart into modern development with PHP.
It's a relatively thin book without any fluff, great read.
Something that a friend of mine, Python dev, suggested to get:
Expert Python Programming by Tarek Ziadé
Apps:
Book:
Official manual:
I think its called HTML5 but there is a big emphasis on javascript
https://www.amazon.com/Head-First-HTML5-Programming-JavaScript/dp/1449390544
edit: theres actually one just for javascript but i've never read that one
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.
Actually it's in USD, not BRL. As I said, it is not the amazon.com.br store I am looking, it is the amazon.com.
In the br store it's R$ 7.99 (link)
Zzzzzzzzzzzz. I totally disagree.
Most of the programs offered by schools are years behind in terms of technology and standard practices. Honest to god, watch YouTube videos -- not because it's free, but because the information is of much higher quality, it's more recent and relevant, and the speakers will teach you how to use the best tools and practices.
No one values a degree anymore. They want proof of your experience and to see how diverse and detailed is your thinking. The best way to do that is put together a portfolio, jump into the first agency role that accepts you, and then you'll get real-life experience working on 40-50 projects per year. You'll quickly learn how the real world works and use that experience and feedback to sharpen your axe.
NOTHING beats Real-life experience.
And honestly start here.
First, check out Don't Make Me Think! by Steve Krug. It's an easy read and invaluable.
If you really like that approach then you should think about going into Interaction Design (aka usability, user-centered design, UX design, information architecture, etc.). I've been doing it for about 11 years and have only recently gotten into coding. Usually I produce wireframes and specs for the coders, do user research, and conduct usability tests. There nothing quite like watching someone trying to use your design and doing something completely different from what you expected.
I haven't kept up with some of the latest books out there, but some of my formative ones are:
Royal blue is a good colour to start with. Also have lots of white space. The white space guides the eye.
I am sure that the engineers are smart enough to understand web design. I have no doubt of that.
Can I suggest the book "Don't make Me Think' as a good start? http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
Feel free to PM me the result for critical review by an reasonable web dev.
Cheers!
Don't buy books on PHP, JS, or HTML. There are TONS of great references online. From that group of technologies it sounds like you're doing web development. Along with some of the excellent computer science books other people have recommended you should pick up some HCI stuff. Thinking about design is not just for designers any more. I suggest starting out with Don't Make Me Think: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758 It's a quick, kind of fun read.
I'd start by reading the bible ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314175129&sr=8-1 ) if you havn't already. Even the second edition is getting a bit old now but the lessons in it will always be true.
With ios development, things are a bit easier in terms of UI. Mainly because of the touch gestures (touch what you want, pinch to zoom etc.) but I think the thing to make sure about is clear navigation. Whether your making a game, information or utility app; getting to where you want quickly is key with iphone users.
Thanks. I appreciate that. I find the vmware site to be a behemoth. The designers could benefit from reading Don't Make Me Think.
Or maybe it's just me.
The UI is the largest performance bottleneck in software. Who cares if you can shave a few milliseconds off your algorithm when the user has to spend 20 minutes googling for how to set up a certain feature?
A couple good (and short) books on this topic are Joel Spolsky's User Interface Design for Programmers and Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think
It's not about making the UI pretty to look at, it's about how easy and obvious it is to use.
Peter Morville's polar bear book is considered the original IA bible by many in the field and possibly how Information Architecture got it's name. I'd recommend having a commanding knowledge of the fundamentals in this book before doing much else.
Don't make me think is also widely refereed to in web design that focuses on IA and web usability. We commonly photocopy pages from this book and give them to clients who don't have a clue about the field.
Lastly, if at all possible, try going to next year's IA Summit. The people you will meet there and the ideas you will learn will be very valuable.
For UX:
'Don't Make Me Think' by Steve Krug. --> This is a great book for UX and design fundamentals
Link to purchase
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0321344758/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=33857011795&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=5285549020583777492&hvpone=22.79&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_9tu6h5g71k_b
For Graphic Design Fundamentals:
'Creative Workshop - 80 Challenges to Sharpen Your Design Skills'
Link to purchase
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Workshop-Challenges-Sharpen-Design/dp/1600617972
For Design as a whole!
'The Design of Everyday Things'
Link to purchase:
http://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/0465067107
The UX book and Design as a whole books are shorter and will be quick to complete. However, the graphic design book will be quite challenging, especially if you aren't familiar with Adobe CS. But I assure you that you will be a much stronger designer afterwards. (When I first started off doing graphic design, I wish I had this book to give me projects to work on)
Overall, expect to spend ~$40 on all this, but these would be a great place to start I think. 1 month time to finish reading the books, and 3 months to finish all the graphic projects.
Hope this helps, good luck!
I think everyone who does anything on the web should have a copy of Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug.
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design is a nice overview of how to make useful and aesthetically pleasing websites for those without a design background (like myself).
Design for the Real World by Victor Papanek gets really deep into the subject of design and how it impacts society.
There are a lot more out there, but these are the ones off the top of my head that I found especially helpful.
Just my opinon (based on how I got to a point where I became marketable, obviously we all learn differently), but grids, aesthetics, ui/ux, etc. are the things that I would be focusing on right now.
If you can master all technical aspects of the field, you can grasp the marketing/sales side of things fairly easily imo.
To directly answer your question though, I've heard good things about this series: Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steven Krug
Human Computer Interaction:
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302925137&sr=8-1
Hi Jaspar,
Note the following:
It's old but still valuable
https://www.amazon.ca/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
A book apart library
https://abookapart.com/
Smashing Magazine books
https://shop.smashingmagazine.com/collections/design
Rosenfeld Media
http://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/
for implementation stuff I'd start with Smacss
https://smacss.com/
I'm so glad you brought up that book. It's recommded by Mike Bostock too. The guy who did this. Amazing stuff. His source code is outstanding too.
https://d3js.org/
While we're at it, might as well:
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
Any any resource you'd recommend, since you seem like you know what you're doing. I want to get even BETTER with giving users a better experience. No one should use bad software.
Looks much better already!
Some small things I'd tweak a bit:
- The vote icons could use some more contrast, chrome dev tools has a function that allows you to check this
- These vote icons have the same shape as the number of votes, it should be more obvious that these have a different function. Don't think about form first, think about function, as your visitors will not look at this and go "oh those 3 things fit well together!", instead, they'll go "hm, those seem like vote buttons, but the number also looks like a button, I wonder what that does..". Don't make me think.
- Similar story for the button that leads to the comments, it's only obvious that it is a button to the comments when there are no comments. Nuff said!
- Adding u/ and c/ was a good step, but I wonder whether the background colors aren't a bit much. They still draw your attention away from the title. I would just drop the colors all-together maybe.
- Above these two colored labels, you have a guiding text about the time of the post, but, it's only relevant to one of the labels.
For visual simplicity and readability, you could try to turn it into a sentence:
u/Dunky post in c/Wetenschap om 14u
Suggestion for the comment icon ambiguity:
u/Dunky post in c/Wetenschap om 14u | 28 comments
And then you can move that hamburger icon to the location of the comment icon perhaps.
\> "The thing which might be getting in the way is your attitude."
​
I have a big ege and also ADHD. See: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXcr3tdUCbQaZGyjf0Bp9E6gj2pWxLrVw
​
If you hire me, you also get my ego and my ADHD (mental health related) because those things are part of me.
​
\> "but if it does, when you leave out an impression of very annoying type of beginner/junior who probably gonna be resistant to learning anything."
​
I am annoying (I got it from my mother). I like attention. That being said, I can learn a lot really fast.
​
See: https://twitter.com/JohnReedForPres/status/1107447298043375616
​
Because of my attention span, I can hyper-focus on things that I am interested in and cram really fast. I don't really consider myself junior at say Bank of America because I wrote and provided the setup instructions, tutorials, educational resources, and even the plan for a new microservice, and people maybe 15 years my senior followed what I layed out. Because of my obsessive cramming of technical information, I can become a subject matter expert. I can also write a lot of code very very fast. For example, in college, I wrote maybe 15,000 lines of Java code in a 7 day (168 hour period) in coordination with a friend who added (I dunno 7k lines of code). I did the backend and he did the frontend.
​
\> "who probably gonna be resistant to learning anything."
​
Because of my ADHD, I don't listen to verbal commands well, but I do accept reasoning in written and textual formats. For example, I communicate better over text than spoken word, and I can text super fast on my phone. My texting is as fast as my computer typing, and I also take email, Tweets, and other form of text-based communication.
​
\> "I think this highlights it in particular. Provided it showed up in somewhat generally condescending context. It appears that instead of thinking that there is a reason for it, you write it off as something stupid."
​
I don't mean that the fact that people want braindead simple stuff is stupid. I think that is great. I think that most people are unintelligent relative to me, and also technologically inept, and so the design has to be made with that in account. "Don't make me think!".
From your link, I'm guessing you're looking for aesthetics. The main idea is to think about how paper based content is layed out. Structure, hierarchy and usability heurisitcs will in turn make your sites look better.
Colours, fonts and the like are subjective; but you can't beat content which has great usability.
My course book for Web development was Web Design: A complete introduction, the technology it mentions is somewhat outdated but the design principles hold up well I found (2006).
Here's a list of books for web design by Creative Bloq:
http://www.creativebloq.com/inspiration/books-web-designers-11122782
My personal favourite:
Content Management:
http://www.amazon.com/Content-Strategy-Voices-That-Matter/dp/0321808304/ref=sr_1_1?tag=georiot-cbq-20&ie=UTF8&qid=1352287559&sr=8-1%3fie%3dUTF8&ascsubtag=hawk-884446355-21
Usability:
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/?tag=georiot-cbq-20&ie=UTF8&ascsubtag=hawk-318142612-21
I can't recommend anything offhand, but I'm there's bound to be books aimed at someone in your position: coders who have to produce decent web/web application interfaces.
Robin Williams' (no, not the actor) books like her Non-Designer's Design Book are good introductions to basic principles of layout.
Jakob Nielsen's Designing Web Usability and Krug's Don't Make Me Think cover principles of good interface design. This looks promising too: Designing The Obvious.
Books for some in-depth learning:
Don't make me think - https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
Designing Interfaces - http://designinginterfaces.com/
UX Pin also provides easy-to-read primers on many UI and UX-related subjects:
https://www.uxpin.com/studio/ebooks/
Articles:
https://sidebar.io/
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/
There are of course tons of more resources out there, but those (along with the other suggestions in here) might be a good start.
Ok, try to get this book and you both read it. http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377291372&sr=8-1&keywords=dont+let+me+think
This can be what you need, trust me, i got into arguments in a very similar way with developers and designers, and this has solved soo many arguments that its insane. Its a very easy lecture and helps lots.
Have fun.
I agree.
There's a race towards decentralized exchanges, especially for crypto currencies where ownership of your own keys and assets is essential for security. If safex doesn't do a more effective job at both communicating its value proposition and delivering features, other projects will gain an entranched foothold in the space (e.g. waves, block, bitshares).
https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758
I like the mix of design and dev. In the position I have one week I’ll be designing a site or interviewing users and the next I’ll be developing a plugin for WordPress.
So, yes technically they’re exclusive but there are positions where you do both.
I started in https://codecademy.com did html/css, JS and PHP.
Then I started freelancing in my spare time building websites right after I learned the basics. That helped me a learn a ton that I probably wouldn’t have been motivated to learn on my own.
Then I was able to use the portfolio I’d built as a freelancer and land a the position I have now.
Now instead of freelancing in my spare time I help people try to take the same path I did.
UX is great to look into as well.
Here’s a few resources I’d suggest:
Some great books:
Don’t make me think
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0321344758/
Intuitive Design
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999612506/
Classic! [Don't Make Me Think](http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1291762485&sr=1-1">Don't make me think)
Definitely looking better. I still think you need to cut the word count, especially on the services page.
One of the first things my web design theory lecturer taught me was: no one will ever read your website. That's really hard to hear because you want everyone to know what you're trying to get across. But look at a lot of the big .com businesses and they use so few words, or they break them up. For a site like yours, selling services, people are just too lazy to read.
I'd cut your services word count in half. It's tough but possible. Use big headers for each section, one short sentence and then some bullet points or something.
I recommend reading 'Don't Make Me Think' - it's a great book that explains this sort of stuff. It looks at the usability aspects of sites and you can apply that knowledge to any type of company site. It's really short and easy to read and probably one of the best web architecture books I've read.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334241134&sr=8-1
Web Design Trends 2011
and Web Design Trends 2012
La design nu pot sa zic ca ma pricep prea tare, dar domeniul ma preocupa din ce in ce mai mult. Thinking with type si The Elements of Typographic Style, The Design of Everyday Things, Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop si Don't Make Me Think sunt cartile care mi-au placut/din care am invatat cel mai mult, dar sunt clasice asa ca banuiesc ca stii de ele.
The simplicity is nice. I think you could use some more work on the "profile" page. It's very useful to have everything there, but the visual hierarchy of the page is off. And it's difficult to figure out where to click / how things are structured. Read the book "Don't Make Me Think" if you haven't - it has been so helpful over the years (http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758).
Your site is wicked fast. What's your stack and who's hosting your code?
What's the aim of creating this app and how do you plan on developing it in the future?
Not trying to be condescending but what you have is just random stuff thrown in on a page without any thought. Just for starters, try reading up on design process (pertaining to graphic design), color theory, typography, grid system, UI. Being able to write a few lines of HTML doesn't make anyone a web designer any more than buying an SLR makes you a professional photographer.
If you are indeed serious about venturing into web design, read the book Don't make me Think.
you could start with dreamweaver, but its not free and you'll have to learn it - however knowledge of it pays off. But there are alternatives...
beginner HTML - check out kompozer - http://kompozer.net/ this will let you get away with not learning anything...
more advanced? - lot of my developers use HTML-KIT http://www.htmlkit.com/
In the agencies I've been in - no one uses Dreamweaver, they're all in things like HTML-kit (which is really popular it seems) and some were using plugins for ECLIPSE.
CSS - without question. start here: http://www.csszengarden.com/
Read this book if you can: http://www.amazon.com/Transcending-CSS-Fine-Art-Design/dp/0321410971/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255578225&sr=8-2
avoid tables at all costs unless you have data that actually needs to be in table form..but don't style with them.
Read this book if you can: http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255578275&sr=1-1
as far as flash goes, its a fantastic thing to know. are you into code? if so learn AS3 - its where all flash is going. If you want easier flash to learn, the "timeline based" standard flash would suit you well.
Also - check out javascript animation - things like JQUERY make stuff possible that looks like flash, but isn't. very cool.
and if you don't want to do any of this - just go get a template somewhere ( http://www.templatemonster.com/ ) and fill it in. get some photos from istock and poof - Mcwebsite. slap some google analytics code into the site and you now have tracking for your Mcwebsite.
My experience? - I produced quite a few large company websites (+$80,000.00 sites), and have worked with and hired designers and developers many times. I personally don't do any of the things they do, but I know what tools they choose to use in professional situations.
Hi. Great looking site. I really don't have too much to say on the design front, since I'm not really a designer.But here are few things I noticed as a user:
I'd recommend you check out this book, Don't make me think by Steve Krug. Some of the advice might be really outdated now. But generally they are solid pointers to really build a great website.
All the best and keep us posted!
Edit: formatting,etc
Edit2: Another point if I may add, you might want to move the "Free Shipping for all orders" text to somewhere below the shopping cart symbol. The space next to your logo could instead be used to mention something about your brand/your slogan,etc
Thanks! One of my friends told me I need to read up on typography as well. He recommended me reading THIS and also THIS before I even start college to get a better understanding of it all. Regarding HTML and CSS, hopefully we'll learn that during the Web design I, II and III during the course. Otherwise I know a college in town where you can get a Web Design diploma (2 evening classes per week) in just two months and that is basically ONLY html, css and dreamweaver. It's dirt cheap to do as well so I might do that if I dont get enough html/css experience from college.
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition - This should be required reading for anyone interested in web design. Just... the basics.
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
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!
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!
I agree that http://www.w2lessons.com/2011/04/you-dont-know-javascript.html is a pretty good read for a beginner to go through.
In there he uses this pattern, (function(){})() which is very powerful and useful. He is however using what Crockford calls, "The dogballs pattern", and suggests that you do this instead
(function(){}())
although that seems to be a minor style point. I would also recommend reading js patterns and the book Javascript Patterns, this is of course after a more in depth review of The Good Parts. There is some really good stuff on YUI Theatre. It isn't just about YUI, and has some really great talks and lectures. Also you don't have to join an open source project, but you do have to keep hacking. I would recommend you to get a github account and start working on some basic js demos to show off. Then maybe come back and make a post here with the link and ask some people to review your code. You can learn a lot by making mistakes and people telling you. PM me if you want me to look over anything.
i recently purchased JavaScript Patterns by Stoyan Stefanov and i'm quite satisfied with it. You should check it out too, think it will help you. Although author says it's not a beginner book, I think a person knowledgeable in other programming language(s) could make use of it.
You should read this book
There are people who believe JavaScript does not favor good programming styles (I do not support that statement). In my university this semester, a group of graduate students presented a 12-hour course in Python. In many cases, they compared the language with other scripting ones, such as JavaScript, with not so friendly remarks about the language itself and its ecosystem in general. I can understand this claim: JavaScript was created to favor simplicity. Back in 90s, the WWW was still young. Eventually, there was a need to add interactivity to Web Pages. There were many choices, but all of those possible solutions had a stiff learning curve. JavaScript was introduced as a simple scripting language for the web that would target non-developers (there was not such thing as web developers in mid 90s). Unfortunately, the standardization process of the young language (ECMAScript) was not organized with every major browser implement different set of its features (hello IE!). There were not such thing as Design Patterns for JavaScript (until someone introduced them in the wide audience). Years, passed, the Internet evolved, so did the language. There are many things to like about JS today, but this is out of scope of this post. I cannot find a single point of reference about this debate, there are discussions all over the Internet. If your goal is to write a post about this debate, then you have to search for the main arguments of "JS haters" and "JS lovers" manually. Also you have to understand where the term "programmers" refer to. Who is your reference? The Senior developer at a big company, a Junior one, random people that do not know the real aspects of programming, etc. Then you can start researching about the different opinions. Feel free to update your post if like to, but answering "Why people in general hate JS" is quite ambiguous.
I was actually reading JavaScript Patterns before vither999 recommended the book he did. So i'll definitely check out the book you're suggesting too! Thanks!
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 $80 new stylus so I used my 2007 bamboo for all my work, and it went fine! I have since sold my little baby bamboo, but it served me well for a long, long time. The only problem is that the appeal of a new toy is sometimes greater than the practicality and logic of playing with an old one.
Best of luck! Let me know if you have any other questions...
Code academy is not job training, it's an introduction to syntax.
For instance, after finishing their Ruby course, you will know how to work with strings and vectors and so on, but without more knowledge, you wouldn't even know how to start to build a Ruby application. If shown an existing Ruby program you might be able to read a bit of it and change some stuff here and there, but you would be far from any significant changes.
I, as a full stack developer, don't use Code Academy as a learning resource but as a refresher course kind of thing. When I haven't been using bootstrap too often, I go do the code academy course and relearn the basics in order to smoothly transition into using it on my own.
Better alternatives would be an actual book. Go to the library or a book store and find an introduction to web development book. I've heard that this is a pretty good book, http://www.amazon.com/HTML-CSS-Design-Build-Websites/dp/1118008189/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448997572&sr=8-1&keywords=html+for+beginners.
Edit: Beyond the absolute basics, Code Academy (and other things like it, FCC for example) are basically useless.
Without seeing the site, I can't really tell you how to properly make it fit the page. I would assume the other poster is probably correct (or close).
As to the question about learning... I'd start with either a place like CodeAcadamy or http://teamtreehouse.com/.
If you don't mind spending 40$, 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.
I like John Ducket's books and found his JavaScript book helpful for the class. JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118531647/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BsYGxbSXMM8D9
Lots of pictures, text is short and concise - but not the deepest dive in the language
I, too, am learning partially through Free Code Camp. What's great about them is that they give you (a) a structure of topics to learn in a certain order, and (b) actual projects to work on.
What you cannot do is learn exclusively through FCC. I see them as a starting point. They will link you to MDN documentation in their challenges, but don't rely on those either. MDN is written for people who already have some familiarity with JS and may not be readable if you do not already understand the basics of JavaScript.
If you're looking to stay with free resources, try looking up YouTube videos that have a high number of views and positive ratings. I stumbled on this channel and have used it a few times. YouTube videos will help you see exactly what the code is doing.
If you're willing to pay for a book, I have found Jon Duckett's JavaScript & jQuery book very helpful. Also try checking out his HTML & CSS book, though I haven't used it much as I am already pretty familiar with HTML (less so CSS, but I am familiar enough with the basics to rely on Google for anything else I need).
Feeling overwhelmed at FreeCodeCamp doesn't mean you'll never learn the concept. What it does mean is that you need to take a step back and really learn the concepts by checking out as many outside resources as you can, then go back to their challenges and complete them.
Good luck :)
You're correct, it's coming out. I'm considering picking it up if I can't squeeze more web classes into my schedule.
here's the link to the javascript/jquery one on amazon.
http://www.amazon.ca/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393889582&sr=1-1
says preorder but gives a date of today. Not sure if that means it's arriving today or if it's still preordered as of today
There are a ton of online resources for learning JavaScript. Udemy.com has sales on their courses often, but even YouTube has a lot of good tutorials. But I really enjoyed reading this book: JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development https://www.amazon.com/dp/1118531647/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_ix2BxbGRFDH10
The author of HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites (John Duckett) released a book on Javascript and jQuery about a month ago, and it is fan-freaking-tastic. That, alongside The Good Parts, are the best books that I have read on JS.
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
I would suggest buying a book, or looking into similar titles, called "Javascript and jQuery: Interactive Frontend Web Development" by Jon Duckett.
http://javascriptbook.com/
http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/
The book is lovely designed and presented in a manner to help beginners.
Aside from "what to-dos" I would suggest making some concept sites for fake products or businesses. These can be single pages and you can start to make them more elaborate by adding more features as you learn (including forms, shopping cart, mini-blog, etc).
You can check out this tutorial, helped me while I was learning. If you could share your code, that would be helpful too. This book also has an excellent explanation.
I'd not recommend jumping straight into React if you're not familiar with programming languages and frameworks yet. That would be like trying to learn how to build a house before you even know a thing about plumbing and electrical.
Take the online courses other posters have linked, or if you like to go at your own pace, buy this book: https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
Then, make some HTML elements and try to play around with them in JS. Like change their CSS properties.
Then, play around with JS by itself in the console. Do some basic math, some string concatenation. Use a built-in data structure like an array or object literal and play around with their built in functions.
Then start writing your own functions. Make them do functional stuff like take two numbers and output the sum.
Then play around with objects and classes. Make some object with real life properties and methods. Like an animal.
Get more and more advanced. Start building simple webpages with custom animations and modules.
Eventually, get to AJAX and API calls.
THEN pick up React, to put everything together to make a dynamic web app.
JavaScript and JQuery by Jon Duckett
https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647
I am entirely self taught.
So the best advice I can give is to diversify your learning path. I used each of these resources:
While I have successfully found employment, it did not come easily. I had to apply to several hundred different jobs and received three separate job offers. I had no experience and while the job market is booming where I am, there's a universal saturation of junior level prospects, which makes entry into the field that much more difficult. That said, I am not on my second job and I'm absolutely loving my work. If you're passionate about it, keep working but don't do yourself the disservice of underestimating the effort required. It will help you tremendously if you're in an area of high demand for tech jobs (more jobs == more opportunities) and even more importantly, if you know someone already in the industry that can give you a referral for an interview.
Some more learning tools:
edited to add links; formatting
I really liek http://teamtreehouse.com/ && http://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1418260207&sr=8-1&keywords=javascript+and+jquery
I'm getting to that. I've got a book on it coming tommorow. I don't know if it's worthy or not https://www.amazon.com/JavaScript-JQuery-Interactive-Front-End-Development/dp/1118531647/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1482993421&sr=1-3&keywords=javascript but it's a start
If you are just starting out or a beginner, it is really hard to learn from youtube videos. It's easy to falsely equate understanding a concept while watching a video with knowing how to implement it from scratch using your own hands. Videos become much more beneficial when you are trying to understand specific, advanced topics later on in your learning process.
There are definitely almost too many resources to learn JS. Because of this, I would recommend getting away from all of them because they will distract you and leave you overwhelmed. Instead, pick up a good textbook and go through it start to finish while practicing what you learn as you go along. A book I highly recommend is Javascript and jQuery. A lot of books teach you javascript without context, but this book is very geared towards actual implementation of JS to frontend development and building websites. As you read the book, don't be afraid to start creating your own websites on the side. Across the board - and I think I can speak for all advanced developers- creating your own projects from scratch is hands down the best way to burn the skill into your brain. Why? Because when you have a problem, you can't just immediately get the answer. You have to search around and try different things. You essentially spend more time with the problem and therefore will remember how to solve it next time you come across it. This is called learning. But you need the fundamentals first, which is why I recommended the textbook.
With that being said, a resource that combines videos with writing code that I really recommend is Codeschool. However, it requires a monthly payment. The benefit of that payment is that it will incentivize you to follow through, which is extremely important at the beginner level. When you are using free resources, you tend to get distracted and change to another one because they are unlimited with no switching costs.
I would advise against spreading yourself too thin by trying to tackle things like the MEAN stack (which has very specific use-cases) , postgresql, MVC and RestfulAPIs. Learn the fundamentals first, and then once you become more advanced you will naturally start learning those other things as you need them. You can only really learn those topics by implementing them in a project anyway.
To recap:
I have found this to be universal in books and tutorials that I've come across. Experts appear to be good at what they do, but being an expert doesn't mean they're any good at teaching. A lack of exercises at each stage in the game is also par for the course.
I haven't studied Java. But, my suggestion is to treat your time as gold; incredibly valuable. Every week you spend on a course that isn't teaching you how to code is a week lost that doesn't get you closer to your goal. Look for books and tutorials that get you coding asap, that have examples to work with. And if they don't, drop it like a lame Tinder date and move on to the next thing.
I found out too late that Jon Duckett's JavaScript and JQuery book was nothing but terminologies with no exercises. I was so pissed after reading all the puff reviews only to find out I wasted my time and money.
RSS for the win. On the sad, sad day that Google Reader disappeared I made the switch to Digg Reader.
My main sources are:
Over time I've found that many of the other ones like ALA are impractical for day to day work. They're more theoretical.
I'm also not shy about grabbing books as they're released. Javascript & JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development is good.
I work as an in-house Drupal developer and administrator so I don't need to know the absolute hottest shit out right now but I do stay on top of things that apply to major CMS platform development and the rare HTML and CSS spec changes.
Most of my freelance work ends up being on WordPress so I follow their Twitter feed for major releases and other news.
Friends in the industry are also another major source of news.
Working really well for me. I was waiting for this to get released - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1118531647/ref=amb_link_408726582_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=auto-sparkle&pf_rd_r=18EHX2D44D9WJ0TWRF06&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_p=1746404042&pf_rd_i=javascript but then I accidentally came across this http://asmarterwaytolearn.com/. I thought lets take a chance and see if this really lives up to the hype. Well it does.
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".
This one looks good: http://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Way-Learn-JavaScript-technology/dp/1497408180
or any other highly rated book to learn the best practices
Visually impressive, but from a UX perspective it's a bit much. My first thought: "Needs more contrast!"
Looks like you've got the raw skills necessary, if you brush up on your UX chops you'll be unstoppable. Check out Don't Make me think" by Steve Krug!
This is completely unrelated to PHP. What is this post doing here?
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.