Ask HN: in mess, where to start learning web-dev? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: in mess, where to start learning web-dev?

4 pointsbhavin9 comments

Level:

From CS background,Expert in C/C++, efficient with relational DBs, great with Unix/Linux, some familiarity with Python, familiar with web protocols, new to JavaScript, CSS and all fancy stuff!

Target: To be able to develop a website with lovely UI and scalable/optimized back-end.No decisions made about technologies.

Million ton question: where to start?

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First, realize that web dev and web design are two different (although connected) fields.

You should have very little trouble with web dev, based on your coding and database background.

To get better at design, read and practice! Alistapart.com, csszengarden.com, etc., are all great places to find inspiration. 37 signals is another.

Finally, don't spend too much thought on the "scalable/optimized back-end". The only time you'll ever need to worry about that is if you're successful, which will depend primarily on your idea, execution, speed, etc., and much less on if your system scales.

So to sum: read design journals. Look for inspiration (include real life). Practice your basic frontend skills. Don't waste brain cycles optimizing.

E.g., just ran across this article on design in the HN newest section. It's on how to apply phi (golden ratio) to your designs.

http://designshack.co.uk/articles/graphics/applying-the-gold...

thanks a lot :)

If you know some Python, get Django and start playing with it. Worry about 'scalable' last, and keep 'beautiful' as an ongoing goal that you work on over time.

that sounds a good idea... the JavaScript/CSS and things are biggest pain point.. what to learn first, python or frontend things?

I'd go with Django, just to understand the 'underlying' model of how web applications/sites work. Of course it's possible to do more and more in Javascript too... but you're going to have to run it on a server, and Django's as good as anything out there for 'generic' purposes.

http://searchyc.com

sorry, I tried searching before posting... but it appeared all scattered since the askers were also different everytime.. also some nice answers date back to 3 years or so.. I thought things might have changed during the time!

Well then you need to give more details about what you are looking for. If you don't put in any effort in asking a question, others won't put in much effort replying.

Surely, if you are familiar with Python you know there's Django. For frontend stuff, there's no doubt you need to know basic HTML/CSS and then there's jQuery. All that itself is enough to get started.

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