Give me some helpful resources and how to learn the language.
is it better to study at http://php.net/ or grab a book on PHP web development?
If you are just getting starting with html/css there is an html/css book that would be a good idea to work through first.
The head first books will give you a good foundation in PHP, MySQL, HTML, and CSS.
After working through those books you need to pick your own project to work on . . . pick some type of website or simple web app that you need . . . and work on that . . .
Build a few of your apps from scratch, writing your own login system, etc (using one of the tutorials out there). It's a good idea to write everything from scratch so you can understand what goes on behind the scenes in an app.
After that you're going to want to learn a framework. For PHP I recommend Laravel. There are great screen casts at laracasts.com.
As far as future employment . . . I would recommend trying to pick up some freelance projects as soon as you're comfortable with html/css/php. Wordpress might be a good skill to learn to get you familiar with php/mysql uploading files and it's php based.
Once you are familiar with php and laravel you can look for a php job using laravel. Also consider learning Rails (Ruby Framework) as there are lots of opportunities in Rails.
When you get stuck on something google for it and look for answers on stackoverflow.com.
That should get you moving in the right direction.
Read a few tutorials, do a hello world script and work your way up, eg, calculator, comment thread, blog, etc.
Learn by doing, id say only read when you are trying to accomplish something you are actually doing. Reading a book without writing any code will get you no where.
This goal will push you to learn many parts of the language. I've found it gives me a bit more drive than "dry" study.
Below is my experience in learning PHP and launching the MVP for my personal project in six weeks:
I first started with the SitePoint book: Kevin Yank Build Your Own Database Driven Web Site Using PHP & MySQL. I read the book and coded all examples in the book. The book walks you with building a project while introducing the basics of PHP and SQL languages.
By the time I was 3/4th of the way with the book (took me about 5 days of 8 hours each day), I started to look for PHP framework to use while implementing my project. After googling and reviewing what people wrote about different frameworks and just reviewing the quick start information for each framework, I settled on Codeigniter (CI). The reason I went with CI was its simplicity, excellent documentation, helpful community and by just googling for anything + codeigniter, I was able to find enough information to know that I am most probably not going to be first one to encounter a problem not already solved and shared online. I spent 2 days going through a quick start project on Codeigniter website to become comfortable with the CI framework.
After a week, I just started coding my project using PHP, Codeigniter, and SQL that I learnt from the book and just googling for information whenever I ran into issues/roadblock that I couldn't figure out. I coded PHP and SQL portion of my MVP in 3 weeks and then spent another two weeks learning little bit of HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap to give MVP some eye candy.
I will suggest you pick up a project oriented PHP and SQL book and just start building the project in the book. If you have a personal project in mind, start outlining your personal project while going through the book.
If you are in a rush to get a personal project out the door, I will suggest using Codeigniter framework though the future development on it has ceased. It will get you up and running quickly and still the best documented framework online.
If you are not in a rush, then I will suggest learning Laravel as it appears to be the next step to CI and upcoming and new shiny thing. Personally I am finding learning Laravel slightly difficult due to lack of project-oriented guides. Most of the books and tutorials are just rehash of information on Laravel site that more looks like php.net than codeigniter framework site, community not so friendly and just lack in diversity of published information online and in print.
Once you have got some handle on PHP, I will suggest pickup a few more books that go into OO PHP and PHP Design Patterns.
I am not a web developer or looking to become a web developer as I like sales/pre-sales/solution engineering roles. But recently I interviewed at a CDN company and the interviewer was very impressed that I coded my whole personal project. He said he has personal projects and most of them are not even 1/10th of the size and complexity of the work I done on my project. I am sure one year is a long time for you to become pretty good with PHP.
I considered Python/Django for another personal project recently. I started with Adrian Holovaty, Jacob Kaplan-Moss The Definitive Guide to Django Web Development Done Right. But I never finished the book as I decided against using Python/Django for web development and settled on PHP/Laravel.
a book will help a lot, especially if you know another programming language. the concepts wont be so strange and u can breeze through it, learn a lot, and then use it as a reference.
i can also recommend irc if u have questions.
dayle rees code happy is a great laravel book also, and a bunch of it is available online.