Resources
Download these things. They will help you.
- Firebug: the essential tool for debugging HTML and CSS!
- HTML Cheat Sheet
- CSS Cheat Sheet
- PHP Cheat Sheet
- Test.php file: includes sample HTML, PHP, and MySQL code that you are free to use
- Nirav's HTML/CSS presentation
Google is your best friend!
But these links will also come in handy. Note that each link we provide here will inevitably link to more helpful resources (which in turn will link to more). The Internet is awesome like that; use it to your advantage.
- HTML Dog: great tutorials for HTML and CSS, split into 3 categories: beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
- A List Apart Primer: ALA is THE blog for web design tips, best practices, and general industry discussion. This "primer" gives an overview of some of the most famous/influential posts. CSS Sliding Doors, in particular, will almost certainly prove helpful.
- A List Apart Primer, Part Two: a great compilation of articles, tutorials, tools, and reference guides.
- Holy CSS Zeldman!: more HTML/CSS links than you will EVER need. Lots of great stuff here, though.
- Max Design: helpful tutorials on some of the trickier aspects of CSS. (Don't understand floats? Click here!)
- Mastering CSS coding: more of the above.
- Web Design from Scratch: an explanation of the difference between inline and block elements in CSS
- The PHP Manual: really the only PHP resource you will ever need. The documentation is kind of hard to navigate, however, so I'd suggest Googling "PHP date" if, for example, you want to know how the PHP date() function works.
- Eric's Tutorials: Penn alum and former CIS 110 TA Eric Fisher wrote some super helpful tutorials a few years ago that provide a great introduction to HTML, PHP, and MySQL.
If all else fails, read a book
Turns out people still print these things. And other people still buy them. These are the standards of the field; no web designer's bookshelf is complete without them!
- Designing with Web Standards: this was a game-changer.
- Bulletproof Web Design: essential tips and techniques.
- The Zen of CSS Design: opened the eyes of many to the power of CSS. See also CSS Zen Garden.
- Don't Make Me Think: an introduction to usability and the principles of interaction design.
- The Elements of User Experience: a big-picture view of user-centered web design.