Wanting to learn...where to get bsic information.

F

FatalShock

New Member
Hello everyone,
My name is Ray, and this will be my first post here, so hopefully I put it in the right place. What I'm wanting to know is pretty broad of a question. I'm honestly not sure where to start, so lemme give you a little background and hopefully you can point me in the right direction.

I recently was hired through a temp agency as a contractor for a local community college. What the project involved was the scanning and indexing of over 50 years worth of student transcripts. We were using software called ISynergy by IDatix. I picked it up really quickly, since it was real basic stuff, but the whole atmosphere of the job, and working with the IT guys really inspired me. I've come to realize that I would really enjoy a career in computer technology. My supervisor told me I had a knack for the artistic design of things, and that I should get into web page design. He advised me that I should learn the ins and outs of Java and learn Oracle, and just to absorb whatever I can.

Well, I'm 24 years old. I don't have the money to ever think of returning to school (not any time soon, anyway) But I'm wanting to learn everything I can. I thought I was the best because I knew basic HTML, and could pimp my MySpace page, but soon learned that HTML is becoming old news and that there is a lot more to this than I ever thought. I have a basic Dell desktop, and a cheap ass Acer laptop, so I'm not sure how much of this software I'd be able to download and learn, but I would like to start with the basics and work my way up. Self taught. What are some resources for me to start learning the applicable knowledge necessary to get into an IT career, or web design, or something of that nature? There's just something exciting about it (not to sound queer), and honestly, the pay is incredible!

Whenever I search for basic info, I either get some advanced tutorial using jargon I am not familiar with, or just plain junk. Any suggestions for where to start getting some basic knowledge to build upon would be great. Sorry if this is a vague question, cause truth is...I'm not sure what I need to learn, and I have a LONG way to go, I'm sure.
Thank you very much. -Ray
 
Might be useful to go to a university used book store and pick up some beginner books on Java and the other stuff you mentioned...If you grab the ones that are more than one edition old they are usually VERY cheap.
 
I went the way of Java once, I used textpad a free download for editing your programs, very friendly user interface to use..

also for java I found a website called Javaranch.com where I would talk to other coders that would give me tips to help along with my projects.. If I think of any further resources I'll post more here.. Good luck!
 
you are right, HTML is deprecated and will eventually be 100% obsolete.

the w3c is a nonprofit organization that steers web design in the right direction, and it has been decided that xhtml and css are the current standard right now. the good news for you is that xhtml is not much different than html. think of xhtml as a stricter less forgiving version of its older brother. for example, <img src=URL.com/picture.jpg> is considered incorrect xhtml syntax. technically it was incorrect in html too, but the code would still be recognized by browsers.

<img src="url.com/picture.jpg" /> <---- all empty elements must be closed now. basically because the <img> element does not wrap around anything like <a href does for example, it is considered an empty element. the /> at the end is just to tell the browser that the element is complete. everything must be properly nested, etc etc
just a few small things that ultimately make the web a better place.

the new way of designing a webpage is to use xhtml for structure, and css for style. you will set up your block element structure in xhtml, then position/style everything in css. it may seem like a pain at first, but trust me when i say that CSS is the best thing to ever happen to web design. css syntax looks like this

#elementid {
margin-left: 10px;
position: absolute;
line-height: 120%;
}

selector {property: value}

CSS ignores whitespace so you can format it as you like.


as you can see, i love talking about this stuff so if you want to learn it, i will help you with anything you get confused about. you said you are looking to learn java, and i highly suggest learning xhtml and css before you do that. gotta learn to crawl before you can walk....
 
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