[superbungalow21]

Hey, thanks for all your replies. I read that post and found HTML dog. I whizzed past most of the beginner tutorials, having learnt it from school, but some of the advanced HTML tutorials and Intermediate/Advanced CSS tutorials were really useful and interesting. I decided to order their book as it is quite a new book, and so would probably be very up to date, and I would like some reference as well, for when I start designing more pages. However, due to my background knowledge, most of this is easy, so I would like to try and learn some of the stuff that I haven't previously been anywhere near, namely javascript, as I have been advised that is the best (and possibly easiet, depending on your frame of mind) place to go afterwards. I would very much like a beginners book, for reference, and also because website tutorials are often to complicated and don't cover everything you need to know. Instead of jumping straight in and buying the first book I see, I'd thought I would ask you what you thought. Have you seen any good books that you would recommend? Are there any books/authors I should avoid buying? Stuff like that.

Thank you so much for your great help and advice!

[pgo]

For JavaScript, get "DOM Scripting" by Jeremy Keith.

[superbungalow21]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I'd like to make sure, before I buy it, does this book cover everything that a complete novice should know. You remember, I have never touched javascript before, and although I have heared of it, I don't even know what the DOM is. Does the book fully explain this? Is there a website that accompanies the book, or just a page that explains what it covers? Thanks!

[bazzle]

Originally Posted by superbungalow21

Have you seen any good books that you would recommend? Are there any books/authors I should avoid buying? Stuff like that.

What design books are on your shelf?

[emil]

geeks

[proc355]

Originally Posted by emil

geeks

nicely done. with crayon i assume?

[superbungalow21]

Hi, I can't order this book until next week, so, in the meantime, to make sure, are there any other books anyone would recommend? Thanks.

[Holster®]

You just have to get stuck in. Try any book by Peachpit Press, their Visual Quickstart guides are great for easing yourself into a subject for the first time, they have titles on PHP, HTML and Dreamweaver etc, so I'd recommend reading one of those. They aren't dense scary textbooks, they're helpful, clear and written in understandable language. They're also a bit cheaper than some hefty texts...

®

[superbungalow21]

Hi again everyone, it's been a while since I visited the forum. I've now got three books:

• HTML Dog - Patrick Griffiths
• Dom Scripting - Jeremy Keith
• Learning PHP & MySQL - Michele E. Davis & Jon A. Phillips

I've pretty much got to grips with HTML, CSS and Javascript, although I'm by no means an expert, but now my new book, 'Learning PHP and MySQL' has arrived and it's got me utterly stumped. I'll just give you a small extract from chapter 1:

Originally Posted by Learning PHP & MySqL

Some basic understanding of how the internet works may be useful if you haven't programmed for the web before.

Fair enough, I suppose, so I continue reading, hoping to learn something:

Originally Posted by Learning PHP & MySqL

The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) defines how web pages are transferred across the Internet. ... The W3C and the IETF coordinated the development of HTTP, which is a request-and-response protocol that connects clients and servers. The originating client, usually a web browser is referred to as the user agent. The destination server, which stores or creates resources, and can contain HTML files or images, is called the origin server. Between the user agent and origin server there may be several intermediaries such as proxies.

An HTTP client initiates a request by establishing a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection to a particular port on a remote host (port 80 is the default). An HTTP server listening in on that port waits for the client to send a request message. Upon receiving the request, the server sends back a status line, like "HTTP/1.1 200 OK," and its own response Depending on the status, this response could be the requested file, an error message, or some other information.

HTTP is built on top of TCP, which itself is layered on top of Internet Protocol (IP) The two are often referred to together as TCP/IP. Applications on networked hosts can use TCP to create connections to one another, and then exchange streams of data. The protocol guarantees reliable delivery of data from sender to receiver.

As you can see I am absolutely bogged down by all this new information. I'll just say a couple of things I don't understand. What is a protocol, what does it do, how is it used, what uses it? What is TCP? WHat does it do exactly. What's port 80? Where is that? What does it do?

I could go on. Basically can anyone direct me to any resource that explains this in layman's terms? Thanks a lot!

[pgo]

Originally Posted by superbungalow21

As you can see I am absolutely bogged down by all this new information. I'll just say a couple of things I don't understand. What is a protocol, what does it do, how is it used, what uses it? What is TCP? WHat does it do exactly. What's port 80? Where is that? What does it do?

First off: Google is your friend!

A protocol simply means a communications standard. Think of it like a language that Computer A uses to speak to Computer B. TCP is the communications standard by which information is transmitted across the internet.

Your computer has thousands of ports. Think of a computer as an office building. There are lots of phone numbers by which can call into the building. However, for some things (let's say, Maintenance personnel) you have to call a specific number. On the web "port 80" is the standard port through which a software web server (Apache or IIS, usually) "listens" for traffic. The web server will ignore requests coming into other ports, but when a request comes through port 80, the web server responds.

[superbungalow21]

Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks for all the help you've given me over the last six months, you've really put me on the right track. I learned loads, and I had my work experience at a programming type company (www.datatrieve.co.uk). They were working on a project called qdos.com, and I managed to learn so so much about php, mysql, javascript and CSS. I did basically all the CSS, although going there now, you won't see it, as they haven't added the changes from the dev site to the main site. Anyway, enough blathering on about me. I just wanted to say that you guys are really brilliant and thanks a bunch. I think I'm on the road to a good career in web development.

[wolverinejoe80]

keep in mind that web designers make about approx. 35k-65k.. creative directors make 3-4 times more.

[pgo]

3-4 times? Based on...

First off, I've never worked under a "creative director" at any company. There are project managers and technical leads and lead designers. I doubt they make a quarter million dollars.

Anyway, good for you, superbungalow21. Keep it up!

[Hunch]

Originally Posted by pgo

First off, I've never worked under a "creative director" at any company.

Big agencies sometimes have them. They're usually a waste of space. A creative with no business skills who has nowhere to be promoted to.

[pgo]

Well, I work for a big agency. There are a handful of "senior designers" and more management-type creatives, but they usually do their fair share of production work and seem far from useless. I'm just skeptical of those numbers more than anything.

[wolverinejoe80]

Originally Posted by pgo

3-4 times? Based on...

First off, I've never worked under a "creative director" at any company. There are project managers and technical leads and lead designers. I doubt they make a quarter million dollars.

Anyway, good for you, superbungalow21. Keep it up!

my current boss makes 400k a year as a creative director in his basement. and his salary at leo burnett was 250k a year. he worked there for like 15 years. and when he was workin there, there were about 300 creatives.

almost every creative directors i know makes more than 130k. so 3 times is about right because they start out at 100k ish, but web designers starts out at 35k ish.



yes, they do make loads of money.

[wolverinejoe80]

creative directors are managers. designers, accountants, consultants and etc are his players.

and to become an art/creative director you have to have people skills, full of ideas, and have a superb juggling skills.

anyway my boss happens to have all the skills plus he has a great illustration background. he can draw like mofo.

we just helped 3 billion dollar company in his own basement. and in this rate he will probably earn 1/2 million this year.

[allgiggles1984]

There's always parts you will disliek and some you will love! Go with the flow. I think you should go to college to do a graphic design course. That way, you will learn the basics of design and then go onto a multi media course on BA degree level. The things you have learnt during graphics at college will help you immensely in multimedia. You can build up your likes and dislikes after thta. You might be more of a creative thinker than a CSS, HTML geek. I love both but secretly I am more of a HTML, CSS geek. Shhh...just don't tell anyone. Haha.

[bannerflash]

verry well done CWSites