I have been considering for sometime now to learn something new to utilise different skills. I'm 26, did college in software development more Visual Basic and C#/C++ but the aspect of Web development or even mobile apps have intrigued me.

 

I'm in no rush and would like to try and learn something quite well and a bit of trial and error. In respect to web development, I'm guessing the core HTML and CSS are vital. What have you found in the past to be the best way to learn these and tools used to do so? I know you can read and try to remember it all but I think I maybe in a losing battle.

 

I think what confuses me, is what language is good for which type of site and when you start combing languages like CSS and HTML together?

 

Lastly from a freelancers point of view do you find you have a good market to be in? Or is the way phones are going the app market a more flourishing area?

 

 

Thank you for any help or advice.

 

 

Best Regards,

 

Dean

In my experience, the best way to learn is to continually build projects. Go through tutorials. Challenge yourself. That's where application comes in. Reading is one thing, but taking action and applying it is a completely different aspect.

 

Regarding the next part of your post- I think there's a good strong market for freelance talent. I don't think the web development market is leaving us anytime soon. And it's a growing one. Mobile development is a growing field, sure, but it's complimentary to web development. They co-exist with each other.

CodeSchool, TreeHouse. There's no better substitute for learning modern web development. Then progress onto FrontEnd Masters when you want to learn more advanced topics. Of course you must combine this with practice. although the challenges on these courses are well designed to test your knowledge of the concepts.

 

The free alternative is Code Academy, but like anything you get what you pay for, the resources above are better.

Edited April 14, 201511 yr by rbrtsmith

Fantastic responses, been dabbling in some basic HTML and CSS layouts toying around and I guess there is bits of knowledge that stick and others that don't. I have had a go with Code academy but Tree house looks appealing so I think thats the route I will go. I have an old version of Dreamweaver MX2004, so been using the code part and just checking the WYSIWYG at the results. Is there any good notepad editiors designed for web design that support HTML5 as I think my Dreamweaver may let me down there?