EDIT: Upon reflection and reading the replies, I guess the term "learning web development" doesn't really apply to me, and it should be more like "Starting an online store"
I am a complete newbie at web development but being an engineering student who does a fair share of programming, I thought I'd be able to learn it decently quickly.
Oh boy was I wrong, and it's nothing like learning to use photoshop or sony vegas or ableton.... And I kept encountering shitty frustrating errors and eventually googling wasn't enough to solve my problems, but I persevered and went through that hurdle (getting my Apache and Mysql to work with drupal)
We have plans for an online shop and I'm learning Drupal and am using Commerce kickstart for the shop. My progress ATM is that after playing aroudn with drupal core, I found this wonderful Commerce module which addresses my needs and managed to install it successfully and it looks really promising and manageble.
I think the next problem I'll be having is finding a good place to host it. Budget is definitely a concern. Any suggestions? Or advice about anything related?
I'd recommend getting comfortable with html/css and at least javascript. Probably php as well. That way you'll be ok with developing outside of Drupal (if you need to).
I agree, HTML/CSS is very easy to learn (I've learned the basics of creating a HTML/CSS site over night, literally). Since you said you're doing a fair share of programming I supposse there is a good chance you've used C, C++ or Java? PHP has a very similiar syntax, so it's not too difficult to learn, either. Same goes for JavaScript. I believe codecademy.com has a couple of tutorial on these, to get started?
Also don't just read tutorials. Also read the actual specification. As an example, here is a link to the CSS 2.1 specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/
Reading this instead of doing tutorials will provide a better overall understanding of how the language actually interacts with the browser. It will go a long way in helping you understand what happened when some impossible bug appears.
On July 20 2013 06:51 hp.Shell wrote: Also don't just read tutorials. Also read the actual specification. As an example, here is a link to the CSS 2.1 specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/
Reading this instead of doing tutorials will provide a better overall understanding of how the language actually interacts with the browser. It will go a long way in helping you understand what happened when some impossible bug appears.
I really dont think reading the specification would really help you unless you're making a browser.
You really don't want to start learning web development with a CMS package to be honest. A better place to start would be diving into a web development language like PHP or asp.net (*more of platform), and familiarizing yourself with html/css, xml,and javascript (jQuery etc).
Thanks for the replies guys, I've learnt C++ and other more engineering specific stuff.
Since everybody recommends learning static ones (please correct me anytime if I'm wrong with terms), I think I should start with PHP since Drupal uses it but I guess the next question is why?
And why is learning drupal a wrong choice? It seems to simply things for me and make management of the store (which is the main reason why I'm learning it, not to be an all round developer) and all the items easy, and actually not much traditional coding seems to be involved. I guess when bugs come out I need to be diving into the code...
Also, does anyone have any advice on hosting a completed website?
On July 20 2013 02:25 HardlyNever wrote: Also, Drupal is kinda meh as far as CMS's go.
Why? I mean just look at what I've got straight out of the box before even tinkering it to my liking (before even learning anything):
Upon reflection and reading the replies, I guess the term "learning web development" doesn't really apply to me, and it should be more like "Starting an online store"
On July 20 2013 06:51 hp.Shell wrote: Also don't just read tutorials. Also read the actual specification. As an example, here is a link to the CSS 2.1 specification: http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS2/
Reading this instead of doing tutorials will provide a better overall understanding of how the language actually interacts with the browser. It will go a long way in helping you understand what happened when some impossible bug appears.
Reading specifications is terribly inefficient for learning purposes, a huge waste of time. Sure, there's solid information, but you can put hardly anything of it to use. You're better off just knowing that there are specifications that you can fall back to if you really don't find an easier solution.
On July 20 2013 14:15 JieXian wrote: Thanks for the replies guys, I've learnt C++ and other more engineering specific stuff.
Since everybody recommends learning static ones (please correct me anytime if I'm wrong with terms), I think I should start with PHP since Drupal uses it but I guess the next question is why?
And why is learning drupal a wrong choice? It seems to simply things for me and make management of the store (which is the main reason why I'm learning it, not to be an all round developer) and all the items easy, and actually not much traditional coding seems to be involved. I guess when bugs come out I need to be diving into the code...
Also, does anyone have any advice on hosting a completed website?
On July 20 2013 02:25 HardlyNever wrote: Also, Drupal is kinda meh as far as CMS's go.
Why? I mean just look at what I've got straight out of the box before even tinkering it to my liking (before even learning anything): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZcb32r-dHo
Upon reflection and reading the replies, I guess the term "learning web development" doesn't really apply to me, and it should be more like "Starting an online store"
If you have no interest in doing web development outside of just running your online store, then there really isn't a need for anything else. But as you said, that isn't really "learning web development;" it is just "learning how to run my online store in drupal" which is a different topic.
As far as why drupal isn't the greatest. It is ok, it is often times described as "clunky" and not always worth the trouble to learn. Wordpress is generally considered a better CMS. However, if Drupal has exactly what you need, then stick with it, I guess. Again, that isn't really "learning web development," though.
As far as hosting, your ISP (depending where you live) might have some options. Are you looking for a domain name and server hosting? I know GoDaddy does that, but I don't believe they are the best option. You might want to try looking locally.
On July 20 2013 14:15 JieXian wrote: Thanks for the replies guys, I've learnt C++ and other more engineering specific stuff.
Since everybody recommends learning static ones (please correct me anytime if I'm wrong with terms), I think I should start with PHP since Drupal uses it but I guess the next question is why?
And why is learning drupal a wrong choice? It seems to simply things for me and make management of the store (which is the main reason why I'm learning it, not to be an all round developer) and all the items easy, and actually not much traditional coding seems to be involved. I guess when bugs come out I need to be diving into the code...
Also, does anyone have any advice on hosting a completed website?
On July 20 2013 02:25 HardlyNever wrote: Also, Drupal is kinda meh as far as CMS's go.
Why? I mean just look at what I've got straight out of the box before even tinkering it to my liking (before even learning anything): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZcb32r-dHo
Upon reflection and reading the replies, I guess the term "learning web development" doesn't really apply to me, and it should be more like "Starting an online store"
If you have no interest in doing web development outside of just running your online store, then there really isn't a need for anything else. But as you said, that isn't really "learning web development;" it is just "learning how to run my online store in drupal" which is a different topic.
As far as why drupal isn't the greatest. It is ok, it is often times described as "clunky" and not always worth the trouble to learn. Wordpress is generally considered a better CMS. However, if Drupal has exactly what you need, then stick with it, I guess. Again, that isn't really "learning web development," though.
As far as hosting, your ISP (depending where you live) might have some options. Are you looking for a domain name and server hosting? I know GoDaddy does that, but I don't believe they are the best option. You might want to try looking locally.
Yes, you're right. I may pick up proper web development later on though.
Domain name and server hosting means that I get the domain name (www.tl.net) and I don't use my own server right? Then that's what I'm looking for. I didn't think about doing it locally at all hahaha I feel so stupid.
I guess the main advantage would be speed along with other stuff like communication / troubleshooting?
Thanks and please do not feel shy to state the obvious to me haha
EPT
