One of the common questions that I have seen with regards to getting started online is regarding the web programming language someone should learn. It is important to understand that what you need to learn is dependent on what you are looking to achieve with regards to website design. There are a few programming languages available that can easily allow you to create complex designs.
If you aren’t familiar with programming or design web sites, you should first start simple and learn the basics of website design before getting into a programming language. Once you and understanding of the basics of website design, then you can look at learning the more complex aspects of a web programming language.
Don’t Start With a Web Programming Language
Before looking into learning a web programming language it is important to first understand the basic structure of a web page. The most basic structure involves HTML, which is short for Hypertext Markup Language. From the very first web page, this markup language has been the primary building block of web pages.
HTML has changed over the years, and each new revision of the HTML standard has added new features, and removed older, obsolete features. The newest standard is HTML5, and it is slowly being adopted online and with the newer web browsers.
In the beginning, HTML was responsible for both the structure and look of a web page. Over time a new type of file was created that manage the look of a page. This file is called a CSS (Cascading Stylesheet) file, and contains the definitions for such things as fonts, sizes, borders, and other elements that control the look of a page.
While learning HTML, you should also learn and understand CSS and how the two files work together to create a web page. These are the two basic elements for website design that you should understand before learning any web programming language.
Javascript – Not Really a Web Programming Language
Javascript is an optional language that you can learn. Technically it isn’t a web programming language since it isn’t compiled and runs within the client’s web browser. By learning Javascript you can create dynamic web pages for a visitor without having to send a request back to the web server.
You shouldn’t rely on Javascript, however, for you whole site as many people may disable Javascript within their browser, so relying on Javascript quite a bit on your site could cause your site to break with such visitors.
Which Web Programming Language?
Now back to real question from the beginning of this post. Once you have learned the basics of website design: HTML, CSS, and possibly Javascript, then you can start to look at a web programming language.
Which language you choose to learn is dependent on what you plan to do. If you are into blogging, and plan to use WordPress, for example, then PHP is your best bet as WordPress is built using PHP. Most, if not all, hosts support PHP so you should have no issues with learning this web programming language.
There is a great deal of information online regarding PHP, so if you can’t figure out how to do something, you should be able to find an answer to your problem with a quick search online. There are also PHP frameworks that already include code for many complex examples.
If you have some Windows programming background, or will be using a Windows-based web server, then I suggest you look at coding in a .Net language. I have been able to create both Windows and Web applications using C#. The advance in the .Net framework has made it very easy to create complex applications with minimal code.
Similar to PHP, there is also a lot of information online about .Net, so you should have no trouble finding a solution to any programming problem you may have.
To get started online, I recommend that you first learn and understand HTML and CSS. Once you have an understanding of those two web design elements, you can then move onto learning a web programming language.