A common question asked by beginners is “what books should I buy� My answer is initially, none, save your money!
There are many free tutorials available, my favorite is W3C schools. W3C is the organisation that sets the standards for the internet, so what better place to learn. They have many tutorials on other languages associated with web development which you can learn after mastering XHTML and CSS, including JavaScript. Web Monkey is another useful site.
JavaScript is different to XHTML and CSS in that it is a programming language, i.e. it can process data and perform logical operations, unlike XHTML and CSS which just tell the browser how things should look / display.
JavaScript has many uses within a web page, for example controlling graphical effect’s, but increasingly it is used by web service providers in their API’s (Application Programming Interface). Don’t worry about the terminology for now, what is important is that JavaScript is used to do things like:
Embed Google Maps into your site
Embed Google AdSense and other advertising into your site
Create cool visual effects
This is all stuff your going to love (and need if you want to monetise your site with advertising), so it is worth learning a little JavaScript when you have the basics of XHTML and CSS under your belt. There are lots of scripts already written for you to enjoy and use, one of my favourites is lightbox.js, it’s a must look!
To begin with, you don’t need to fully understand how JavaScript works, just how to embed it within a page.
W3Schools is my favorite, I use it regularly for reference. However it doesn’t have anything to do with the W3C, you wont see all those ads, HTML errors and ASP on a W3C site.
You know I always thought it was odd their site was dodge ASP… for some reason I always thought they were affiliated….