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Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

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Re: Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

#21

Post by hackinthebochs »

meadhikari wrote: post #2

And then about w3schools which I had the impression was good: "w3schools is the single worst 'developer' site on the entire web." What made you think that? I learned html and php through w3school and it was a wonderfull experience.

It's terrible because it teaches everything in isolation. You have a section for this tag, a section for this function, on and on. You never get a feel for how all the pieces fit together to build something non-trivial. It's only useful as a reference. And even for that purpose its terrible because the information density is way too low.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

#25

Post by malandrew »

Dive in HTML5 by Mark Pilgrim

Designing w/ Web Standards, 3rd Edition by Jeff Zeldman - Please note that this book is more about orientation and how to go about learning HTML/CSS than actually coding. Only the last chapter contains a real coding exercise. Either way, it's worth a read.

Most of the best resources on HTML/CSS are the blogs and sites maintained by the main contributors to the standards. Whenever a section of the W3C spec is vague or confusing, go check out the blocks of people like Bruce Lawson, Eric Meyer and Zeldman to help clear up the ambiguities.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

#26

Post by malandrew »

isleyaardvark wrote: post #19

The Opera Web Standards Curriculum: http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/1-introduction-to-the-web... I didn't find it until well after I learned HTML & CSS, and I wish I had seen it then. It covers web standards from the bottom up, and would give you a really great foundation to start from.

Mozilla's stuff and the Webkit blog are also quite good.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

#27

Post by malandrew »

hackinthebochs wrote: post #21
meadhikari wrote: post #2

And then about w3schools which I had the impression was good: "w3schools is the single worst 'developer' site on the entire web." What made you think that? I learned html and php through w3school and it was a wonderfull experience.

It's terrible because it teaches everything in isolation. You have a section for this tag, a section for this function, on and on. You never get a feel for how all the pieces fit together to build something non-trivial. It's only useful as a reference. And even for that purpose its terrible because the information density is way too low.

It's good for a basic reference when you don't want to wade through the W3C spec. It's not good for learning.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

#28

Post by newsisan »

meadhikari wrote: post #2

And then about w3schools which I had the impression was good: "w3schools is the single worst 'developer' site on the entire web." What made you think that? I learned html and php through w3school and it was a wonderfull experience.

That was not my opinion, it was from the linked thread at the top.

Re: Ask HN: Are there any resources for learning html+css that are actually good?

#30

Post by tyrmored »

zoomzoom wrote: post #29

Right click, "view source", use webkit inspector/firebug/etc...

I can see this is sort of tongue-in-cheek, but I really have to agree. I find there's just no better way to do it.

That said, for slightly esoteric techniques like Suckerfish menus, http://htmldog.com/ helps a lot.

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