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An Ode To W3Schools

jonkuperman.com

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Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#41

Post by gidan »

camus wrote: post #30

simple : MDN is crap, not SEO friendly and not synthetic. For instance , i want a fast sum up of regexps with Javascript : the W3School shows a short table with the main keywords , that's all i need. It's like a cheat sheet. MDN is verbose ,badly written , accurate maybe, but i dont want 50 exemples on Proxies or Generators , i dont care about them. Now i agree , the name is confusing , there are errors , but until f…

I strongly disagree with you. What i'm looking for is complex examples and full documentation. MDN documentation is godness.

For example:

- http://www.w3schools.com/tags/canvas_drawimage.asp

- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Canvas_tutorial/Usi...

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#42

Post by gprasanth »

I think any beginner would love to have a [cross platform] offline browse-able reference/tutorial/guide whatever, be it MDN or W3Schools. Going to google for every damn thing is just a waste of time. And, for people with little stacks, it usually deviates them making them forget what they were trying to do in the first place. I am talking about something like php.net's offline 'chm' file. But, for html, javascript and css. Does anything exist already?

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#43

Post by Overclock »

simonsarris wrote: post #3

I disagree and I don't think he really responded to any of the criticisms, just sort-of acknowledged them. > They Appear Affiliated With The W3C > For those in the know the W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium, it is an international organization that governs the web. W3Schools rides off the notoriety of that name despite being unaffiliated. Is that really a complaint? How many _Java_Script developers are out there t…

It's like the private Federal Reserve and Federal Express.

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#46

Post by wyuenho »

As a long time webdev, I too took a fews years back in around 05,06 to figure out how misleading w3school's content is, but since then, I've compiled a list of resource to help myself relearn the webdev process. But be warned, there's no shortcut if you want to be good, if you just aim to be quick and dirty. Go read w3schools.com and be yet another w3fool.

_Webdev Begins_

Sitepoint

Slightly outdated, but perfectly succinct and accurate reference to HTML, CSS with EXCELLENT notes on common pitfalls. All new webdevs should start here.

  * http://reference.sitepoint.com/
Things that you must learn about CSS

  * box model
  * floats
  * positioning
  * margin collapsing
Eloquent Javascript

An easier to read book on JS.

  * http://eloquentjavascript.net/contents.html
MDN

Their resource on Javascript is a must read basic reference for all new JS developers.

  * https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/JavaScript
_Webdev Returns_

How that you have a basic, but solid understanding of HTML, CSS and JS, you should start learning the more advanced stuff:

More practice on CSS positioning

Google css positioning, read anything besides the w3schools results, such as this:

  * http://www.alistapart.com/articles/css-positioning-101/
Vertical Alignment

  * http://css-tricks.com/what-is-vertical-align/
Stickyfooter

  * http://lazylegs.info/articles/sticky-footer.html
Shrink-wrapping floats

  * http://haslayout.net/css-tuts/CSS-Shrink-Wrap
How to deal with IE

  * http://haslayout.net
_Webdev Rises_

HTML/CSS/JS design patterns

  * http://www.alistapart.com
  * http://css-tricks.com
  * http://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/book/
  * http://ui-patterns.com
Browser inconsistencies reference

  * http://www.quirksmode.org
  * http://caniuse.com
HTML5

  * http://diveintohtml5.info
  * http://html5doctor.com
CSS3

  * http://css-tricks.com

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#47

Post by garethadams »

Jare wrote: post #35
collypops wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. The reason a lot of newbies start with W3Schools is because they're the plague of Google search results. Popularity isn't everything. If it was, we'd all be promoting Nicki Minaj as the definitive source of quality music.

That may be why they start, but nobody would come back if the site wasn't so terribly useful, concise and easy to navigate.

The people who are using W3Schools are, almost by definition, the kinds of people who don't know that the site has glaring errors, and can't spot when the page they're looking at is wrong.

Imagine if you were using a calculator to help calculate dimensions for a house. But unknown to you, 1 in 20 calculations you make came out with an answer that was 10% out. Is that calculator useful because 95% of the time you get the correct answer, much faster than you could have found it yourself?

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#48

Post by garethadams »

knieveltech wrote: post #4

I love to hate W3Schools as much as anyone these days, but here's a dirty little secret: when I was making the transition from nights-and-weekends coding enthusiast to professional programmer, I needed something (anything) to put on my resume that might suggest to HR that I can do the work. Two W3Schools online certs later I landed the gig that started my development career.

I would suggest that any employer who puts value in a W3Schools certification is not somewhere you want to work.

The HTML quiz[1] they recommend to prepare for the certification test includes questions like:

  5. What is the preferred way for adding a background color in HTML?

  * 
  * 
  * yellow
(hint: none of them)

  10. How can you open a link in a new browser window?

  * 
  * 
  *
(hint: two of them)

[1]: http://www.w3schools.com/quiztest/quiztest.asp?qtest=HTML

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#49

Post by seriocomic »

simonsarris wrote: post #3

I disagree and I don't think he really responded to any of the criticisms, just sort-of acknowledged them. > They Appear Affiliated With The W3C > For those in the know the W3C is the World Wide Web Consortium, it is an international organization that governs the web. W3Schools rides off the notoriety of that name despite being unaffiliated. Is that really a complaint? How many _Java_Script developers are out there t…

Wow. I am really ashamed to admit, despite years of SitePoint, Mozilla Forums and StackExchange use, that I have never come across the MDN :/

Re: An Ode To W3Schools

#50

Post by greyfade »

ZeroMinx wrote: post #40
nthitz wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same goes for Stella Artois, owned by Anheuser-Busch

I've never met anyone thinking Stella Artois was a microbrew. Interesting to learn this about Blue Moon though.

It's fun sometimes to go through the beer aisle and look at the company information on the bottom of the bottle 6-pack. You'd be surprised who owns what.
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