Question

i’m a beginner at web development, i’ve just learned about XHTML 1.0 and CSS and had a brief look at HTML5.

And i don’t know. Should i start reading about Javascript now or do exercises in HTML & CSS … I really think i should exercise, but i don’t know how to, or what sites that good for this .

Please help me, thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I recommend you start by getting a strong sense of how HTML and CSS work before playing around with JavaScript.

Consider yourself to have a strong sense of those skills when you can do and feel comfortable with the following:

• Create several webpages by hand on
  your own

• Learn a bit about using Divs, and play
  with styling them using classes and
  IDs

• Learn to import your CSS from an external file, and then create an HTML page that can use one of a number of CSS files to code it. Look at CSS Zen Garden to see what I mean

• Learn how to use Firebug in Firefox, and particularly play around with styling padding and margins on content on an existing page using Inspect Element. 2013 update: Chrome’s dev tools, are getting much better. Link
  ]2

For the more interesting JavaScript you are going to want an understanding of the Document Object Model (DOM) and you will build that up by doing the above.

If you are at the point that you feel you have done all of the above, then you are probably ready to dive into JavaScript.

Do note that HTML5 is also supported somewhat differently between browsers right now, so focus more on HTML for the moment before diving in to HTML5, that way you can avoid having to deal with some odd quirks still present in HTML5, and the fact that HTML5 has somewhat less documentation.