With lots of you being able to do freelance work, where did you learn?

**ArnyVee** · 08-26-2008, 09:21 AM

Where did you all learn your tricks of the trade.... in College?

Is there an online course (or courses) that can teach me what I need to do in order to both do my own work on my site and maybe take on some freelance work to pay the bills?

**Soliloquy** · 08-26-2008, 09:48 AM

I mostly learned from web sites and books, but the most valuable tip I ever got when starting out was to look at other people's code. Use The Source, Luke.

**ArnyVee** · 08-26-2008, 09:52 AM

Michele, any particular sites or books that you learned the most from?

**Soliloquy** · 08-26-2008, 09:56 AM

To start off I used htmlgoodies which taught the basics... then a site called A List Apart... then CSS Zen Garden... and in between just searching for tips on what I wanted to do, like Floatutorial and stuff.

**ArnyVee** · 08-26-2008, 10:02 AM

Thanks Michele.

Anyone else have any tips on what I should study and use to learn?

**Rocket 442** · 08-26-2008, 10:21 AM

Most of what I learned was first hand experience of me taking hours upon hours of trying to get my sites the way I want them. Sites like a list apart, webmonkey, etc... helped me along.

Another great resource are the Sitepoint Videos. I bought the CSS series by Kevin Yank and it was great for learning CSS techniques.

**Cerberus** · 08-26-2008, 10:29 AM

I learned anything I know or have forgotten by just doing it. I took an old computer long ago and turned it into a linux server. Then I started playing with the server. Started learning php. And went from there. It was just something to do. Lots of reading and playing with stuff. Though I will not lie I suck at graphics lol.

So how did you all learn graphics?

**ArnyVee** · 08-26-2008, 10:32 AM

Thanks Andy. Is the Kevin Yank video series current? Or, has it been passed by? How much was it and where should I find it? (as I go to Google

)

**valdet** · 08-26-2008, 10:44 AM

We had several classes about programming in University. Once you learn the logic behind programming its not hard to learn.

But I also used many different web resources and read few ebooks to learn more things as they come by.

**ArnyVee** · 08-26-2008, 10:57 AM

Valdet, any resources in particular that you can point me to that helped you?

**Michael Biddle** · 08-26-2008, 11:04 AM

I learned everything first hand. This semester of college I will be taking my first programming class (Intro to javascript).

Just read peoples code line by line, and dont move on until you figure it out. Ask for help.

**Rocket 442** · 08-26-2008, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArnyVee

Thanks Andy. Is the Kevin Yank video series current? Or, has it been passed by? How much was it and where should I find it? (as I go to Google

)

The CSS Video Crash Course - SitePoint Videos

**ArnyVee** · 08-26-2008, 11:23 AM

Thanks for the link Andy.

I'm going to watch these videos as soon as I finishing helping a friend of mine with his site.

Am I correct that the way to go for someone 'new to the game' would be to learn CSS rather than HTML? I was told that by someone in the business.

**Caddyman** · 08-26-2008, 11:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocket 442

Most of what I learned was first hand experience of me taking hours upon hours of trying to get my sites the way I want them. Sites like a list apart, webmonkey, etc... helped me along.

me too, just sitting for hours and viewing others source code, trying it, with a txt file open on my desktop to copy and paste original code from and to. testing, trial and error, sometimes having to ask a coder friend to bail me out.

w3cschool is a good site too...

**Brandon Sheley** · 08-26-2008, 12:14 PM

I've learned everything by working on my own sites

**Soliloquy** · 08-26-2008, 01:44 PM

Arny, CSS and HTML go hand in hand, your friend probably meant you should learn to use CSS to do the layout on your HTML pages (as opposed to using tables and such)
I totally forgot about webmonkey; that was an awesome site. I think they stopped updating or took it down

**ArnyVee** · 08-27-2008, 03:28 AM

I guess maybe he assumed that I knew some HTML.

I'm going to be watching the video that Andy linked me to this morning.

It looks like I can do my own 'home schooling' so to speak and get up to speed on how to do these things

**ArnyVee** · 08-27-2008, 06:16 AM

Wow, Kevin Yank is very to the point and precise in his speaking and teaching, I like that.

Andy, is the whole 8 part series that easy to follow?

**glennybee** · 08-27-2008, 07:10 AM

I've learned it my knowing what I want to achive then googling it until I find the answer.

Don't be affraid to ask for help.

Compare known working code to what you have and try to figure out the differences.

And as said before, View Source is a great tip.

**Soliloquy** · 08-27-2008, 08:49 AM

View Source and also learn to read your error logs

**Soliloquy** · 08-27-2008, 11:10 AM

I think the Dave plan has worked for a lot of people, lol

**Caddyman** · 09-05-2008, 03:01 AM

That is basically what i did, tried to do everything myself and use google alot. if i broke somehting to bad i would ask a friend to fix it and if they couldnt i hired someone. very rare occasion though.

**Soliloquy** · 09-05-2008, 09:03 AM

And of course when you see someone add a fancy new feature, it always inspires you to try and learn more about it.

I remember the first time I saw a Javascript rollover open a new window... I emailed the guy who did it and said "your page just flew out and hit me in the face. How did you do that?" He had a good laugh and introduced me to Javascript..

**ArnyVee** · 09-05-2008, 11:45 AM

That's good.

I thought that I would have to go to a local college and take some classes on computer design, etc.

I actually am thinking of signing up for this free XHTML class given at About.com ....

XHTML 101 - Free HTML Course

....has anyone done this one? Or any others?

**Soliloquy** · 09-05-2008, 11:56 AM

Hey, if it' free then why not? You probably have the basics down from what you've been working on, but you never know when you'll learn something useful.

**ArnyVee** · 09-05-2008, 12:46 PM

Since I haven't ever taken any classes, I figured that I'd take this to ensure that I haven't missed any vital pieces of info. Need to make sure that I have that foundation of knowledge, right?