It doesn't take long at all. A really good book for starting out is
Elizabeth Castro's "Html, xhtml and css" available from Amazon
and it doesn't cost a lot. You don't have to learn everything first.
If you are working on getting your links live, you just look up links
and she has a few pages that give you everything you need to
know. (Most of it will just be on the first page or 2.) Then she
will have the deeper link topics like styling them with css and will
give the page numbers for those topics.

Then you look up the next thing you want to work on and get
that working.

The book is really well organized and she doesn't assume that
you know anything. One extremely simple question I had with the
first site was "How do you get your notepad page to open as a
web page?" Google didn't help. All the pages it referred to
assumed that I already knew that. Someone I knew who liked
setting up websites gave me a completely wrong answer, and it
took about a week (not full time) before I found out.

Then when I got her book I checked out of curiosity and sure
enough she covered that simply and completely.

It depends on the individual or group of individuals building the site. I personally have some (very light) frameworks that I created that I start from every time. Because I built them myself, I know how they work 100%.

The thing you need to understand about building websites, is it is a layered process, starting at the design, moving to the front-end code (HTML/CSS/JavaScript, etc.), then to the back-end code (this is any server language and database, and is not always used). Sometimes sites are programmed first, but this is not the norm.

A big part of what you'll learn eventually is what part you are good at. Personally, I can do design, but it is not my passion, so I would prefer to pass it off to someone who considers design their number 1 priority. Then, once it is received, I can do whatever I want with it, because I'm a coder and programmer at heart.

So learn HTML and CSS, but figure out what you're good at as well. If it is design, focus on that. If it is the code, learn more of that.

CSS is super easy if you understand:
width, height, font-weight, font-size you can learn it in about a day or 2. I personally learned CSS in a matter of a day to a day and a half. but i did have HTML experience before i tackled it.

HTML is a little more complicated than CSS but if all you are wanting to do is make websites use dreamweaver and just use the div tag. the majority of your websites will be everything dreamweaver will give you pre-written and CSS.

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regarding the post about templates and coding them. most all of my sites can be fit into this "skeleton".

Wrapper - A Div tag wrapping around the entire website to center it.

Header - A Div tag inside of the wrapper containing the top portion of the website(as a background image) and the navigation. most of the time.

Content - Containing any content of the website, and will contain divs inside of it, to position the content of the site.

Footer - containing the bottom portion of the website as a background iamge, and bottom navigation and copywrite.


Making sites is that simple.

i gotta learn this stuff!

hi this is very useful blog for learning css/xhtml . site having more tutorials. "sunlav.blogspot.com"

Yes I think css/xhtml is very important languages these days

Lol, html is very easy. Just check out those tutorials online, there are many of them.
CSS is very usefull, but i woulda first learn html, i did in 1 month, with quite some work.

I was self taught. You could probably hit up you tube and have a basic site created within 20 minutes. But for a good grasp I would say a couple of weeks. And your always learning something new.

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i have learned some css from this site freecss(dot)info

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do a search for free html tutorials.

If it aint free, dont buy it.

There is PLENTY of info around for nothing.

HTML is essential!!!

If you slap up a page but there is something wrong, then you NEED to know which html code to alter so your page looks right.

Nobody taught Me how to do HTML. I keep a 'swipe file' on my computer of well designed pages.

I then see which components go where... then apply the coding to my own pages.

Always keep swipe files.

HTML Editor - I learned with Notepad and STILL do a lot of editing with nothing more than Notepad.

i think if you spend 3 hours a day studying and practicing, you could be fairly fluent in about a month. the best learning comes from actually doing it, not just reading lessons.

Learning how to program the basics will go quick and its handy to know how to tweak things on your own.

Check out a forum called PHP Freaks - Index they have some excellent resources for programming in PHP and there are tons of people around there that will help you out with the questions you may have.

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Hi there,

As someone previously recommended. Lynda.com is probably the best place to learn CSS/XHTML alongside a massive range of other skills. I opened up a premium account with them and it's worth every cent. But the best way to learn is by applying everything you've learned. I'd say you'd be fluent in 1 - 2 months if you were studying 2/3 hours a day... possibly less.

Regards

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Yes, w3schools.com is a good site to learn and then use as a reference.

I have a couple of pre-built templates I use. They give me basic layout options I use all the time. I also have a number of CSS template files that I copy and paste out of then make some changes to the parts. This saves on retyping a lot of the same information each time you make a new site.

I keep my own "website" on my computer. By this I mean it lets me keep my skills sharp, but it is also a huge library of info and links to other files on my system.

Just like a website you see on the internet, I have a directory structure, different topics and info pages.

Like under my Web Design Like, I have sub pages for each of the languages I use, HTML, CSS, Perl, PHP, Javascript, ETC....

This way you not only are organising your own information, you are also learnig the best way to build things. You also have a place to test your new ideas out and how they will look to others.

Hope that helps you out,

Have a Great Day!

about.com has some class you would love to read.

w3schools.com is also another good option if you're not willing to spend money on the more premium services.

w3schools.com is good free resource as already recommended.

You can download plenty of free ebooks out there, or simply do a search on Google.

The best thing you can do though is practice.

It's not about time, it's all about your ability to learn new things and the pace that one need to do something

There are several of them out there.

I always learned best by doing. I'd start with something I wanted to create, figure out from docs and tutorials and such how to do that thing, then move on to the next thing. Some people can just sit down and read a book or tutorial and do it, but like others have said, however you learn best, break it into small easily digested chunks.

However you do it there will be a constant learning process. I don't mean you have to devote 3 hours a day every day, but after you have a page done, you'll find new things you want to do and new ways of doing it. Your knowledge base will always be expanding. That's the fun part of the net - it never stands still!

I would suggest installing Firebug in your Firefox browser, enable it, then start checking out other people's code. You'll learn alot just by seeing how things are done.

For example, Mailchimp.com has a site with some very well written and documented CSS. See what they are doing there.

Hope that helps.

Honest SEO

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Toko content editor launched a new version for their CMS.
This version enables editing html,php files as word over the Internet with advanced wysiwyg (what you see is what you get)
any many more features. I would like to recommend this editor as it is FREE for non commercial use.

For fast learning of CSS/HTML, you can try watching video tutorials on the web. w3schools provide great tutorial in css, you better try it!

I'm learning using w3schools.com
Its a top resource to learn the basics and after you learn the basics buy some book from amazon