Basic web design – learn HTML or CSS (or both)

I know nothing about web design, I know very little about coding, but I would like to build a very basic website.

Is it worth learning HTML, CSS, or a bit of both?

I have also heard that you can do nice things with wordpress as well.

Any comments/experiences would be greatly appreciated.

use wordpress – there’s so many good themes available it’s silly not to.

only really worth handcrafting html and css if you have to do it for a living.

If you go down the HTML route than you’ll need to learn both HTML and CSS. The HTML is your content, and the CSS makes it look pretty so they go hand in hand.

You can’t really learn one without the other. Well you could, but it wouldn’t be terribly useful.

wwaswas – some people like to do things like that to learn though; it’s not always about the quickest and easiest way. I could have built websites in various tools in the mid-90s but hand coded to learn.

some people like to do things like that to learn though

This is true.

But the OP specifically asked about building a basic website and whether WordPress was suitable. If they’d asked about learnign HTML/CSS as a skill for its own sake I woudl have answered differently. As it stands they’re probably better spending time focusing on content and understanding SEO etc.

I’d definitely use one of the free site builders (WordPress or Joomla), although it’s worth learning a bit of HTML and CSS so you can play with the existing templates and make them a bit more personalised.

I used a HTML/CSS dummies guide and found it really helpful, then progressed to using online resources when i could successfully google what i wanted to find, and finally let JQUERY pretty much do everything i wanted. 🙂

I did pretty much exactly the same as back2basics. Wasn’t to tricky. I think overall it is the best way to go. I have a WordPress based site as well. That one is more complex and easier to edit but the one I have written myself gets better Google ranking as I have a bit more control over everything.

What back2basics and nickjb said. Get a Webdesign for Dummies book and go from there. Anything you don’t understand google it and you’ll find a solution.

Alsp I’d agree with Nickjb about the SEO/Google rankings of a self built site. It all takes time but once it clicks it gets easier and easier.

Once I had the basics of CSS etc I found using a grid system like 960.gs[/url] was really helpful as the layout of the basic structure of the site was there for me to manipulate.

Take a look at Websites you like, and then have a look at the coding behind it. Then try altering the code in say Dreamweaver, and see what happens.

This site is also useful W3Schools

I’d agree with WordPress or Joomla.
Get the web developers tool for Firefox (called Firebug) which will let you identify bits of the site and see what is controlling it.
If you do go WP or Joomla it would also be worth understanding a bit of PHP too, just so you know what makes it tick.
Just using a CMS without any knowledge of HTML and CSS is a bit like having a car but no knowing a thing about how it works. Good to have an idea even if you don’t do the work yourself.

Code Academy[/url] seemed pretty decent (and free) when I dipped in a few months back.

Forgot to say that Aptana[/url] is a pretty decent free html editor with a preview and Filezilla[/url] a good ftp option

Thank you all for the responses, as always, very helpful.

So, WordPress or similar is the easy option, but learning HTML/CSS might be a better long term solution as the final website will have a commercial aspect and google rankings may be important. Also, I like learning new things.

The University where I work is running a free (to me) five day course on HTML/Dreamweaver and this prompted my question. Mainly as a colleague suggested that CSS was more useful. But, it sounds like a bit of both will be useful.

I taught myself HTML and CSS using Dreamweaver by following some free video tutorials on Create the Net.com. You need to keep following the videos, even if they don’t make sense at first, but after a while it all falls into place.

Ive got a few basic websites up now. It started to get beyond me as soon as I was getting into php, but if all you need is a basic (static) website then it’s all fairly straight forward.

Edit. Create the net has a website and loads of videos on you tube.

Definitely you should learn the basics if only to have a working understanding of any templates you use.

Its not complicated at a base level – not too many commands etc to get to grips with.

It can also get quite addictive (if you like that sort of thing!).

Cheers

Danny B

If you’re learning for the sake of it and with a view do doing anything in a professional capcity, you’ll need to learn Javascript, and more than just JQuery – take a look at the new MV* frame works – Backbone, Ember, Angular etc.

You’ll learn a lot from looking at Twitter Bootstrap[/url] which is effectively all you need to know to put together your own custom, responsive site.