Which programming languages do you need to learn to build a website?

[KeralMTG]

I have a question for people who know about programming for websites. If I want to make a website on my own without using CMS systems then which programming languages is best to learn for this?

I know that some times more than one is used but I wonder if you can use just one language to make a good website that has good quality looks or if you need more. I am thinking maybe to try to learn how to do some programming and think maybe I should start with just one or 2 language if I can.

 

[Ilyas]

It all depends on what you will build. To create a simple one-page website HTML, (little) PHP and JavaScript will be sufficient. When creating a dynamic website (web shop, users, blogs,...) you will need good knowledge about server side languages like PHP.

I suggest you start off with HTML, the bare basics of web development. When know some HTML try to learn JavaScript and PHP. It can be daunting at first, but once you get used to it it is actually quite fun.

 

[ProfMike]

I would learn the following in the order listed.

1. HTML
2. CSS
3. PHP & MySQL
4. JavaScript

HTML - will be the basic structure of the web pages.

CSS - styles the web pages and allows you to add mobile accessibility

PHP & MySQL - used to add dynamic content. PHP is a server side scripting language that allows for the manipulation of dynamic data as one of its many aspects. MySQL is a database platform that is currently opensource.

JavaScript - will allow you to add interaction to your web pages.

I have over 200 videos that you can watch for FREE on my website to get you started. I also have some really good complete courses on those topics if you are interested.

As a side note, to add responsive support to a website I would recommend learning a Framework. I really like Bootstrap as a good starting framework. I have a bunch of videos on that also as well as a complete training course.

If you need any help let me know. I am always wiling to help people learn the aspects of web development and design.

 

[Waqass]

Popular language for building websites now days are PHP, ASP, RUBY. Being the first one most easy and most popular you can learn it less than two three months. As far as making a CMS is concerned the popular ones had hundreds of hours invested in them that's why they are so powerful and customisable. All the CMS are managed by groups not by an individual. I'm not saying you shouldn't learn ...you should certainly go for it. Making a small website would be not that difficult.

 

[ProfMike]

Waqass,

It frustrates me when people confuse their answers with the original question. I am certain it frustrates the member even more when the question is not addressed.

In your response you mention three languages. Other than PHP your responses have nothing to do with the original question and may actually confuse KeralMTG.

As a professional developer and a University professor I must state you may very well be sold on out of the box CMS system, but in my 16 years of developing corporate web sites and sites for large organizations I have never had one ask me to develop their site on an out of the box CMS system.

Even when I presented those options customer were not interested. The loss of control of the back-end, speed issues, process issues with the numerous plug-ins, and biggest of all security concerns customers have NEVER chosen that option. WordPress, Joomla, and the many other available options in CMS are very good platforms for what they were designed to do, but in no way are they a good solution for someone that wants to learn to program a site, and in fact they can actually hinder a person in site development as they are very difficult to customize and very difficult to reverse engineer if you want to make changes to the interfaces.

KeralMTG, if want to learn to develop your own site, follow the guidance I gave above. I will be glad to help you if you need assistance on what roads to follow to get a good solid background.

As far as Ruby goes, it is a good and growing platform and in a few years, as it matures, it may have a good foothold in web development. But it is still growing and is not that popular among web developers yet. It is getting better but has a ways to go yet. And actually I would not recommend learning OOP (Object Oriented Programming) as a start to programming. OOP has a rather high learning curve and learning structural coding prior to diving into OOP is always a better choice. The reason I say that and reinforce that with my students is once you learn to code in a structural environment learning OOP is much easier to comprehend and understand.

 

[KeralMTG]

I would learn the following in the order listed.

1. HTML
2. CSS
3. PHP & MySQL
4. JavaScript

HTML - will be the basic structure of the web pages.

CSS - styles the web pages and allows you to add mobile accessibility

PHP & MySQL - used to add dynamic content. PHP is a server side scripting language that allows for the manipulation of dynamic data as one of its many aspects. MySQL is a database platform that is currently opensource.

JavaScript - will allow you to add interaction to your web pages.

I have over 200 videos that you can watch for FREE on my website to get you started. I also have some really good complete courses on those topics if you are interested.

As a side note, to add responsive support to a website I would recommend learning a Framework. I really like Bootstrap as a good starting framework. I have a bunch of videos on that also as well as a complete training course.

If you need any help let me know. I am always wiling to help people learn the aspects of web development and design.

Thank you @ProfMike for all the detailed info. So then if I go in the order that you gave in your post, should I learn each one well before I try to learn the next step? Is it ok to try to learn more than one at a time or will that maybe just be confusing? I want to do what will work the best but I just do not know where to start at and how the best way is.

 

[ProfMike]

Actually I would learn HTML and CSS together. They actually are used together. HTML is used to structure your web pages as far as structural layout and CSS is used to style and position the structure of the HTML page.

Once you have a good understanding of those two, and you do not need to be an expert, just have a good understanding as to how they work and especially how they work together, I would move into a Framework, like Bootstrap. The reason I say that is that in order to be successful in web design you really need to develop your web sites with mobile responsiveness in mind. That is a big thing now and has been for the last couple of years. All mobile responsiveness design can be done using nothing but HTML and CSS with a very small amount of JavaScript. But it gets complex.

Using a Framework takes a lot of the complexity out of the development. There are some disadvantages to a framework but when you are first starting out it is a good way to learn how mobile designs are implemented.

Then I would move into JavaScript and learn how to add interactivity to your web pages. Again you do not need to be an expert starting out just learn enough to understand Event-Listeners and how they can add interactivity to your websites.

Then move into PHP and MySQL. Those two can add dynamic content to your site. It will get a little more complex as move into those areas but it will give you a great background in dynamic site design. That is where most everyone has moved over the last few years. All the commercial sites I have developed over the last 5 years have been dynamic driven.

To build your first site all you really need to know is HTML and CSS. They will get you started and moving in the right direction. As you build the site and experiment with the coding structures you will have a lot of questions I can help you with those. Just reach out and ask.

Again I have a large group of FREE videos that you can watch on the site that can get you going. If you need some guidance just let me know. If you are looking to do something in particular, just let me know I will help you figure it out.

Web development is an exciting career and hobby. It is constantly changing and evolving which keeps us all on our toes. We are all constantly learning and adding to our skill sets. That is one of the reasons I really enjoy it.

Don't get discouraged and understand that when you begin this journey, if you truly want to learn it, it will be a process. It is challenging, frustrating, rewarding and you will meet some really cool and interesting people along the way. Many of us are A type personalities and look for perfection in what we do, but in this field you very seldom, if ever achieve it. As quickly as you learn something there is a better way of doing it that someone else has figured out. That is part of the fun of the field.

One of the things I find most interesting about this field in programming is that there are 100's of ways to do the same thing. Some are good ways and others are better ways. As you learn you will develop your own techniques for accomplishing tasks in programming. It will become your style almost like a signature to your work.

Let me know if you need anything.

 

[KeralMTG]

Actually I would learn HTML and CSS together. They actually are used together. HTML is used to structure your web pages as far as structural layout and CSS is used to style and position the structure of the HTML page.

Once you have a good understanding of those two, and you do not need to be an expert, just have a good understanding as to how they work and especially how they work together, I would move into a Framework, like Bootstrap. The reason I say that is that in order to be successful in web design you really need to develop your web sites with mobile responsiveness in mind. That is a big thing now and has been for the last couple of years. All mobile responsiveness design can be done using nothing but HTML and CSS with a very small amount of JavaScript. But it gets complex.

Using a Framework takes a lot of the complexity out of the development. There are some disadvantages to a framework but when you are first starting out it is a good way to learn how mobile designs are implemented.

Then I would move into JavaScript and learn how to add interactivity to your web pages. Again you do not need to be an expert starting out just learn enough to understand Event-Listeners and how they can add interactivity to your websites.

Then move into PHP and MySQL. Those two can add dynamic content to your site. It will get a little more complex as move into those areas but it will give you a great background in dynamic site design. That is where most everyone has moved over the last few years. All the commercial sites I have developed over the last 5 years have been dynamic driven.

To build your first site all you really need to know is HTML and CSS. They will get you started and moving in the right direction. As you build the site and experiment with the coding structures you will have a lot of questions I can help you with those. Just reach out and ask.

Again I have a large group of FREE videos that you can watch on the site that can get you going. If you need some guidance just let me know. If you are looking to do something in particular, just let me know I will help you figure it out.

Web development is an exciting career and hobby. It is constantly changing and evolving which keeps us all on our toes. We are all constantly learning and adding to our skill sets. That is one of the reasons I really enjoy it.

Don't get discouraged and understand that when you begin this journey, if you truly want to learn it, it will be a process. It is challenging, frustrating, rewarding and you will meet some really cool and interesting people along the way. Many of us are A type personalities and look for perfection in what we do, but in this field you very seldom, if ever achieve it. As quickly as you learn something there is a better way of doing it that someone else has figured out. That is part of the fun of the field.

One of the things I find most interesting about this field in programming is that there are 100's of ways to do the same thing. Some are good ways and others are better ways. As you learn you will develop your own techniques for accomplishing tasks in programming. It will become your style almost like a signature to your work.

Let me know if you need anything.

Thank you again for the info @ProfMike. I think that I will take you up on your free video offer to see how it goes and if I am able to learn some things. Where can I find those on your site and what videos do you think is the best ones to start with? If this works well then maybe I can move ahead and learn more. I am very excited to learn how to do my own programming and code work. I always wanted to do that.

 

[ProfMike]

KeralMTG,

Here is the link to the HTML Section of the site.

Start with the First listed and work you way through the Section on HTML and CSS. If you have any questions or need some additional help me know through the site. This way we are not filling the forum thread with information that does not pertain to the group. There is a link to the other sections on the home page, about half-way down the page.

HTML Tutorials.

 

[Emmanuel Sopitan]

1. HTML
2. CSS
3. PHP & MySQL
4. JavaScript

Yes all of these programming languages are enough to start building a website, but you also need to know abit more about web hosting and website security to make your programming work better.