What topics in web development are important to know before starting web development?

Question

Possible Duplicates:
What should a developer know before building a public web site?
Where to start from in web development?

I'm going to be totally honest: I'm not a web developer. However, I do want a web presence and I've looked at a number of free and open source products (WordPress, Joomla!, Movable Type, Drupal) and haven't found one that I can really like or that supports or can be easily made to support the features that I want to add over time.

My biggest problem is not learning the languages, I'm familiar with PHP, Perl, and Python and could probably learn JavaScript very easily. I've also worked with HTML, XHTML, and CSS before. I can learn frameworks as well - I've done a smidgen with Ruby on Rails and read about Zend Framework, CakePHP, Symfony, and Django.

However, what I can't figure out is all the little nuances. XHTML 1.1 versus HTML5? Semantic web (I've done some work with RDF, but where is the semantic web now and where is it going)? Linked data? Microformats? Search engine optimization? And I have no actual experience with web design...

So how can I wade through all of these decisions and technologies to evaluate my options? I'm just bogged down by all these words and phrases. What kinds of things should I know before I jump in and start writing code? What kinds of things might be useful to know as I move down the road? I'm not even sure where to begin making the decisions - I have a rough idea of what I want to end up with in terms of features and content, but I'm not sure what I can leverage now (or leave a door open to leverage later) in order to help me actually go from nothing to something meaningful.

Answer 1

At a risk of violating certain trademarks, I say just do it. You'll learn as you go. You'll make mistakes and maybe have to redo it all from the start. But if you wait until you know everything you need to know, you'll never get started. Don't be afraid to fail, and don't give up when you do.

Answer 2

A LOT of reading and some practice. This is one of those things where there is no substitute for experience. I think I've been in your position, where I had some idea of the overall landscape, but not enough to feel comfortable navigating it. Specifically, I asked similar questions and found that people weren't answering it to my satisfaction. One reason being that there isn't a simple answer. Books are written on this very subject.

Answer 3

A great resource for these questions is www.smashingmagazine.com Read a lot, read often. Question some of the blogs because even sites such as smashing include questionable advice from time to time. Getting involved on here is a great start.

Personally, I advise all my clients to go html 4.01 strict. I did a large consulting job for a bank where standards were the focus, and the lead there decided that since XHTML is in the process of being discontinued, that 4.01 strict will put you closer to html 5 when it's in the primetime. Either way, the code will work for many years to come.

Also, regardless of language, aim to get your code compliant via validator.w3.org. It's a great resource and makes it that much more likely your site can be viewed by all. Test, test, test on as many browsers and OS's you can get your hands on.

Consider a good CSS Framework. YUI can make things go very quick, but it's a little balky to learn. Blueprint and 960 grids are also great solutions. Visit sites like csszengarden for great ideas....Smashing is another great resource. If you're serious about this site, hire a quality designer, because they'll do in a very short time what you might never be able to do.

Finally, if you're design challenged as many developers are, don't be ashamed to use one of those quick PSD to compliant HTML services. They're cheap and my experience is that they work well if you're in a crunch. I've never been disappointed. That being said, there are also PSD to Joomla, Wordpress, etc sites out there that similarly can get your design to compliant code in a hurry.

As far as SEO, focus on a W3c compliant site first. Your domain will have to "age" for it to become relevant, so work to get it "visible" via good code first. The rest can come later once you're rolling.

If your head is still in the clouds, talk to an expert. There are plenty of us out there who consult on these very subjects and even give free advice to fellow web guys. You have no idea how in-depth the subject of just UI and useability can get....people's entire careers are spent figuring out which input field works best (ok, maybe they do a bit more than that) If the knowledge is out there, seek it out.

Good luck.