Noob

[Frog Brew]

Just wanted to say a quick hello, and many “thank you's” in advance. I have always dodged any kind of script to design web sites, or installing someone else’s (which I was not very good at either) always masking my inabilities with flash and heavy eye catching graphics. It's very apparent that I will no longer be able to get away with this, and I want to learn. After reading through this forum I definitely feel like the little fish in the big pond. Which I think is good because I want to learn. Believe it or not I am reading PHP for dummies right now. Once I get that done I will move along to bigger...any tips would greatly appreciated.

[Twey]

Welcome to the dark side.

Good luck on your learning.

[thetestingsite]

Yes, good luck and welcome as well.

[BLiZZaRD]

Welcome.

Advice: Read, watch, test, ask, read.

Secondary Advice: Use Flash for what it is meant for, not to cover inabilities, but to showcase your talent with the program.

Also, if you are halfway decent with Flash, learn JavaScript, as it is based off the same root language that ActionScript is

[Frog Brew]

Advice taken...as for Flash, if the best was rated a 10, I might rate a 2...might. My goal is a simple 5 yr plan. I am stuck in day to day salary job that pays the mortgage. Not at all the kind of job that a person aspires to.
People keep telling me I am in the wrong buisness, (those people are not internet savy) I keep saying that in their eyes I may appear talented but in the grand scheeme of things I am merely mediocre..... a dime a douzen. Thing is, I would like to some day be able to work from home doing what I like most. So this is why I am prepared to bang my head against the wall, read, bang my head again, watch, take a tylenol, test, drink a 6 pack, ask,...and then start over. I figure after a 5 yr headache and one hell of a hangover I should have learned enough to be 1/2 decent.

[mburt]

bang my head against the wall, read, bang my head again, watch, take a tylenol, test, drink a 6 pack, ask,...and then start over

Lol... Some good ways to get started is to set up some kind of account (free) that has enabled server-side languages:
Try http://funpic.org/
Just to test stuff. I find testing helps me learn what's wrong and how to fix it. You need some good tutorials/books to get a good start though.

Basically, if you learn one language, other languages come much easier, since they usually follow the same syntax. I learned javascript first, but some people might not want to seeings it can become fairly complex, and the fact that you need to know HTML to use it.

If you're really getting in to this computer/web design thing start out with the basics, and..
Good luck!

[Frog Brew]

Would you suggest setting it up on My computer as well? (WAMP) I am curretly really interested in PHP. I already have access to a few servers that has enabled server-side languages (yes I pay for ) I run an online hockey site so that my son and I have something in commmon. It's not much but to the everyday Joe it's impressive.

http://www.lightthelamp.com

[mburt]

Well if PHP is enabled, go for it. You should get all your documentation from http://php.net/ - They also have function definitions/arguments/structure/examples listed.
Try a simple script like this on your page to test for php:

<?php
echo "test";
?>

or better yet use this php function:

<?php
phpinfo();
?>

That will display all the functions that your server has enabled with PHP. Also, I'm assuming you know enough about HTML to start with webpages, correct?

[BLiZZaRD]

Light The Lamp...

Invasion? Could it be?

[Twey]

I run an online hockey site so that my son and I have something in commmon. It's not much but to the everyday Joe it's impressive.

http://www.lightthelamp.com

I don't have Flash installed, so I can't see it.

Would you suggest setting it up on My computer as well? (WAMP)

Yes. I'd even go further and suggest you get a Linux box (or dual-boot your current machine) for testing and development. The whole setup process is a lot easier there, and the majority of webservers run a UNIX variant; it will also allow you to test in browsers that don't run in or are hard to set up on Windows too.