Upgrading html skills?

[texas_gardener]

Hi:

I've been told _repeatedly_ that my html skills are "circa 1987" (they
are; that's when I learned them), and that my pages are "a mess,"
etc. I'm not at all offended, 'cause I'm sure it's true, at least to
some degree.

I'm self-taught (as is probably obvious) and want to begin the work of
upgrading my skills, but have no real clue where to start. Something
about CSS...or something?

Here is an example of my work:

http://beststudentviolins.com/vita.html

(this is me)

Where do I start? Your help very much appreciated!! I want to plan a
course of self-instruction.

Thanks!!

 

[Jonathan N. Little]

Hi:

I've been told _repeatedly_ that my html skills are "circa 1987" (they
are; that's when I learned them), and that my pages are "a mess,"
etc. I'm not at all offended, 'cause I'm sure it's true, at least to
some degree.

Tutorials here is a good start: http://www.htmldog.com

 

[Adrienne Boswell]

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed texas_gardener

Hi:

I've been told _repeatedly_ that my html skills are "circa 1987" (they
are; that's when I learned them), and that my pages are "a mess,"
etc. I'm not at all offended, 'cause I'm sure it's true, at least to
some degree.

I'm self-taught (as is probably obvious) and want to begin the work of
upgrading my skills, but have no real clue where to start. Something
about CSS...or something?

Here is an example of my work:

http://beststudentviolins.com/vita.html

(this is me)

Where do I start? Your help very much appreciated!! I want to plan a
course of self-instruction.

I would say the best place to start is the specs. Obviously, you know
enough to have done, so you know a little. Validate your pages
<http://validator.w3.org>, look at where the errors are, and correct
them. Believe me, that will give you some lessons.

Then you could go to the CSS section and start learning from there.

Stop using presentational markup, use the correct element for the job.
If it's a paragraph, use P, if it's a heading, use one of the heading
elements, if it's list, use list markup. If it's tabular data, _then_
you should use a table.

 

[Ed Seedhouse]

Tutorials here is a good start: http://www.htmldog.com

Agreed, but first I think you should go to
http://pages.prodigy.net/chris_beall/TC/ and read every page.

 

[Neredbojias]

Hi:

I've been told _repeatedly_ that my html skills are "circa 1987" (they
are; that's when I learned them), and that my pages are "a mess,"
etc. I'm not at all offended, 'cause I'm sure it's true, at least to
some degree.

I'm self-taught (as is probably obvious) and want to begin the work of
upgrading my skills, but have no real clue where to start. Something
about CSS...or something?

Here is an example of my work:

http://beststudentviolins.com/vita.html

(this is me)

Where do I start? Your help very much appreciated!! I want to plan a
course of self-instruction.

It's as simple as reading, studying, and applying the latest standards.
These standards are available at the w3c and can be downloaded. For
questions on interpretation and understanding, this newsgroup is the best
place I know.

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Scripsit texas_gardener:

I've been told _repeatedly_ that my html skills are "circa 1987" (they
are; that's when I learned them),

Nice trolling. I had thought the species of clever trolls became extinct in
early September 1993.

Young people, like those born before the birth of the Web in 1990, might
actually believe you. They are advised to check some basic facts from e.g.
http://www.w3.org/History.html

I want to plan a course of self-instruction.

Just in case you were (half-)serious, after all: Find a good modern primer
on web authoring and read it. Then find another one and read it. My point is
that virtually all primers around contain some wrong ideas and poor
approaches, and reading another will probably help you to keep a critical
mind regarding the first primer's content.

Remember to forget everything you think you know, before you start reading.

 

[Toby A Inkster]

Young people, like those born before the birth of the Web in 1990, might
actually believe you.

Young people were born before 1990? So old people were born after 1990?

--
Toby A Inkster BSc (Hons) ARCS
[Geek of HTML/SQL/Perl/PHP/Python/Apache/Linux]
[OS: Linux 2.6.12-12mdksmp, up 94 days, 16:55.]

Non-Intuitive Surnames
http://tobyinkster.co.uk/blog/2007/05/25/non-intuitive-surnames/

 

[Jukka K. Korpela]

Scripsit Toby A Inkster:

Young people were born before 1990? So old people were born after
1990?

Confusing, isn't it? Anyway, old people know how to read what I mean,
instead of what I wrote. I didn't need to wait to become old in order to
write the exact opposite of what I mean.

 

[Sherm Pendley]

Confusing, isn't it? Anyway, old people know how to read what I mean,
instead of what I wrote.

Wait!

I knew what you meant.

That must mean...

Oh my. :-(

sherm--

 

[dorayme]

Scripsit Toby A Inkster:


Confusing, isn't it? Anyway, old people know how to read what I mean,
instead of what I wrote. I didn't need to wait to become old in order to
write the exact opposite of what I mean.

So... you waited voluntarily and chose the moment.