learn first: DHTML or XHTML?

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Walleye

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Dec 1, 2002
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i just bought XML for dummies... i barely know basic HTML coding.

anyway, which should i learn first?

and can anyone suggest good books on the subject? preferably hard manual documentation, but free online stuff is okay too....
 
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Walleye

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Dec 1, 2002
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Originally posted by: rutchtkim
book here
Click to expand...

preferably without [homosexual males] on the cover...


i dont need any "male to male" style things happening with my mom....



EDITED to make less offensive to fags.


oops.. slipped out again...

oh well.
 
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Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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RETURN THAT BOOK and don't ever buy a For Dummies book again. Buy O'Reilly books. They're the best.
 
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Walleye

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Dec 1, 2002
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but i am a dummy...


should i get the definitive dhtml book or whatever it was called? it's an orielly book...
 
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Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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Go to Borders or Barnes and Noble's and look through them... they usually have a couple of different books about each technology, each with a different purpose. Find the one that fits you best.

Why exactly do you want to learn XML anyway?
 
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Walleye

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Dec 1, 2002
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no real reason. there's no real reason i learned html either. no real reason why i'm trying to learn linux either... i'm doing this in my spare time because i want to know more. that's really all there is to it. i probably wont make any money on it... though i should be doing a web page for the dude i work for in which i might get about 1000 bucks... maybe.... if i drag the design over 10 days...
 
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Lifer
Apr 29, 2003
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The reason I ask is because XML will do absolutely nothing for you... at all... it's just a way to store data. HTML will do something for you - you can make web pages and make more money than you deserve doing it. ;) If you want to learn something useful, teach yourself PHP or ASP. And you don't need a book to learn PHP, just go to php.net.
 
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Walleye

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Dec 1, 2002
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i'm sure i can find some place for it :p


what i really want to learn is DHTML... but i dont want to spend 60 bucks on a book for it...
 
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royaldank

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2001
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I'd suggest looking into the .NET environment. It's got XML built in for the most part, so you don't really need to learn much about it. XML is purely for transfer of data quickly and effecient across platforms. It's done in a text format to avoid the hassles of firewalls and network security monitoring traffic. Because it's text, it is fairly small and quick going through the lines.

Also, ASP.NET is a whole different ballgame than ASP. VB.NET is different than VB6 because it's much more of a true object oriented language now. I'd suggest getting a book on Object Oriented Programming and begining there. Maybe start with a software development book so that you can undestand how to plan your project before coding them. Planning and specifing what a program needs to do is the biggest part of developing. Writing the code generally isn't the hard part, especially if you have a clear set up specs and a good design structure.

Pretty soon knowing just HTML will not be enough to make money. Web design is moving towards being a lot more involved than just HTML. You can make money laying out simple websites, but if you are thinking about being a web developer, you should be able to useful things on the internet. If you want to layout sites, you should look into graphic design stuff.
 
FeathersMcGraw

FeathersMcGraw

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Oct 17, 2001
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Originally posted by: mugsywwiii
The reason I ask is because XML will do absolutely nothing for you... at all... it's just a way to store data. HTML will do something for you - you can make web pages and make more money than you deserve doing it.
Click to expand...

XHTML is just a revision of HTML which is compatible with both specifications. Its sole usefulness (aside from getting rid of lazy HTML coding) is to prepare web pages for the (distant) day when browsers are more interested in XML than HTML.
 
PricklyPete

PricklyPete

Lifer
Sep 17, 2002
14,582
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Originally posted by: Walleye
i'm sure i can find some place for it :p


what i really want to learn is DHTML... but i dont want to spend 60 bucks on a book for it...
Click to expand...

Don't bother with XML right now...if you are'nt programming anything...understanding XML will do you no good. It is merely a way to store data...but you need a program to do anything worthwhile with it.

DHTML is a way to dynamically alter HTML content on a web page programmatically. Before you should be worrying about DHTML...you should first be worrying about regular old HTML.

ASP, PHP, ASP.NET, JSP...any of these are web "programming" technologies...but they are all server side (program is executed at server and returns code to the client). I wouldn't worry about that right now...focus on HTML.

Once you feel like you have HTML down, start looking into client side scripting and what you can do with DHTML.

Once you have that down, looking into something like ASP.NET (or PHP if you are going down the free linux path) might be fun and will greatly increase your understanding of how web applications are made (ASP.NET is essentially free if you have Windows 2000 or XP Pro). If you are enjoying it up to that point...then it will be worthwhile to start looking at what you can do wth XML and other cool technologies.

By the way, XHTML is merely HTML that is well formed (and therefor can be parsed by an XML parser). It is nothing special...really just HTML. Just start with HTML...it will be really hard to understand anything else if you don't understand the basics completely.

Hope this helps.
 
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Walleye

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Dec 1, 2002
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on my lunch break from the easiest job in the world, i picked up a book on DHTML programming... while i was surfacing in some more platters, i was reading that. it seems fairly easy... maybe at some point i might pick up some more advanced books in it.

and PrickleyPete:

oh, and i know basic HTML. i do maintain a few websites.....

actually i am going down both XP PRO and Linux. i'm also reading a book on redhat 7.2 (i am running 9, though... thinking of how i'm gonna get an mp3 server running.) if i get that far, i'll probably be doing php though.

as i said before, unless i find this really extremely interesting and something i want to do beyond a hobby, then i probably will make no money or very little money by my knowledge of it. i may be making 1000 dollars or so off the writing of a website for my current employer, but he'd be happy with the simple HTML i can do now. but i wont be happy with that, so i want to do more.

anyway, you all can see an example of my somewhat limited html capabilities at my geosh1tties site. www.thawall.tk

mind you, i wasnt at all serious when i made that site, i made it over a year and a half ago, and it was late at night. so it's a limited example of my limited abilities :p
 
Regs

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
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DHTML is a way to dynamically alter HTML content on a web page programmatically. Before you should be worrying about DHTML...you should first be worrying about regular old HTML.
Click to expand...

And it is a mix of HTML, javascript, and CSS all put together. DHTML isn't exactly a language. More of a classification.
 
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Walleye

Banned
Dec 1, 2002
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Originally posted by: KingNothing
You remind me of George (Seinfeld) after he gave up sex.
Click to expand...

that means absolutely nothing to me because i never watched seinfeld.
 
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dighn

Lifer
Aug 12, 2001
22,820
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your title says xhtml which is different from xml

and from what i understand there really isn't much to learn about xml itself. it's a simple format like html but the "tags"/attributes are defined entirely by the applications. more useful if you are programming.
 
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Walleye

Banned
Dec 1, 2002
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XHTML is html with XML inserted, or something like that. it might be useful learning XML so i have a little more clue what i'm doing when i'm doing XHTML.

but anyways, i'm learning DHTML right now, and will probably be for a couple weeks, so till i finish that, this can now wait.

then it's either redhat linux or XHTML/XML
 
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