Starting fresh in web design + mobile app development

[I4AT]

I have an idea for a website that will be fairly multimedia heavy, lots of pictures, gifs, and possibly embedded video. It'll more or less be a niche social networking type site, so it'll involve a multitude of users each with their own page(s).

I also would like to develop a mobile app which will basically be a simple video editing app for smartphones to take captured video and splice, cut, scale, and use stills to create gifs. I know there are probably apps out there that can do this work but it's going to be a tie-in app specifically for my site and will upload finished content to specific user profiles using login/password info.

I've never done web design before, only know the very very basics of HTML that most people do. I'll be self taught so I'm basically looking to be pointed in the right direction as far as references. I'd really prefer ebook/pdf format material, I have a lot of old thick books on various sources I bought forever ago that are all outdated by now and just taking up space...

Android will most likely be the focus of the mobile app, from what I've read you used to only have the choice of Java, but now they're branching out to other languages?

Can Java be used exclusively for web design or is it more of a supplement to HTML for certain functions?

I want to avoid Flash since mobile is only gonna get bigger in the future and they're already dropping support there, and I know HTML 5 won't be ready for quite some time.

What's the story with iOS development, are there costs associated with developing an iphone app?

Also, I have no idea how long development will take so I'd like to avoid purchasing a domain and any type of hosting until everything is finished. Is this possible, I mean is there a way to write all the code and test functionality essentially 'offline' or do I need to have the domain/hosting from the get-go?

And lastly, since I'll be funding this project myself to start, if I want to kind of piggyback video into the site using Youtube or something similar rather than hosting all the video myself, am I able to just embed the videos into my site in a fashion that will make everything look seamless, or does Youtube do something to restrict this? Also, do they have the option of uploading videos in .mp4 or does everything get converted to .flv automatically? If so, any recommendations for a video hosting alternative that would do everything I need until I can afford my own native hosting?

I'm guessing this isn't going to be simple and I'm gonna have to start learning HTML, Java, PHP, SQL, and possibly more?

 

[beginner99]

Creating professional web and mobile apps easily costs 100'000 $ with professionals workin gon it and not self-taught amateurs, meaning you have to stay realistic. I you plan to do this for your 0 friends, go ahead. But if you believe you can make money out of it, well I sure would not count on it but to learn HTML, CSS, a server-side language (PHP) and very important for web apps security!!! in doing so, that sure won't hurt your skill set. Just go in there with the right expectations.

 

[sourceninja]

Honestly, I don't see much need in custom web design anymore (writing a lot of code). While some niche concepts will require someone to write php/java/whatever, 95% of the time what is really required is a good CMS.

I suggest learning drupal. Not only is it easy to extend with php, but it works very well and is constantly updated and pretty secure. As a plus, there are typically free modules to do just about anything. The only thing really required then is a strong understanding of html and css.