Ask HN: Teaching a non-programmer web development?

I wrote this a while back in response to that question.

http://iamelgringo.blogspot.com/2008/05/teach-yourself-you-t...

HTML first. Do it yourself HTML is better than using web design software or prepackaged templates. Hand coded HTML gives you an understanding of what is going on. Start first with a static web site to limit complexity. CSS is next, but it can be a major conceptual leap, particularly with browser incompatibilities, so I would suggest that you create some simple style sheets, and let him experiment with it.

JavaScript is the next step. I recommend JQuery as a fundamental library. He should concentrate on simple aids for the user, until he gets a feel for it. JS is a bigger hurdle than HTML.

On the server side, I am a Python fan, but since you know Rails, that might be a good way to go, if you are into helping him. PHP is relatively easy, but it encourages really bad code. I would recommend against it.

Photoshop is a huge monster. Unless he needs it, it's a distraction.

As far as learning resources, there is lots online or get highly rated books from Amazon.

I have a background in business as well, and decided to learn programming around 1½ years ago. So my situation is probably similar. Looking back at my experience here's my two cents:

- Start by learning HTML to get the basics straight. This isn't hard once you grasp the basic concept.

- PHP is a good place to start, since you can almost always find help in the huge PHP community. I used www.w3schools.com for reference, and google would always point me to an answer when I had a stupid question.

- Do a real project, it's the best way to learn. I did a HN clone just to learn how stuff worked, how to deploy, etc. (www.deloghersk.dk)

The one thing I missed was a real person I could ask whenever there was something I conceptually didn't understand. Google isn't very good at answering these questions. Seems like our friend is in a better position here :-)

Send him toward a toolkit that's ostensibly usable by "non-programmers". Have him put up a Wordpress blog. Hand him a copy of Using Drupal (but certainly not Pro Drupal Development yet, unless you want to scare him witless).

The advantage of these things is threefold. First, getting a basic Wordpress or Drupal installation up and running is excellent practice in the boring but essential skills of web development: Knowing what a server is, renting a shared host, using SSH and FTP, editing text files, debugging, searching Google, learning how to find and question your local guru, appreciating how much work it's all going to be and why it's going to take you years to learn. ;)

Second, there's always the chance that one of these toolkits is all the guy needs. These systems are actually used to build production sites. They have logins and stuff! They have nifty looking themes that look like real websites! That makes them more rewarding for a beginner with business aspirations than some primitive-blog-in-fifteen-minutes demo app. It's even possible that the guy will find that he doesn't need to learn to build an entire site from scratch in Django. He might be able to figure out how to assemble his site from open-source components -- or, once he learns about the existence of the components, he might rather spend time coming up with new business ideas that leverage those, rather than spending time learning Python syntax.

Finally, it's generally easier to tinker with an existing toolkit than to write a webapp from scratch. And, even if you really are better off writing your webapp from scratch, it pays to understand why you're doing that instead of building on top of a toolkit. Which in turn requires some experience with toolkits.

ordered by importance:

touch typing: 10 fingers + numbers

a decent editor: vim

html+css

jquery (i guess it's the lispiest framework)

server-side: lisp / scheme

unix command: piping, awk, grep, find, xargs (a 'mapping' equivalent)

gimp: script-fu (tiny-scheme) and imagemagick of course

os: openbsd (i find it easier -- altho more stern -- than linux)