I'm being forced to learn PHP. Forced, I tells ya! I have no other choice. I have to do it or I will fail at the Internet. Oh, hell, to be honest I'm not sure what I'm learning. I've been re-working blog templates for the past few months and maybe I'm really just altering CSS stylesheets.

I was told the other day that my best HTML friend, the TABLE, is the anti-CSS. Whatever. All I know is that PHP, CSS, or whatever the hell code I'm playing with, I'll figure out just enough to make my blog look right. If I'm lucky, I'll have a coding epiphany and suddenly become a CSS/PHP master!

"It's positively sick how easy it is to find solid, free lessons to help you improve your webuilding skills. I'll take a brave step and declare that the HTML/CSS/PHP/XML tutorials on the net are as informative as any class in any real-life university."

Or not. If I do anything, I'll go read some tutorials. I'll eat of the fruit of geek knowledge and I shall become full. It's positively sick how easy it is to find solid, free lessons to help you improve your webuilding skills. I'll take a brave step and declare that the HTML/CSS/PHP/XML tutorials on the net are as informative as any class in any real-life university. Granted, I've never taken a programming language class but I've never felt the need. Everything I know, I learned on the Internet.

I realize I just admitted that I can't tell CSS from PHP and I sort of can't. I know that this damned Word Press software is written in PHP but that it uses stylesheets to control the look/layout of my pages and entries. I know to pretty much stay away from the PHP code because I am a goober. I know how to alter assorted CSS tags from my years of copy-pasting CSS into my old-school HTML head tags.

So far, with Word Press, I am able to change the header image, change background/container colors, I can edit the hell out of a sidebar and I am learning more each day. The reason I can accomplish this with a brain full of crackers, is because I have a lot of experience with the webpage gateway code, HTML. I learned HTML by reading online tutorials, that, and a whole bunch of suck.

The point is, the tide has turned. HTML is no longer king of code. There are too many programs and too many formats out there that require you to know something other than Hypertext Markup Language. And don't think your precious WYSIWYG editors will help you. The absolute rule on What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get software still stands: Learn code anyway.

The only way to fix a bad image, link or layout is by knowing how to edit the code by hand. When you work in PHP, write CSS or XML, you will need to have a basic understanding of them so you can fix any errors or edit on the fly. The awesome comes from the fact that there's no shortage of free lessons on the World Wide Web.

I've done a wee bit of scouring and come up with a list of thirteen tutorials site, especially for the inquisitive webmaster. While I have stressed in this article the importance of expanding one's page building repertoire past HTML, I have not left out some links for those of you that have yet to master the easiest language of all. I've broken the tutorial sites down by category: HTML, CSS, PHP and XML. I start off with the thirteenth site, a sort of tutorial kitchen sink that contains lessons on all the codes and languages mentioned here:

W3 Schools - You name it, they have it.
(http://www.w3schools.com)

HTML

WebMonkey - Quirky. Funky. My favorite Monkey.
(http://www.webmonkey.com)

HTML Goodies ­ Primer-Rama.
(http://www.htmlgoodies.com/primers/html/article.php/3478131)

We Developer ­ Beginner's Guide to HTML.
(http://webdeveloper.com/html/beginners_html.html)

CSS

UMD ­ CSS galore!
(http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/css.html)

No Resolution - Liquid CSS, Fluid pages.
(http://cssliquid.com/resources)

CSS Basic ­ CSS basics, duh.
(http://www.cssbasics.com)

PHP

PHP Manual ­ For reals. A manual!
(http://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php)

PHP Simple ­ The title says it all.
(http://www.phpsimple.net)

Martin Geisler ­ Very nice set of tutorials.
(http://mgeisler.net/php-tutorial)

XML

XML Zoo ­ Interactive lessons. Learn hands on.
(http://www.xmlzoo.net)

Web Developer ­ Great site overall, not just XML.
(http://wdvl.com/Authoring/Tutorials/xml.html)

Digital Web - I love you, J.D. Eisenberg.
(http://www.digital-web.com/articles/introduction_to_xml)

As an added bonus, I shall remind you to remember Cozy Academy. Academy is the free school for adult webmasters. Whenever you get stuck, our lessons are there to walk you every step of the way.

I know I am glad for the wonderful web with its bounty of digital book-learning. If you're as ready as I am to jump in and kick some knowledge, then hit those links, baby!