So, I’d love to start my own small Internet blog, and I want to make it without any extra software, just plain HTML+CSS, maybe some PHP for convenience.
I have near-zero experience in programming (yes I know HTML is not programming language, but you get the point), and I just finished a wonderful starting guide, HTML For People. I loved it a lot, but it only covers the absolute basics, and I’d love to have a deeper dive.
Are there any HTML, CSS, PHP guides that are free, text-based (so, not YouTube videos), and give more than the very basics? Would love to hear your recommendations!
Honestly, just start building. You don’t need full tutorial to learn how to write code. Read other code, write your own, and if you get stuck, ask LLMs(honestly the best use of LLMs).
That being said, even a simple blog requires considerable amount of thoughts. It will take long, definitely longer than you want it to be, but it will be worth it.
I also advise you to start with Python, not PHP.
For now I feel like Python is just way overkill for a small personal blog that is mostly static anyway, I just want things like self-updating menus and stuff to have a little less maintenance burden going forward. But maybe I’ll reconsider as I go. In any case, my Python skills are very basic, and, applied to web development - just non-existent. It will take a while indeed.
I will probably end up reviewing what others have made, but for now I tried it and I feel it a bit overwhelming. I’d rather figure out documented use of all these elements and then read through it with good basic knowledge on my hands.
If it’s about having a blog up and running and less about learning how to code, go for static site generators like Hugo. You can use existing themes or use your HTML/CSS skill to make it completely yours. I’m sure you don’t need PHP or any other backend at all.
Thanks for the recommendation!
It’s a bit of both. For now, the goal is to be able to create and maintain a decently looking blog without depending on any external tools, completely manually. Then, as I get comfortable managing things manually and make sure I can always fix what’s broken with nothing but a text editor, I may look into various helper options. Essentially, I just don’t want to be caught in a situation when some tools are down and I can’t do anything without them.
I’d also like to learn HTML+CSS+PHP combo, because some of the things I want to self-host make extensive use of that and I’d like to understand their inner workings to service them reliably.
That said, I’ll keep your Python advice in mind!
MDN has a really good tutorial: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Core
I also want to throw in that a “static site generator” would probably be up your alley.
It is additional software, but it just gives you HTML+CSS in the end, so you can still upload to NeoCities or the like. It would effectively replace PHP for your use-case.Knowing some HTML and CSS, and the rest of what you learned in that tutorial, is still helpful, as you may want to customize your template, but for the most part you can just write your blog posts in Markdown and it’ll generate the HTML with navigation links for you.
Of course, a static site generator is still an additional layer of complexity. For learning how HTML and such work, it’s definitely valid to plug everything together yourself. 🙂
Oh, nice! I knew a bit about MDN, but didn’t know they actually provide a course. Thanks!
Yeah, the plan for now is to learn how it all works, and do it fully manually. Maybe then I’ll get scared of the complexity of what I want to do and will end up using a generator for the final thing, but for now, my goal and idea is to not rely on anything aside from the basic building blocks of the Internet. It’s both a way to study and kind of a digital independence thing. I want to make sure that, regardless of what tools can go down, I’ll still be able to keep it going as usual and skilled enough to modify it as needed. I want something that will work and adapt to my (fairly basic) needs pretty much forever.
That’s a good question. I think w3 schools or something had a step by step awhile back that was free. Idk if it still is. Personally I just found NeoCities and I’ve been building a site there by just searching everything I wanted to do and starting with a template and changing things to see what it does.
w3 still seems to provide the course, but the amount of their “legitimate interest” ad partners scared me off. Maybe I’ll still look into it later.
Doesn’t surprise me. Everything is enschittified these days.
Back in the day, “SelfHTML” was the gold standard. Don’t know if it’s still maintained.
Currently only see it in German, sadly
Any problems with that?
Yes, I don’t speak German much and don’t want to rely on auto translate
Try Deepl for autotranslate if all you knew so far was Google translate or similar. They are playing in a completely different league with regards to translation quality.
I do sometimes use DeepL in my professional duties, I just don’t trust it enough to translate my study material. Maybe I’m wrong about it and should give it a try, but I’d rather have it in a language I myself am comfortable with, whenever possible.
not being facetious, but check your local library; anna’s too, if the selection is sparse
edit: also, something that helped me understand the foundations/mechanics of html/php/css was taking
free bootstrap themes, reading the source code, and then trying to rebuild them using my own codeFair enough, time to dig up some books! Any particular recommendations?
it’s been a long while since i’ve messed around with any of it seriously, so forgive me for being outdated 😅 but i remember enjoying the stucture of the
for Dummiesbooksas for themes, i remember buying a few from creative-tim.com for various projects after dissecting their free ones
Thanks! For Dummies guides are pretty amazing, didn’t know they had one about HTML+CSS :)
Will also look into themes! Currently looking into html5up.net as my inspiration, but kinda want to make my own in the end.
