Years ago I decided I wanted to create a webpage. I had no idea how to go about it. Being the computer-dependent person I am (as a result of years of living with a software designer – we had computers long before they became common), I went to the Internet. I was looking for a class or a reference for a good learning tool. That’s how I found W3Schools, a veritable gold mine. A free gold mine. And meant to stay free.
The mission of W3Schools: “Our mission is to develop well-organized and easy-to-understand online tutorials based on the W3C Web standards.”
W3Schools is perfect for my style of learning. I learned HTML, CSS and am now playing around with learning PHP. Actually, I think it is perfect for anyone’s style of learning. You just need to be able to read. (And you wouldn’t be here if you couldn’t read, would you? 
) The lessons are arranged in short sections, with examples and plenty of opportunities to “try it yourself”. For this learn-by-doing person, that is perfect. I can read a little, experiment a little and go back to reading. Each time I use a little nugget of information in an activity, it makes it that much more mine and prepares me for the next nugget.
I’m told there are people who learn best by gathering all the info before starting to try to use it. (I’m not sure I believe that. Do you really exist? LOL) Those learners can read through the lessons and easily skip the examples and they can read through the reference pages that list every code, every little bit of information. If they need examples and activities to help solidify and use that information, they have a couple of options. They can go back through each lesson, spending time doing any activities necessary or they can go to the W3Schools homepage and find links to those same examples. (That is also the place to find all the links to reference pages for all the codes.)
Not every writer will want to learn web development, but for those who do, W3Schools is a fantastic option. Like I said, a gold mine. Every time I go to this site to browse, I discover new info. Just this time, when I went to get links for this post, I discovered a lesson on how to create an icon to show up next in the browser address window. I also discovered a link about web hosting. I’ve not yet investigated either, but when I do, I’ll let you know what I find!
Related Articles
4 users responded in this post
I exist, Stephanie! I have to know as much as possible before I can proceed.
Stephanie, great resource, I’ll have to check it out.
Ok, Shonna, I’ll take your word that you exist. LOL My hubby is one of those learners, too. He SAYS he needs to do something with the info before he really learns it, but what he really means is he has to go back to the get advanced info so he can be an expert (his goal in everything). I, however, have to actually do something in order to retain the info (although it does help to have a general overview in the beginning).
I’m a web developer by trade and W3Schools is great resource! I can always count on finding what I need there. Another option for those who don’t want to learn all that but still want a website is to use WordPress, like you’ve done here. You can create an entire website for yourself without learning a single code, it’s easy to update and make changes, and it looks great!
Leave A Reply