Web Development Short Course -

suburbansam wrote:

To be honest, if you don't have a basic web background PHP will not be an easy ride. For one thing, PHP is hung off HTML so without a basic understanding of that, you'll be lost. PHP scripts live on the server so setting up an environment to learn PHP involves setting up some kind of server to host your files. You can do this on your local machine but it can be daunting to even get started if you've no experience of that. if you find even reading a page like
http://php.net/manual/en/tutorial.requirements.php
confusing, PHP is not for you... yet.

What you are seeking will take many months, if not years of hard work. I think you may find what you want online rather than something offered as a more traditional classroom course.

Try codecademy or sites similar to that. Being a graphic designer, you will find  JavaScript/HTML/CSS and javascript libraries like JQuery and Green Sock for animation very useful for making your graphics come to life.

In addition, I recommend you also join a site like stackoverflow where you'll find answers to all the questions you can ever imagine about web development.

Generally, you offer some good comments  I'd remark though that setting up a PHP development environment can be greatly simplified by using packages like XAMPP or WAMP, though it deprives one of the understanding of how they really work.  Though you are right, without basic computer science fundamentals, learning a programming language (any of them) and becoming a proficient web developer can be quite confusing and frustrating.

Other useful resources for someone wanting to start in web development are lynda.com video courses, w3schools.com and tutorialspoint.  I would not recommend paying for, nor hoping to become proficient from any paid "short courses".   It indeed does take quite a while to learn enough to deliver a quality product.

If the OP really wants to learn the craft well, there are no shortcuts   If the OP has a project that needs to be constructed in the near term, it might be best to hand it off to a trusted and qualified web developer. They can also play with amateurish site builders like Wix, which I would not recommend, as they are almost always severely limited.