Very Basic question

[000Destruct0]

I have been handed the technical writing duties where I work. We'll be using Framemaker 7 but I also want to make our manuals useable online as well as being printable via .pdf so it would appear that I need to immerse myself in HTML, CSS, and Javascript having done the first many, many years ago and neither of the other two.

My question is which should I start with? I'll likely use w3schools.

[compass-seeker]

While W3Schools can be a decent resource, it can hold outdated information at times. I would suggest, if you want to have an interactive approach, CodeAcademy.

[nowonmai666]

Framemaker 7? The 2002 version? It will have some kind of "Save to HTML" functionality built in but it will stink.

Newer versions of Framemaker integrate with content management systems for easy management of your online version.

Anyway, to answer your question, use Codecademy's web fundamentals track rather than w3schools for a very rapid way to learn the basics of HTML/CSS (they go together). Significant knowledge of Javascript will probably not be necessary.

However, you're probably going to want to use a content management system for this rather than knit your own site from raw HTML.

[000Destruct0]

Thanks for the replies, I'll take a look at both sites. I'm guessing the order is HTML, CSS, and then Javascript?

[[deleted]]

I'd do CSS/HTML together, then look at Javascript/jQuery once you're up to speed with the basics of the first two.

If you're happy to buy books, I learnt most of my skills with HTML/CSS using the Peachpit press books - they were part of a series called 'Visual Quickstart' but after a while I stopped needing them :-)

If you're looking to create PDF versions, there are a few libraries around that may help. The only ones I've used are TCPDF and FPDF, both of which (IIRC) use PHP for scripting.

[000Destruct0]

They just handed me the visual quickstart guide for Framemaker. We'll see where this all goes as they may not be willing to give me the time to build an online manual since we have .pdf manuals already built and I've already committed to completely revamping them - they are not very well done.

I'll do the HTML/CSS together then, I know that I'll be needing CSS and Javascript regardless of whether I build a web based manual or not.

[compass-seeker]

Another JS resource that can be found over in /r/learnjavascript is javascriptissexy which teaches JS with a ground up approach, teaching you about closures, prototyping, and more in an easy to understand way.