Web Tutorials/Reference Site?

[tonyh]

Hi all,

First off, I know that there a ton of sites out there containing tutorials, sample/free code and other web development/design references. The problem is finding one source, or at the very least only a handful. Yes I did do a search for this topic, I read through 75 threads with the keyword "w3schools," so I know this hasn't been answered. Unfortunately I know all too well that there simply may not be an answer....

Is there an equivalent of W3Schools (http://www.w3schools.com) for browsers that are not MicroSoft proprietary?

W3Schools is the site I learned HTML, JScript (as opposed to JavaScript) and ASP back when I started 3 years ago. I still believe that this is an incredible site and will continue to recommend it; however, one cannot but notice that this site seems to be designed for IE users only. I am aware of other highly recommended sites such as Netscape DevEdge (http://devedge.netscape.com/), Mozilla Web Developer (http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/), and W3 (http://www.w3.org/), but I find that neither of these are as organized or as easy to use as W3Schools.

My biggest complaint is W3.org, I haven't done a thorough search of this site, but I find it extremely difficult to find examples, especially those regarding cross-browser compatibility. Although I can read through specs and understand them with little difficulty, it doesn't help if they do not show how each recommendation is implemented in each browser and ultimately how to use each implementation in said browser.

As I said there may not be an answer to my question, but hopefully members here can give me some similar solutions.

Please and thank you.

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by tonyh
Hi all,

First off, I know that there a ton of sites out there containing tutorials, sample/free code and other web development/design references. The problem is finding one source, or at the very least only a handful. Yes I did do a search for this topic, I read through 75 threads with the keyword "w3schools," so I know this hasn't been answered. Unfortunately I know all too well that there simply may not be an answer....

Is there an equivalent of W3Schools (http://www.w3schools.com) for browsers that are not MicroSoft proprietary?

W3Schools is the site I learned HTML, JScript (as opposed to JavaScript) and ASP back when I started 3 years ago. I still believe that this is an incredible site and will continue to recommend it; however, one cannot but notice that this site seems to be designed for IE users only. I am aware of other highly recommended sites such as Netscape DevEdge (http://devedge.netscape.com/), Mozilla Web Developer (http://www.mozilla.org/docs/web-developer/), and W3 (http://www.w3.org/), but I find that neither of these are as organized or as easy to use as W3Schools.

My biggest complaint is W3.org, I haven't done a thorough search of this site, but I find it extremely difficult to find examples, especially those regarding cross-browser compatibility. Although I can read through specs and understand them with little difficulty, it doesn't help if they do not show how each recommendation is implemented in each browser and ultimately how to use each implementation in said browser.

As I said there may not be an answer to my question, but hopefully members here can give me some similar solutions.

Please and thank you. how do you figure. There are tons of ie specific scripts in the dhtml / java script sections, but there are tons of things that can be done with css that ie does not support on there in the css section instead of using java script. The css fixed attribute for example. I would not call w3 schools ie specific as a whole even though some of the scripts on there do infact only work on ie. Just my $0.02.

[tonyh]

Originally posted by PeOfEo
I would not call w3 schools ie specific as a whole even though some of the scripts on there do infact only work on ie. Just my $0.02.
And I didn't, I said "seems to," which is similar to saying "I would not call w3 schools ie specific as a whole."

Thanx for the reply nonetheless. I'm not trying to insult W3Schools, I think it's one of the best Web Authoring sites available. All I was requesting was if there were similar sites (other than those already mentioned) that are as detailed, yet simple and easy to use, available for browsers other than IE. Preferably one site that contains easy to use examples and explainations like W3Schools, but for all browsers.

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by tonyh
And I didn't, I said "seems to," which is similar to saying "I would not call w3 schools ie specific as a whole."

Thanx for the reply nonetheless. I'm not trying to insult W3Schools, I think it's one of the best Web Authoring sites available. All I was requesting was if there were similar sites (other than those already mentioned) that are as detailed, yet simple and easy to use, available for browsers other than IE. Preferably one site that contains easy to use examples and explainations like W3Schools, but for all browsers. sadly I do not think there are any that are going to have examples that always work on all browsers. Opera and IE read java script far differently then ns browsers, and ns and opera browsers read css differently from ie. You are always going to have some scripts that are platform specific. That is why you sometimes have to write a script three different ways for it to work on all platforms, and that is why one should not realy on client side scripting for important things like the navigation without leaving a backup. I wish I knew sites that had more universal code without too many ns or ie only codes. You could hunt around www.webdeveloper.com, that is a vast array of sites.

[tonyh]

Thanx again.

Originally posted by PeOfEo
You could hunt around www.webdeveloper.com, that is a vast array of sites.
That's why I'm here;).

I know that trying to find an "all in one shopping" site for learning cross-browser compatibility web design is impossible, as most sites just refer an editor like Dreamweaver, but one could hope. But I'm sure that I'm not the only one that prefers good ole Notepad, let alone can't afford proprietary software. And to be honest I haven't looked at open source editors either, but I'm not sure if I can trust them anymore than FrontPage.

And if there is one thing I don't like about the internet are pages that simply link to other pages. Suggesting Link Archive sites or equivalents doesn't really help someone (newbie for example) learn good web authoring.

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by tonyh
Thanx again.


That's why I'm here;).

I know that trying to find an "all in one shopping" site for learning cross-browser compatibility web design is impossible, as most sites just refer an editor like Dreamweaver, but one could hope. But I'm sure that I'm not the only one that prefers good ole Notepad, let alone can't afford proprietary software. And to be honest I haven't looked at open source editors either, but I'm not sure if I can trust them anymore than FrontPage.

And if there is one thing I don't like about the internet are pages that simply link to other pages. Suggesting Link Archive sites or equivalents doesn't really help someone (newbie for example) learn good web authoring. dreamweaver rocks. I use it, its css support is excelent, so is its support for things like asp, asp.net, php, cgi, cfm. Frontpage is horrible in my opion but I love dreamweaver. Notepad is not the way to go, use anything but notepad. www.htmlkit.com is a good free editor that has syntax hylighting and line numbers. Maybe you should take it for a test drive.

[tonyh]

Originally posted by PeOfEo
dreamweaver rocks. I use it, its css support is excelent, so is its support for things like asp, asp.net, php, cgi, cfm. Frontpage is horrible in my opion but I love dreamweaver. Notepad is not the way to go, use anything but notepad. www.htmlkit.com is a good free editor that has syntax hylighting and line numbers. Maybe you should take it for a test drive.
Unfortunately Dreamweaver costs money and since it is Macromedia it costs a lot of money. I'll keep htmlkit in mind.

I also thought this would be interesting to post from the W3Schools FAQ (http://www.w3schools.com/about/about_faq.asp) :

Why is the XML School Focused on Internet Explorer?

Some visitors have complained about this. We do it because it is the only practical way to demonstrate XML on the Web in your browser. Read more about it at XML browsers (http://www.w3schools.com/xml/xml_browsers.asp).
It would seem that everyone is throwing their eggs in with MicroSoft, despite the known faults of IE. And good web authoring shouldn't have to deal with hacks or tricks.

Just in case I've missed it, but is there already a thread somewhere providing reference/tutorial site? I don't want this thread to be a dupplicate of one that already exists. I would rather it be more akin to a "best of," which makes me incredibly hypocritical, but as the first post says "one source, or at the very least only a handful."

[spufi]

http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/

That's a really good site for having links on a number of things.

[Jeff Mott]

My biggest complaint is W3.org, I haven't done a thorough search of this site, but I find it extremely difficult to find examples, especially those regarding cross-browser compatibilityThis is because that is not what thte W3 is there for. They describe the *language*. What it does and how it works. They do not describe all software applications that happen to implement that language. This is where you will have to do a little bit of work for yourself.

You will need to have several versions of all major browsers installed on your computer. Write a page that follows the language specification, then test that page in each browser you have available. This way you can see for yourself what does and does not work in these browsers.

[tonyh]

Originally posted by Jeff Mott
You will need to have several versions of all major browsers installed on your computer. Write a page that follows the language specification, then test that page in each browser you have available. This way you can see for yourself what does and does not work in these browsers.
I am aware of this. What I, and nearly every other web author, is looking for is one online source to learn how to write a web page that will work in those browsers.

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by tonyh
I am aware of this. What I, and nearly every other web author, is looking for is one online source to learn how to write a web page that will work in those browsers. :D hacks, and getting the server variable user agent to make your scripts and css run differently for other browsers might be in order. It is hard to get scripts to run for everyone, thats why you leave yourself a backup plan and keep client side scripts for unimportant aesthetics.

[Paul Jr]

Originally posted by PeOfEo
getting the server variable user agent to make your scripts and css run differently for other browsers might be in order.
I thought the point of using CSS and standards-compliant code (SC JS) was to avoid having to do things like that...

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by Paul Jr
I thought the point of using CSS and standards-compliant code (SC JS) was to avoid having to do things like that... you make complient code, which is great, but who says the browser is complient? IE box model / tantecs hack is a prime example of how ie strays from the popular compliant box model.

[fredmv]

Originally posted by PeOfEo
IE box model / tantecs hack is a prime example of how ie strays from the popular compliant box model. I wholeheartedly agree that IE sucks bigtime; however, believe it or not, I believe IE6 and upwards implement the CSS box model correctly when given a strict DOCTYPE to kick it into (know your oxymorons) "standards-compliance mode".

[PeOfEo]

Originally posted by fredmv
I wholeheartedly agree that IE sucks bigtime; however, believe it or not, I believe IE6 and upwards implement the CSS box model correctly when given a strict DOCTYPE to kick it into (know your oxymorons) "standards-compliance mode". lol... well you still have ie5 to worrie about because it is still a major chunk of the internet. Its unbeleivable how different ie5 is from 6. It is a must to run 5 and 5.5 with 6. I am glad pyro showed me how to do that.