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I want to be a good UI Developer.

I'm confused whether I should learn (I need some serious suggestions):

1) HTML + CSS + JavaScript or HTML5 + CSS3 + JavaScript or HTML5 + CSS3 + jQuery

2) Is it required to learn CSS first before learning CSS3 ???

3) If the above technologies needs to be prioritize then what would be the order?

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3 Answers

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You can narrow your range a bit by realizing HTML5 is HTML, and jQuery is a library written in JavaScript. The same regarding CSS.

Now to be on top of things you need to learn the basics very well, and be aware of the differences between the versions of each standard. This will guide you in knowing when you want to go with full HTML5 and CSS3 and when you may want to maintain compatibillity with older versions. Do you need to support older browsers? Do you really need the features of the newer standard? There's no fixed answer to any of these issues, and the answers may be different from project to project.

Specifically on JavaScript vs jQuery, I would go for learning the basics first. If you know JavaScript, you will have no problems understanding jQuery as well. Further you will better be able to appreciate the nice stuff that it does for you, and you will be able to determine when to use it and when not to.

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I started in the same place you did about a year ago. If you want to call UI your specialty you should learn all of those HTML5 / CSS3 / JavaScript / jQuery to the best of your abilities.

It makes the most sense to go from HTML to CSS to Javascript to jQuery although I know some brilliant people who have gone from things like C++ to javaScript and then to HTML and CSS.

The best thing to do is to pick up some books and really dive in, learn the basics of all three so you can wade through how to attack each subject in depth. After you get your feet wet in understanding how all of those technologies relate to each other, you can figure out the best way to learn. I was able to pick up jQuery for example incredibly fast because I already had a strong background in CSS and selectors made a lot more sense to me.

Good luck!

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up vote 0 down vote

I disagree on the "pick up some books" as suggested in another response. There is a lot of information on the web that is free, and no worse than the books you would pay for and that would be outdated within a year.

http://www.w3schools.com/ gets a lot of complaints in this forum and others, but personally I find them to be a really good introduction to all of the concepts that you mention.

To answer your specific questions:

  1. This depends on your goal, but as your question stands: You need to know at least the basics of JavaScript to have any use for jQuery (I use both depending on what I want to accomplish). I have personally never even looked at HTML5 since I know that everything that I do have to work on older web browsers. And CSS is pretty much a necessity if you are coding at the level that your question suggests. Personally, I do not even know what CSS level I use. I just use the individual functions that I need to, and when I find that something does not work on my target web browsers, I find a way to work around it.
  2. No.
  3. I suppose that if you really want to prioritize them, you already have it right in your list. That is not how I see it though. They are all connected, and you should find an online tutorial that understand that and teach you how to work them together. I am sorry to say that I do not have a link for you, since I passed that stage before I realized that this was what I should have looked for :-)
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