catching up with web 2.0

[sirmortimer]

hi all,
I come from a print background and I realized that I can't go any further with inks and have to get into some web stuff. I know basics of html, flash and css from the college and have a decent sense of aesthetics learned in print. However , I haven't done a website since college. I was wandering what should I get into in order to get back on track. I want to start with bulding a nice web 2.0 portfolio site. So far I am considering

Flash/Actionscript combination (because it's flashy)
Adobe Flex (because I believe in Adobe)
AJAX (but for that I understand I'd have to learn XML and java)

What would you suggest? What languages? what software?

Thanks!

[gonefishing]

I'm may not be the best person to advise you, but I'll do my best at giving you some help.

Flash / Actionscript - I try and avoid that stuff like the plague, but I understand that it's a great tool for web graphics designers - so sure, you might like to take a look at that. It can't do any harm atleast.

Adobe Flex - can't really comment on it.

AJAX is really a combination of web technologies to develop RIA (Rich Internet Applications). Now, learning JavaScript and XML are good things to do. JavaScript is what I'm currently learning, and I find it's a great beginners programming language before moving on to bigger things.

However, the way I look it your a graphics designer who basically wants to get into web graphics. Now, really, apart from knowing some HTML and CSS, along with your graphics side of the stage (Photoshop and other image editing suites, Flash, etc) there's not much to know. You won't be expected to compile and build the website.

However, if I've misunderstood you - and you want to get into full scale web development, then you should really learn the following languages:

JavaScript
XML
PHP
MySQL
Java (handy - but being replaced by flash mainly, so I understand it)

Software is really up to your preferences. Some web developers swear by good quality WYSIWYG editors like Dreamweaver. Others on the other hand - don't. Only, in my personal opinion, does DW CS3 actually produce clean, efficient code most of the time. And, I'm not going to spend that much money when I could do it myself with just notepad - so I don't. I hand code and program everything. You, however, may prefer a WYSIWYG editor - and in that case I'd recommend Adobe Dreamweaver CS3.

Hope that has given you a starting point. I'm sure many of the other members will be to expand on what I've said in much greater detail and provide you with better, more direct advice.

Best regards,
gf.