I'm Dudley Storey, the author of Pro CSS3 Animation. This is my blog, where I talk about web design and development with HTML, CSS and SVG. To receive more information, including news, updates, and tips, you should follow me on Twitter or add me on Google+.

my books

Pro CSS3 Animation book coverPro CSS3 Animation, Apress, 2013

my other blogs

Massive Head CanonMassive Head Canon: Intelligent discussion of movies, books, games, and technology.

my projects

The New DefaultsThe New Defaults — A Sass color keyword system for designers.

CSSslidyCSSslidy — an auto-generated #RWD image slider. 3.8K of JS, no JQuery.

Reading List: Web Development Tools

Goal: Setup an operating system and basic editor for writing HTML & CSS; install and explore web development browser extensions. Advanced learners...

Photograph of tools on a bench

Goal: Setup an operating system and basic editor for writing HTML & CSS; install and explore web development browser extensions. Advanced learners have the opportunity to install tools to enhance their web development workflow.

Prerequisites: Introduction to Web Development

Required skills: Basic computer literacy (Windows or OS X)

Total time (core material): 30 minutes

Core Material

Setup your operating system and its associated built-in text editor:

Optional: read about code fonts and choose one to use in your text editor.

Setup one of the following browsers as your primary web development testing environment:

  1. Chrome
  2. Safari

Optional, but strongly recommended: Learn Essential Browser Keyboard Shortcuts. Advanced learners may choose to setup one of the following as their editor:

  1. DreamWeaver

You will also need to set up an image editor; the most popular in the industry are part of the Adobe Suite:

Advanced learners may also want to choose tools to speed up their development process:

  1. Emmet
  2. LiveReload

Supplementary Material

Watch the fourth film in Jessica Hische and Russ Maschmeyer’s “Don’t Fear The Internet” series: Don’t Fear The Browser. (Total time: 4 minutes)

Watch Introduction to Text Editors at the Treehouse site (Total time: 6 minutes. Note that watching the full video will require a Treehouse membership).

Recommended Reading

Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics (2012) - read the end of Part I, Chapter 1: What To I Need To Buy, Hardware, and Software. Optionally, take the quiz at the end of the chapter.

Read HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites Creating a Web Page On A PC and Mac (pages 29 - 32).

When You're Done

Once you’re finished setting up your tools and have learnt a little bit about them, you’re ready to start writing HTML, which comes in the next section.

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