Right now, I am attempting to learn some PHP, Javascript (Scriptaculous libraries), and of course how these integrate with mySQL.
The problem I find is that for every task you think of setting yourself in order to learn something new, someone has already made – and usually packaged – a solution. And so it becomes easy to use the off-the-peg solution rather than implement one’s own. Why re-invent the wheel huh?
And so it is dawning on me that if your goal is to be able to create a robust, functional website, it’s really more a question of how to integrate the existing technologies towards your own end.
For example, a WordPress blog is really a ready made website, so why not start with that? But then there’s a problem using PHP code within your pages: you can’t. Naturally there is a solution. I used a plugin freely available, Bluesome Exec-PHP. The link is to its install page.
I’m now playing with Scriptaculous (Javascript library) in order to create my own Ajax to database enabled widget.