HTML - Tutorials and Help - The Basics

HTML Goodies - Free HTML tutorials and help, images, color codes and more for the web developer. Featuring tutorials on HTML tags, programming, basics, JavaScript, frames, hex codes and more. Our weekly newsletter provides the latest information for developers. From newbie to pro, this site has just about everything you need to use HTML effectively, and then some.
W3C HTML Home Page - This is W3C's home page for the HTML Activity. Here you will find pointers to our specifications for HTML/XHTML, guidelines on how to use HTML/XHTML to the best effect, and pointers to related work at W3C.
NCSA- A Beginner's Guide to HTML - NCSA's original beginner's guide to creating and coding HTML. This is how I got my start. I followed their tutorial and in a couple of hours I had my first web page published.
Introduction to HTML - Another straighforward view at basic HTML documents.
Writing HTML - This easy tutorial goes through every HTML tag, explains things about it, and it makes you create a sample website.
HTMLHelp.com - Maintained by the Web Design Group to provide reference material, tips, and answers to frequently asked questions. The Web Authoring Reference includes the HTML 4.0 Reference, the HTML 3.2 Reference, and a guide to cascading style sheets. The site also offers an HTML validator and a good deal of information on design elements, including a handy list of RGB color codes. The FAQ includes general issues as well as a CGI programming FAQ.
The Bare Bones Guide to HTML - this award winning site has the basics - it lists every official HTML tag in common usage, plus Netscape and Microsoft extensions. Version 4.0 of the Guide is designed to conform to the HTML 4.0 specification. The guide is available to download in several formats (plain text, html and .zip) and 21 languages.
KillerSites.com - Web design articles, tips and tutorials. Creating sites with templates, free stock photography, info on domain registration, video courses on HTML.

Whether you are starting out or an experienced Pro I'll bet you can learn something from Wes Linda's post on 25 Things That Make Up A Quality Web Site. If I am wrong about that, I want to know you.

Look Before You Leap: Don't get started without having a look at what NOT to do. Check out the Top Ten Mistakes in Web Design and Web Pages That Suck. WPTS includes the The Biggest Web Design Mistakes of 2004, and a Daily Sucker feature. There are also links to tools for fixing your mistakes, including OptiViewQuickScan: a free 10-page site check for bloated and duplicate images that slow web page loading and a Browser Cam to check out how your site looks in a variety of browsers.

About.Com's Web Design/HTML page offers tools and articles on everything from basic HTML, a tag library, style sheets, javascripts, hosting to articles on promotion and meta-tags. A very comprehensive resource for beginning and advanced web designers.
Code Punk's Web Tutorials
Tutorials for HTML, Javascript, CSS and DHTML.
How do they do that with HTML?
Beginner's introduction to HTML.
Web.Blazonry: Web Development Stuff
Articles, tutorials, scripts for PHP, Perl Javascript and CSS.
Webmonkey
How-to articles on design, multimedia, e-business and programming. Includes a nice quick reference section with an html cheatsheat, a javascript library and among others, a wonderful browser chart which shows the features that are supported by different popular browsers.

HTML - Education

The HTML Writers Guild - Web design training and certification. The guild has provided online web design training to more than 45,000 individuals interested in web design and development since 1998. Courses cover a breadth of web work, from html to Flash; from Dreamweaver to Photoshop. Each online web class is taught by experts and working professionals in the field. You can sign up for a free trial membership and newsletter. Members get a discount on classes. There are also mail lists and discussion groups to put you in touch with others who can help.

Search Engines - Optimization and SEO Forums
Search Engine Watch
This is the place to start when you want to study search engine placement. A must have membership. There is lots of good, free information here and a valuable free newsletter, but if you are going to be professional, the members only area is a wealth of information.
Search Engine Marketing Forums
Discussion of search engine issues among SEO professionals.
SearchEngines.com
Easy to grasp introduction on search engine submission, optimization and promotion.

Want to Learn with the Best? This newer SEO Forum is a great place to get to know some pros at search engine optimization. It's a friendly place and a great way to learn, ask a question, or share your knowledge of search engines. Many forums of this quality require fee based membership. So far, this one's gratis!

Another great place for those who are new to SEO is DIY SEO, Where Do I Begin? from Jaan Kanellis' Search Marketing Blog. It covers topics such as internal navigation, linking, tracking, content structure and other considerations for the beginning SEO. The page has a nice collection of design and marketing resources, as well.

Optimization for Search Engines starts with keyword research. There are several tools available for keyword research: Trellian and WordTracker are probably the best known. Both offer free tools - and are a great place to start - but their paid versions are far more useful, and include more keyword phrases, and evaluation tools which assess the competiveness and effectiveness of a phrase. Digital Point also offers a Free Keyword Suggestion Tool. Personally, I have subscribed to both Trellian's Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker, and my money these days is on WT. I like it enough to have joined as an affiliate.

Directories and Other Linking Resources

Once upon a time reciprocal exchanges were the most popular approach to getting inbound links, but today reciprocal links don't have the power they once had. To obtain effective in bound links you have to develop link bait - content that inspires others to link to you. Another major source of quality inbound links is from directories. Most directories allow you to list only your domain, but one directory I like is all about deep links. Called, surprise, the Deep Link Directory, this human edited directory features only quality links.

SEO Training - I took an online class many years ago led by Robin Nobles. If any one person can be credited for where I am today in the field, it would be this woman. You hardly need the link to her site, as a search in Google for search engine training or SEO training finds her site at #2 as of this writing.

Photoshop - Graphic Design Software

There are other graphics programs but none are as powerful as Photoshop. Even if you only master the basics, you will find this program invaluable to your website development.

Basic Photoshop Help

When I learned Photoshop, I had to resort to books, and I don't find learning computer skills from printed matter to be an easy way to acquire new skills. About.com has made it easier for you with Adobe Photoshop Basics, a free online class taught by email. If I had to do it all over, this is where I'd start.

Advanced Photoshop Help

Photoshop Tips: Mastering Photoshop's Interface
If your Photoshop workspace suffers from palette clutter and window overload, it may be that you're not taking advantage of the many shortcuts and time-savers available to you. Here are some tips and tricks you can use to streamline Photoshop.
Photoshop How-to: Retouching with the Patch and Healing Brush Tools
For erasing wrinkles and fixing facial flaws, you don't need Botox or dermabrasion -- just Photoshop's Patch and Healing Brush tools. But don't think of these tools only as virtual plastic surgery. Ben Willmore shows how to retouch images with the Patch and Healing Brush tools.
Photoshop How-To: Combining Shapes
Using Photoshop's Custom Shape tool is a lot of fun, but the default shapes can get tired, fast. Here's how to combine two or more symbols into a new object.
Photoshop How-To: Eliminating Dark Under-Eye Circles
Why is it that the camera manages to capture every imperfection? If the subject of your latest photo looks like they stayed up too late the night before, it's time for a little Photoshop first aide. Here's a Photoshop retouching technique for curing the morning-after blues.
Design Tips: The Power of Logo
Before you redesign that logo, consider the ramifications. As "Before and After" editor John McWade explains, you don't have too look to far to find compelling examples of the power inherent in a logo, especially when it changes.
Photoshop How-to: Advanced Techniques with the Art History Brush
Photoshop's Art History Brush is a combination of the paintbrush, the smudge tool, and the watercolor filter. Use it to add color and texture to images. Here's how.