Finally, an affordable and high-quality online training web site that allows Web Developers to learn at their own pace

In the past, whenever I have done a search for online video tutorials, I’ve usually been disappointed by what I found. Microsoft has some pretty good free tutorials, but of course, that covers only Microsoft Technologies, and mostly Microsoft Office, or their software development products. On a number of occasions, I was more than willing to spend money for a web site with tutorials that were well-produced and offered an acceptable menu of topics. Amazingly, I cannot remember too many sites I found that matched this kind of search.

And then, I somehow stumbled across lynda.com.

While I cannot remember how I came across lynda.com, I do remember my reaction after browsing the site for about an hour: I was impressed. The tutorials on lynda.com are well-produced and cover an excellent range of software-related topics.  Unlike some other software-education-related web sites, there are few tutorials that I found to be more than a few years old, and there is a strong focus on providing updated versions of topics that detail the most recent version of a software application.

For front-end web developers, this site is a particularly helpful resource. They offer a solid range of topics from core concepts such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript, to more advanced areas like Photoshp and jQyuery. There is also plenty of back-end web-development technologies covered such as PHP, MySQL and ASP.NET.

Cost: At $37.50 per month, their “Monthly Premium Subscription” is worth its weight in gold. I do not think you can find a more reasonable price for this kind of content.

Recommended Lynda.com tutorials:

HTML

XHTML and HTML Essential Training

Web Accessibility Principles

CSS

CSS Fundamentals

CSS for Developers

JavaScript

JavaScript Essential Training (2011)

Practical and Effective JavaScript

jQuery

jQuery Essential Training

Create an Interactive Photo Gallery with jQuery and Dreamweaver

PHP / MySQL

PHP with MySQL Essential Training

Installing Apache, MySQL, and PHP

PHP with MySQL Beyond the Basics

WordPress

WordPress 3 Essential Training

WordPress 3: Developing Secure Sites

WordPress: Creating Custom Widgets and Plugins with PHP

ASP.NET

ASP.NET Essential Training

Visual Studio 2010 Essential Training

Summary

lynda.com is a web site that has well-produced video tutorials, covering an impressive range of software technologies. While a number of technology profiles are serviced (i.e. designers, coders, business analysts, etc..), both front-end web development and back-end web development technologies are covered well. With regards to the bottom line, the cost of their membership is very reasonable. I am a customer and cannot recommend this product enough. If you are looking to improve your skill set in a software-based technology, there is a good chance that the topic you are looking for is included. You can browse the site and sample all of the videos for free before signing up. This is a no-brainer; lynda.com is an excellent resource for self-managed software training.