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
CSS
JavaScript
JavaScript Essential Training (2011)
Practical and Effective JavaScript
jQuery
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
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.
