Other than Open Source Catholic and Catholic Tech Tips, there aren’t many Catholic sites out there where you can learn new skills on the web. Of course, there are tons of sites where you can learn apologetics, philosophy, and theology, but anything else is pretty much non-existent. So being the shrewd servant that I am, I am going to give you a series of articles that will give you the tools necessary to learn some cool new skills so you can then create a Catholic blog to teach others your mad skills.
Probably the most popular design and web development blog out there, Smashing Magazine has some amazing tutorials and content. If you don’t really care to learn HTML or CSS, but want to learn how to make things look pretty, this is the place to go.
Very similar to Smashing Magazine, InstantShift has everything from inspiring design, to Wordpress hacks, to typography. If you are looking for resources or inspiration, this is the place to go. It doesn’t have much in the way of tutorials, but what it lacks in step-by-step teaching it makes up in beauty.
Screencasts, screencasts, screencasts! CSS-Tricks has the best web development screencasts EVER! Seriously, they are probably the easiest way to learn the structure of web design and development.
If you want to learn a whole mess of stuff (Photoshop, PHP, etc.), then check out TutsPlus. TutsPlus is a mashup of various web and design tutorials. It’s a great resource, but can be a bit overwhelming if you are a newbie.
Want to learn the basics? W3Schools is where you can study everything that you ever wanted about web development (not design). They have the most widely used coding tutorials ever, with a multitude of different languages and techniques. They even have certification courses.
Do you have any web development tutorial sites that you recommended?
Well… something interesting happened last week that took me a while to process. If you have been following my blog for a while, you’d know that I had been trying to convince my pastor that he needed a new Church website. Well, for a while it looked like I was going to get my wish and be able to tithe my time to the Church and build a cheap and killer web community for them. However, last week I got a call from my pastor that changed everything. In a nutshell, I was denied the web development opportunity that I desired. I was a little hurt and sad, but thanks be to God, he made what seemed to be a defeat into an even greater victory. How is that? Well, you’ll have to watch the video to find out! Read the full story
Thank you to everyone that participated in the search to find the top 5 Catholic web apps that are currently available out there on the interwebs. Although there is a lot of growing that needs to be done in the Catholic web development community, you all had some great suggestions! Now, without further delay, and much ado, here are the top 5 Catholic web apps!Read the full story
As you could probably guess, this is a follow up post to Saving a Church Website, Part 1. Now, although the website that I was aiming to rescue has not been totally saved yet, the reason for the post is that a milestone was hit today. I won’t spoil the surprise, you will have to watch the video to find out what happened, but I can assure you that it was a good day today. I am going to stop now, and let you watch, but I really hope that one thing stands out in the video – even a little bit of your time goes a long way!Read the full story
Hey guys! I love the web (if you haven’t noticed), and it’s only getting better and better every day. But I can’t keep track of everything. That’s why I need your help to find out which Catholic web applications out there are the best of the best. I have already listed a few in the side bar of my blog (i.e. flockNote, 4Marks, CatholicNewsLive etc.), but I am sure that there are many more out there that are just dying to be found. Read the full story
Makeuseof.com has a great article that displays some of the latest and greatest tutorials about Wordpress. If you don’t know what Wordpress is, it is basically only the best blogging platform out on the Interwebs. If you are a blogger and are not using a self-hosted Wordpress blog, you are seriously missing out. There is so much packed into this absolutely free piece of blogging software, it is crazy! Read the full story
The web is full of tools out there that claim to help you to be more productive, and for the most part they are right. The problem is that with all of these applications, it is very easy for all of your tasks, events, and documents to become fragmented. It’s hard to resist the urge to try out the latest and greatest web app out there (yes guys, I am looking in your direction) just for the sake of trying it out. Therefore, I thought that I’d give my picks for the top productivity focused web applications of 2009. These are all apps that I use on a daily basis, and you would find me in a fetal position off in the corner if I were ever left without them. I assure you that these are not original or spectacular, but they’ve allowed me to get things done.
The best part about having a Wordpress blog is having access to some of the top plugins found on any platform. The only problem is that because there are thousands of plugins to choose from, it’s hard to find the best ones. Well, now your search is over, here are 26 of the best plugins that Wordpress has to offer – and I use them all on my blog! Read the full story
It amazes me how an institution like the Catholic Church, which dominated art in the west for over 1500 years, seems to be content with websites that look as though they were created for a third grade science project. I apologize for any hurt feelings, but it’s the truth. That being the case, I have taken the liberty of giving some ideas on how to remedy the situation in the most cost-effective way possible. Get ready for the tools to help your parish have an extreme website makeover. Read the full story
Other than Open Source Catholic and Catholic Tech Tips, there aren’t many Catholic sites out there where you can learn new skills on the web. Of course, there are tons of sites where you can learn apologetics, philosophy, and theology, but anything else is pretty much non-existent. So being the shrewd servant that I am, I am going to give you a series of articles that will give you the tools necessary to learn some cool new skills so you can then create a Catholic blog to teach others your mad skills.
