Newbie here. Needs help about where to start.

[herkfsu]

I have an idea for a web site and would like to build one. I know nothing about HTML, PHP etc, but am willing to read and learn as I go. I want the web site to have users and I want the users to be able to participate in a market(like a stock market) together. So I would need to store user individual data, market data, and transfer data(when something is bought or sold). Is there any particular code(s) I will need to learn for this type of function? Thanks for any help.

EDIT: I hope this is the correct forum. If not, mods please move it. Thanks.

HTML or XHTML
CSS
Probably Javascript and Ajax techniques
Dealing with XML data (probably)
Server-side programming with something like php or asp
DB data e.g. MySQL or SQL Server

[herkfsu]

Seems like a lot for 1 web site and 1 basic function. Do you have any books you would suggest? Thanks.

[chrishea]

It would be a faster path, if you could find an open source system that does at least part of what you want to do. Then your work would be limited to configuring and modifying rather than building from scratch. I had a look and there are lots of systems but very few are simulators and I didn't see one written in PHP.

What you are thinking of building is a system not a normal web site. Simulators can be quite complex so it depends how basic a system you are aiming for. If you expect to have users, then I would guess that their expectation would be something more than basic or they won't be using it for very long. There are some pretty good free simulators (such as Investopedia) already available. Yours sounds more like a game with a group that play against each other (sort of like Monopoly).

From your own initial description, you identified a number of functions that would be needed so I don't understand your comment about 1 basic function. Unless you are aiming for something pretty crude (that no one would want to use?) I think you may be seriously underestimating what it will take to produce a good system around this concept. You could probably produce something that is acceptable (but not too flashy) with just PHP. MySQL and HTML. If you want to go beyond "acceptable" then you will need to get into CSS, Javascript / JQuery and so forth (as per Ardav's list).

This isn't the logical place to start if you are just learning but if you are bound and determined to try, then good luck. There are lots of tutorials available on the internet. Have a look at W3Schools as a starting point.

[herkfsu]

Seems like a lot. Is there a place on this site where I can post projects? I wouldn't mind paying someone if they helped make the site, and walked me through general parts so I could run the site. Thanks.

[herkfsu]

And if someone wants the job please PM me. It will just be a couple of hours a few or more days a week. Thanks

[chrishea]

You'll find a "looking to Hire" and "Project Partners Wanted" sections under the Business Exchange menu item.