PHP Books & CSS

[Slogan]

Hello, I've finally decided to 'step away' from the Dreamweaver and go in search of something a little more exciting and impressive on the eye than bog-standard HTML.

I understand there are many good websites out there that would possibly cater for my needs, however, I'm someone who would probably benefit more so from a book - somehow everything on my computer becomes more interesting when reading an online guide to any sort of coding.

I'm decently designed minded - but trying to fit any sort of a design into HTML is a bit like trying to fit square pegs into round holes - to use the classic expression.

I'm sort of edging towards php and as I plan to add a news based website onto my forum - it would probably need to be databased. Thankfully I picked up: "Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL"

However, are there any books that would help me begin my quest with PHP?

Secondly, would CSS be worth looking into? I doubt I would want to take this (coding/design) path in terms of a career - but I'd like to be able to make professional-ish sites and put the cringeworthy HTML rubbish firmly behind me - even though I know it'll require a good bit of effort and hard work.

Thanks.

 

[Slogan]

Thanks for the replies - contacted my host and their said : "Yes, it runs as a fast cgi"

And the details on how to enable it are very simple as well.

Think I will go for the Larry Ullman book that Chaos suggested - going solely on reviews it seems to be the ticket.

Sic, I was aware of that - I just meant to put the DW history of coding everything in DW behind me - and move on a bit.