Have you ever wondered if your skills are in demand? With so many different possibilities available for web development, it is tough to know if you should keep mastering a specific technology or start learning a new one. After reading an article about how PHP programming jobs are in high demand, I asked myself the follow-up question: what other skills do I have that are in high demand, and which skills do I have that are not?

The article linked to a great resource from oDesk that lists the current (monthly) trends for many of the development and design skills used for web development. There are 84 different trends with a wealth of useful information about the skill's demand including graphs, stats, and recent job postings. Although these stats are pulled from information specifically on oDesk, it represents demand from all around the world. I have listed links to some of the most in-demand skills right now.

• CSS
• Drupal
• FreeBSD
• Flash
• PHP
• Photoshop
• MySQL
• XML
• JavaScript
• Ajax

As a side note, this site is a fantastic example of how great the Google Chart API is.

Sams Teach Yourself books are great resources in a large array of topics. They have released Sams Teach Yourself Ajax, JavaScript, and PHP All in One in paperback version on July 12, 2008. This book is great for webmasters because it includes three of the most popular technologies used on the web.

Like all the rest of the "Sams Teach Yourself" line of books, this one is easy to follow, easy to understand, and takes you from a beginner to an intermediate and beyond. There are a number of visual aids including screenshots and diagrams to help you understand what you have read. Another great help is the amount of code examples used throughout the book; there are examples for most of the topics covered.

The book starts with a general overview at the beginning and works towards a more detailed explanation at the end. In chapter one, you will learn the basics of the web, HTML, CSS, and Ajax. By the end of chapter nine, you will understand JavaScript, using it to manipulate the DOM and add usability to your site. By chapter thirteen you will be using Ajax and by the end of chapter eighteen, you will be using Object Oriented PHP to make your site dynamic. Once you have taken all of that in, you can learn about XML responses, web services (REST and SOAP), and gain a basic understanding about a few popular Ajax tools and libraries that are available.

An added feature with this book is beyond the pages of helpful information. There is a CD provided with the book that includes all of the software needed to get a basic web server up and running. It includes XAMPP, jEdit, Prototype, Scriptaculous, Rico, XOAD, searchable PDF tutorials, and source code for the examples in the book. Most of these are freely available for download on the web, but it is nice to have them all in one place, especially for a beginner that doesn't know what to look for.

This book is well worth your time to read, especially if you are a beginner looking to get not only introduced to these web technologies, but also get started using them. You can pick up your copy at Amazon.com and get started building dynamic websites using Ajax, JavaScript, and PHP.

The Lightbox Clones Matrix lets you easily compare different lightbox clones in a table format. The table, or matrix, lists many of the features for each of the options and compares them side by side. Using jQuery to create the sortable table, the comparison matrix is very fast and easy to use. There are comparisons for 46 lightbox clones comparing seven different features. You have the ability to sort and/or filter by each of the seven features as well as the library type.

The filters include jQuery, Prototype, Mootools, YUI, "Can display images", "Can group images into sets", "Can display inline elements", "Can display iframes", "Can fetch content via Ajax", "Can display Flash", and "Can display various Video objects". There are icons to help you visualize the different features and easily sift through them.

Be sure to check it out or read more about it from the creator.

dhtmlxGrid is an open source (GPL) "spreadsheet" using Ajax to create DHTML tables that look amazing and function beautifully. dhtmlxGrid can bind data from many different types of data sources, including XML, CSV, JavaScript arrays, and HTML Tables. Large datasets are no problem either. The data is called using Ajax to load only the data that is visible. This allows for very large datasets (50,000+ records) to be loaded easily without slowing the page load time. The grid is available for IE 5.0 and above, Firefox 0.9 and and above, Safari 2.0 and above, and Opera 9.0 and above. DHTMLX boasts many big name customers including FedEx, HP, Oracle, IBM, Texas Instruments, and many more.

The best way to see why dhtmlxGrid is so great is to see it, so here is an example.

Now that you have seen it, you may be wondering what some of the specifics are. I have listed many of the great features here, but there are a lot more so be sure to check out their website for all of the features.

Features

• Easy installation and usage
• Smart Rendersing (Loading large datasets)
• Search, filter, sort, and group
• Drag-and-Drop
• Load data from multiple sources
• Edit cells within the grid
• Math formulas in cells
• Keyboard shortcuts
• Skinning through CSS
• Multiline headers and footers

Some features are not available in the open source version and requires buying the professional edition. You can download your copy of dhtmlxGrid 1.6 and view the documentation from DHTMLX's website.

PHP Magazine

PHP Magazine is an online magazine in the form of a blog. There are posts that range many different categories, mainly PHP, but others from within their network of sites. There is information from software and book reviews to articles and tutorials.

Ajax Magazine

Ajax Magazine is another online magazine in the form of a blog from the publishers of PHP Magazine. The Ajax version focuses mainly on Ajax technologies and offers news, articles, and reviews to name a few.

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is one of the best sites on the web (also an online magazine in the form of a blog). They have amazing "round-ups" and posts bringing together the best sites, services, and resources on the web. They focus a lot on web 2.0 technologies and provide great content for both designers and developers.

Design Mag

Design Mag offers news, articles, galleries, interviews and more. The website is in the form of a blog and is updated very frequently. They have great resources and devote a section to freelance information. This is often a common thread between webmasters/designers/developers. They are the home of the 200+ Resources for Freelance Web Designers article.

Website Magazine

Website Magazine offers their magazine both in print and online. However, the only way you can see the online version is if you subscribe to the print version. The good news: it's free! The website has forums, articles, and blogs full of content. The magazine contains a lot of useful information in typical article format, usually offering one focus article with many other shorter articles throughout.

Digital Web Magazine

Digital Web Magazine offers news, articles, reviews, interviews, and tutorials. News is updated daily and main articles are updated on a weekly basis and are well worth the wait. The content is very useful and very thorough. They also report on upcoming events around the world.

SD Times

SD Times reports on content related to programmers and developers. In both a print version and online, SD Times has over 60,000 subscribers. They report on recent news and stories, write columns and opinions, as well as providing a job board and resource center. This publication reads more as a newspaper than a magazine.

Dr. Dobb's Journal

Dr. Dobb's Journal is another publication both in print and online. They offer information from a variety of different programming and development topics. Some topics include databases, open source, security, web development, and specific programming languages like C/C++ and Java. They also have a resource center and a blog full of information as well.

Developer.* Magazine

Developer.* offers articles, blogs, and book reviews for all things development and programming. There articles are broken down by categories ranging from software design and quality to legal issues and techniques. The articles are well written, the information is great, and the information is very thorough.

.Net Magazine

.Net Magazine is both in print and online. They offer articles to help developer, discover, and design. They also have podcasts and forums filled with content. They cover topics ranging from flash to CSS to Facebook.

LightWindow is a JavaScript framework based on Prototype and Scriptaculous. If you aren't familiar with these two amazing resources, it is definitely worth your time to become familiar with them. They are two of the most useful resources available for Web 2.0 developing. LightWindow takes the combination of those two frameworks and adds some really cool things to it. The reason I decided to use LightWindow the first time was to embed media easily into my website. I needed to show some videos and wanted a better way to do it than just embedding it into the page (I hadn't designed a good spot on the page for a video). LightWindow was not only able to meet the needs of the video I wanted to show, it ended up meeting needs I didn't even have at the time. Here is a listing of all the great features that LightWindow boasts.

• Media - You are able to load various types of media, including YouTube videos, Flash videos (SWF), QuickTime videos, and Flash Paper PDFs. There is support for all and every media type; that's pretty hard to beat.
• External Websites - You are able to load an external source as well as an internal source. This creates a type of pop-up window, but it is much cooler!
• Images - You are able to load images from internal or external sources. You can also load image galleries for viewing multiple images in a nicely laid-out design.
• Forms - You are able to load and use forms within the LightWindow. Full functionality is provided with easy to follow instructions for setup.
• Pages - You are able to load various page types, including fluid, fixed, and specific dimensions.
• Inline Content - You are also able to load basic content from a container. (The author calls this one a "gimme.")
• Themes - You can create your own theme for colors, styles, and animations. This is not easy to accomplish however. The author has not released any tutorials or help files for this, but says that it is possible.
• On the Fly - You can create and instantiate a window on the fly without needing to create it first when the page loads.
• Parameters - You can use various parameters to customize your window. Some examples are title, author, and caption.

This is one of the easiest frameworks to learn and to use. At the cost of free, I don't think there is a better choice out there that boasts all the features, ease of use, and quality of LightWindow.

You can visit the LightWindow website and download your copy of the framework (v2.0). If you like what Kevin has done, be sure to donate and show your appreciation!