jQuery abstracts DOM weirdness across browsers. Learning plain JavaScript will give you a deeper understanding of why jQuery does certain things. Using node.js on the backend will allow you to transfer your JS skills over.
Regarding HTML and CSS, your best best when starting is to use a quick framework to get you up and running. I’d suggest Twitter’s Bootstrap: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/ . End of the day you’re going to have to learn them yourself though. You can make things much easier for yourself by restricting your browser compatibility.
Regarding HTML and CSS, your best best when starting is to use a quick framework to get you up and running. I’d suggest Twitter’s Bootstrap: http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/ . End of the day you’re going to have to learn them yourself though. You can make things much easier for yourself by restricting your browser compatibility.