java is NOT javascript
well it´s basically like this : html is like the backbone. the core of a site. the good news is where it always has to be in a strict tree structure.
that tree structure is called DOM ( document object model ) and the very first object - the start of the trunk so to say is the document itself.
there is not that many html tags so its kinda easy to get to know them rather well.
CSS - cascading style sheets - contains information about the properties of the html tags like what color should links have - whats the font size
and such but also specific information. like you could add a classname to a html tag and within the css sheet you could specify exceptions
for that class. it has grown quite a bit last years and with css3 you can do animations w/o using any "real" programming.
lastly there is javascript. which is super easy programming language. with it you can manipulate the DOM structure after the browser rendered it.
it has built in functions to add, substract and alter html tags. you can also give new css information for specific tags. also of course you can not
only change stuff but also extract information about current status etc. is the box red? if so maybe do a certain action. such things.
javascripts, html and css sheets are always executed and interpreted by the users computer. you access an internet site - cache it to your browser
which interprets it and you see the result.
well i said lastly but there is also php. if you want to store information or digital stuff somewhere to access later - f.e. a highscore file you would need
a database. since it would be dumb if this script was run with javascript ( it means it comes from user computer so if he cheats .. he cheats with his
own javascript maybe - also its kind of hard well near impossible w/o tricks to alter database entries with javascript afaik ) it means you will have to use
a server sided script language since its usually that much harder ( impossible for a no programming user id say ) getting access to webspace.
you cannot access the script unless you know the name and location. php is a server sided programming language. it can only run with php installed
on a server. if you want to test php locally you even would have to simulate a local server or it would not execute.
at the very least you would need good knowledge of the first 3 to get along. there is lots of free templates and APIs so you can skip the server sided
programming part to a certain degree. you dont really need to code in javascript yourself but you should be able to attach script files to your html doc
and know how to
call ( use ) a function.
