Yes, HTML and CSS are good starters. Even if programming isn’t a part of the job, being able to read code is helpful. (I’ve been wrangling the Summer Reading Software from E-vanced this week.)

Having written programs in both real languages and scripting languages, I can tell you there’s not much difference in learning one or the other. The real difference in programming v/s scripting only matters in making sure the computer(in this case web server) can run the scripting language.

As far as relevance to a job, if you’re not the primary web person, then a working knowledge of html/css is great for when you help with web content. If you are the primary web person, then you need to know html, css, php, mysql, javascript.

The order above is in importance and is a good order to learn them in.

Perl isn’t used as much for regular web sites any more, but it’s closer to a real programming language, as it uses a compiler. Many folks still debate whether or not it’s a true programming language.

Generall speaking, a lot of what the originator of the question is asking about is all ways to communicate with the browser, rather than with the computer itself. Not the only boundary, but a good guideline when trying to determine which a particular language is.

If you’re going to do web stuff, follow David Lee King’s advice, but also throw in PERL (after or before PHP) because you might find online and offline use here and there for it.

If you’re looking to do something cool with say, Koha– that’s written in Perl, which is supposed to be pretty easy as well.