I used PHP coding to retrieve the current date, day of week, day of year and days left in the year. For the time I used javascript. To create the blinking words and button, I used javascript setInterval and jQuery CSS. I used CSS linear-gradient to create the background color for the body. Page displays best using Firefox Browser.
A really fantastic book to learn Javascript and jQuery is Sams Teach Yourself jQuery and Javascript in 24 Hours by Brad Dayley