I'm on a new project where I have to develop both a web and mobile version of a prototype, and Apache Cordova is our weapon of choice for the iOS and Android apps. However, this is the first time for me to use Cordova. Just want to share some of my adventures in hopes of helping other people who are also newbs. But I'm guessing this will end up just being a log of stuff I do so I don't forget later. :)
First off, setting up Cordova. The Cordova documentation is not very good. This site outlines pretty much all of the actual steps you have to take to get it to work.
http://evothings.com/doc/build/cordova-install-windows.html
Once it's installed, you can go back to the Cordova documentation to make a HelloWorld (scroll down to "Create the App").
http://cordova.apache.org/docs/en/4.0.0/guide_cli_index.md.html#The%20Command-Line%20Interface
Things that tripped me up: Setting the environment variables. Make sure you have the right paths set!! Sounds obvious, but that had me going in circles for hours.
Good luck.
