Based on your main point, no experience, I have two suggestions: React/React Native for the framework approach, or something lighter: Simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. My background: .NET dev by day, Cordova dev by night.
React/RN and Ionic would be my top framework suggestions. With React, you have to learn their specific UI syntax/JSX, then React Native syntax. With Ionic, you need to learn Angular and TypeScript, as well as their specific UI syntax.
Another idea would be to start with simple HTML/CSS/JavaScript. These are the building blocks of the web and I've seen others struggle immensely when they don't take the time to learn them properly. This is what I did with my apps, currently using Knockout.js (two way binding is amazing), KendoUI Core (easy cross-platform UIs), and PhoneGap Build (cloud service to create native apps from web code). Incidentally, my Pluralsight course launches in a few minutes - http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/phonegap-build-fundamenta... - and is exactly meant for beginners to get their feet wet before diving into the more complex frameworks.
Ah sure, sorry about that! I meant to elaborate but got distracted haha. Up until now, I've used plain web tech... but will be switching to React Native or Ionic soon. They both offer so much: rich UIs, native plugins, and more. So what I meant by my comments is, unfortunately I can't give more feedback on RN, but given its rising popularity it would be a safe time investment. I do stand by my comment that you could begin with vanilla web, then move to a more complex framework when you grow to that point. Thanks for the kind comment about the course, too!
React/RN and Ionic would be my top framework suggestions. With React, you have to learn their specific UI syntax/JSX, then React Native syntax. With Ionic, you need to learn Angular and TypeScript, as well as their specific UI syntax.
Another idea would be to start with simple HTML/CSS/JavaScript. These are the building blocks of the web and I've seen others struggle immensely when they don't take the time to learn them properly. This is what I did with my apps, currently using Knockout.js (two way binding is amazing), KendoUI Core (easy cross-platform UIs), and PhoneGap Build (cloud service to create native apps from web code). Incidentally, my Pluralsight course launches in a few minutes - http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/phonegap-build-fundamenta... - and is exactly meant for beginners to get their feet wet before diving into the more complex frameworks.