For zoning, the optimum ratio in SimCity 2000 is 3 Residential to 2 Industrial to 1 Commercial.

Simple, acrologies.

Edit: Specifically, launch arco's.

Most important, you need to keep your costs down.

The power plant of choice is hydro-electric. It costs $100 to turn a slope into a waterfall (yes, you can place waterfalls in the middle of nowhere) and then $400 to build the power plant. They have three huge advantages over other power plants. First of all, they're clean so you have no pollution worries. Second they don't have a 50 year lifespan and as a result will save you big bucks down the road. Finally, they make use of sloped tiles that no other structures can. The game becomes much easier if you do this.

Particularly when you're starting out, lower your police, fire, health, and education funding. Because your city is so small you don't need to keep these fully funded, but don't lower transportation funding. Keep an eye on their rating and if it slips below "B" you can up the funding. Institute the parking fines ordinance, but leave the others alone for now. As you expand, leave some 3x3 spaces for future police stations and other services; you'll want to fill them in once your city grows, but don't increase your costs too soon.

For roads, keep in mind that zones will develop so long as there is a road within 3 tiles distance. I like to begin by building a 12x12 city core. This leaves me a "layer" three tiles deep for zoning (probably industry when you're first starting out) and a 6x6 area inside that gives meroom for my first police station, fire station, and hospital (plus an extra space that you can use how you like). I then build long roads radiating out from this central area and three tiles deep on either side. I like to leave some unused space between these strips that I can backfill with parks, schools, and police stations later when I can afford more of those things.

Pay attention to the demand bars, and zone the type that is in demand. If the green bar is high, zone more residential. Just don't overdo it; commercial (blue) is particular prone to overshooting. If you're too low on cash to place more zones, then raise taxes instead. Because demand is high you won't get (many) abandoned buildings. Once you've built up more cash, you can add more zones. Just be mindful of overshooting; if demand starts to go negative due to excessive taxation, you need to cut it back right away!

Bigger cities are actually easier to manage than smaller cities. Once you get going, you'll have a nice income base and it's actually pretty hard to make it go bankrupt. You can afford some really extravogant stuff once you get going. It's the small cities that are tough; you're only a hair away from deficits on your operational spending. When you're small, be really stingy with your costs and focus on expanding more zoned areas to get big. Once you're large, you can easily afford expenditures that would bankrupt smaller cities. If you can legitimately afford launch arcos, you probably don't need any further advice. It's getting to that point that's the hard part.

And I just realized this is a 5-month necro. Oh well, hope that helps someone.