Front-End Web Development for Beginners
By: Katie Foley
Have you ever wondered how you can learn to build your own website? Well, you came to the right place!
Just a few months ago, I took an introductory front-end web development class and learned how to use html, css, javascript, and jquery to build a website. I went from not even knowing what html meant, to building a beautiful website of my own. Although I am many hours of practice away from building more sophisticated websites, it was a step in the right direction and I was surprised how learnable the material was to someone who had no computer programming background.
It was during that class that I learned how many great online resources there are out there for aspiring web developers! Check out some of the resources I’d recommend below:
Codecademy
- Codecademy is a great place to start for beginners! Before committing to a more time-consuming and expensive programming class, try a few courses on www.codecademy.com.
- Codecademy is an amazing online resource for people that want to learn HTML, CSS, Javascript, and much more. Codeacademy offers online tutorials that walk you through lessons on various topics (HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, Ruby, and more!) while giving you quizzes and exercises to practice as you go along. The exercises are fun and include building your own website, building your resume page, building games like “Rock, Paper, Scissors”, and building a cash register. You can’t move onto the next level until you complete the quiz/exercise correctly so no one can slip through the cracks!
W3 Schools
- Once you have an idea of the type of website you are trying to build, check out W3 Schools to lookup the answers to your questions.
- This website (www.w3schools.com) is basically a free online dictionary for web developers. It has tutorials, references, and examples for HTML, CSS, JS, and more.
Bootstrap
- Bootstrap (getbootstrap.com) is a downloadable framework for HTML, CSS, and JS that you can add to your website to assist in creating a responsive, mobile website design. To put it simply, you just copy and paste the bootstrap code into your web file, and then you can use all of the html, css, and js features in your own website.
- Getting the layout of your webpage to look perfect on all size monitors is not an easy task, but bootstrap has done all of the hard work for you. Spending hours trying to create the perfect buttons? Well, they’ve done that too and much more!
- Bootstrap can be hard to use at first, but I used online youtube tutorials to help me through it and in the long run it made building my website much much easier.
Google
- When in doubt, Google it! Computer programmers are constantly searching the web for the answers to their computer programming dilemmas. If you’ve got a question or problem, most likely other programmers have had the same question or problem too.
- There are infinite message boards and online tutorials available that will likely hold the answer to your question.
Developer Bootcamp
- If you want to accelerate your learning or if you need more discipline than just teaching yourself online, I’d recommend a developer bootcamp. If you google “coding bootcamps” in your area you will find plenty of options with varying depth, price, location, and time commitment.
- Check out Launch Academy and General Assembly to get started.
See our HTML, CSS, and JS come to life on our website! Stay tuned for more blog posts on learning how to use HTML, CSS, and JS.