How Do I Learn Web Development?

A couple of years ago, I was on the How to Hold a Pencil podcast (episode here) and we discussed a number of things, including the steps I took to learn web development (over 14 years ago…whoa). I’m often asked, as I was on the show, what I recommend for people starting today. Here’s my answer for 2018.

Let me start with how I learned and how different the web is today. Back when what would be my first client came to me, I needed a good way to learn and I learned best by trying stuff (though I didn’t realize it yet). I knew I could make websites without coding by using Microsoft FrontPage so I decided to get that and try it out. The way I started learning HTML and what it did was to do something in the visual side of the editor and then look at the source. I would see how things we generated, what the elements I needed look like in code, and how to style things (with inline CSS at the time). Once I got the hang of coding, I started using Notepad++ (thanks to my friend Stephen Mekosh) and used websites & books to help me along. Mainly I used W3Schools (which is usually the source of hot drama) and books like Bulletproof Web Design. This was fine for me and worked out just fine, but it was just before there were things like huge tutorial networks, video tutorials, and podcasts.

Now, all of those things exist and are fantastic resources, many available for free. There are some drawbacks to the way I learned (like no explanation of why, or semantics of HTML and CSS until I started reading books). There also isn’t a real certification or accreditation in the web development industry like there is in Networking, Systems Administration, and other IT fields. So how would I recommend you learn web development today? Take advantage of the very medium you want to develop for.

The first question is, “What do I need to learn?” If you’re going to learn web development, you need to learn HTML and CSS at the very least. These are the very languages you will need to put a webpage up. Luckily, there are tons on online video tutorials and resources for you today and several are free. Codecademy has a course dedicated to HTML and CSS. If reading is your jam, there’s also this great guide. There are also some paid solutions:

• HTML Essential Training from Lynda.com
• CSS Essential Training from Lynda.com
• My very own, An Introduction to HTML and CSS.

Javascript is also pretty essential these days. The best place to start there is Wes Bos’ free Javascript 30 course. Finally, the website CodePen allows you to see what people are doing, make copies of projects, and modify them, all within the browser. It’s a great way to experiment.

Once you have that down, you should ask, “What do I want to get good at?” Web Development is such a diverse field, you need to pick a focus. You can choose from:

• Frontend Development (HTML, CSS, Javascript)
• Specific Javascript Development with React or Vue
• Backend Development using PHP and MySQL..maybe some Laravel
• Development using Ruby on Rails
• Development through WordPress

…and a ton more. Once you select what you want to do, you can use the above resources to further development. The best thing to do (well the short version anyway) is to either think about the things you’re most interested in making (beautiful websites, web applications like a photo uploader, etc) or try your hand at a few things and see what fits you best. I went from HTML and CSS to PHP and MySQL to WordPress and I still use everything today. You can do something similar, or focus on becoming really, really good at one thing. It’s up to you!