It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan. — Eleanor Roosevelt
Jeremy beating the classic drum:
For web development, start with HTML, then CSS, then JavaScript (and don’t move on to JavaScript too quickly—really get to grips with HTML and CSS first).
And then…
That’s assuming you want to be a good well-rounded web developer. But it might be that you need to get a job as quickly as possible. In that case, my advice would be very different. I would advise you to learn React.
JEREMY! HAS YOUR WEBSITE … Read article “User agents”
My favorite way to level up as a front-end developer is to do the work. Literally just build websites. If you can do it for money, great, you should. If the websites you make can help yourself or anyone else you care about, then that’s also great. In lieu of that, you can also make things simply for the sake of making them, and you’ll still level up. It’s certainly better than just reading about things!
Here’s some resources … Read article “Front-End Challenges”
Over a decade ago, I did a little three-part video series on Designing for WordPress. Then I did other series with the same spirit, like videocasting the whole v10 redesign, a friend’s website, and even writing a book. Those are getting a little long in the tooth though. You might still learn from watching them if you’re getting into WordPress theme development, but there will be moments that feel very aged (old UI’s and old versions … Read article “Where to Learn WordPress Theme Development”
Here’s a great thread by Kevin Powell that’s making the rounds. He believes so many folks see CSS as a frustrating and annoying language:
… Read article “Why is CSS Frustrating?”That's just as unintuitive as JS starting to count at 0, but since you learned that and accept it, it's fine.
— Kevin Powell (@KevinJPowell) February 24,
The real issue isn't with CSS. If you struggle with it, or ever call it unintuitive, it's probably because you don't really understand how CSS is meant to work.
Here’s a heartwarming post from Stephanie Stimac on her experience teaching kids the very basics of web development:
… Read article “Inspiring high school students with HTML and CSS”[…] the response from that class of high school students delighted me and grounded me in a way I haven’t experienced before. What I view as a simple code was absolute magic to them. And for all of us who code, I think we forget it is magic. Computational magic but still magic. HTML and CSS are magic.
“But why do I have to learn Python?” She wailed, “I like Scratch!”
“I know,” I said, “But there are different programming languages for different sorts of tasks.”
“That’s stupid” she said
I can empathize with the little girl in Terence Eden’s story. In high school, I got super into Turbo Pascal. I felt like I could do a lot of stuff in it. Then I went to college. The first course I took was Java and the second … Read article “Why do we have different programming languages?”
I’d like to think there is a lot to learn on CSS-Tricks. But we don’t really offer much by the way of courses. You’re probably reading this because you just generally read this site, and you land on CSS-Tricks otherwise mostly because you are looking for an answer to some front-end question.
Courses are a really great way to learn though. I’ve done many over my years as a developer, particularly when learning something fairly outside my bubble of … Read article “Our Learning Partner: Frontend Masters”
There are so, so, so (so) many things to read out there on the internet. So many, in fact, that it’s difficult to keep up with everything.
But, hey, we’ve got your back! It’s our job to surface the best of the best and share it with you right here. That’s why it’s a good idea to subscribe to this site and newsletter. Why subscribe to hundreds of sites when you can follow one, right?
Where do we find … Read article “What We’re Reading, 2019”
Should I use WordPress or React hooks?
Should I use D3 or CSS?
Should I use Markdown or JSON?
Can I use flexbox in Gatsby?
Can I use custom properties in Jekyll?
Should I use HTML or the cloud?
How do I add dark mode to my Vue site?
These are tongue-in-cheek, but there is a point to be made here. It’s one challenge to understand a technology, and another challenge to understand how technologies fit together. … Read article “Stream-Crossing Confusion”
We’re sliding into the roaring twenties of the twenty-first century (cue Jazz music 🎷). It’s important that you and I, as responsible people, follow the tradition of looking back on the past year and reflect on the things that went right and wrong in the hopes of becoming the best version of ourselves in the year ahead.
I never do New Year’s resolutions, except for when I was ten years old and wanted to open a local self-run detective agency … Read article “How I’ve Improved as a Web Developer (and a Person) in 2019”
