Hey everyone, first post on here
I have just recently (five minutes ago) completed the HTML and CSS course. This is my very first venture into website development and so far I have been thoroughly enjoying it.
What I want to do no is to go on and make sure that I āknowā what I have been learning on the course. I want to strengthen the skills that I have picked up and I was wondering what would be the best way to do so?
Should I just look at other websites and try to replicate them?
I would enjoy some projects to work on, rather than me just pottering about myself. I do not have PRO so cannot do any of the projects posted on code academy.
Are there any other options out there for me?
Thanks.
Yeah I feel like If I had a task to complete then I could work away and find out which areas that I need to go back over, and which areas I am ok with. Just something that will keep me progressing in the right direction.
To be honest, taking out a Pro subscription would be the ideal way of testing your current knowledge level by allowing you to take the quizzes that the Pro option offers. Furthermore, the numerous projects (there are over 100 projects across many of the courses), are a really good way to put your knowledge into practice (with a little hand-holding to guide you on your way).
The Pro subscription does offer a 14-day trial so you can always try it out before you commit yourself. I understand itās not for everyone but you seem pretty serious and, more importantly, youāre having fun
You will still need to complete the next step whether you go for the Pro option or not, and that is move out of the Codecademy environment and start developing on your own computer.
I will look into upgrading to Pro at some point since it does offer some great extra resources(especially the projects), money is a little tight at the moment however.
Yeah I am very serious about this, I just want to ensure that I am doing everything I can do progress.
Thank you for the links, Iāll be sure to check them out.
Recently I have been working on copying other websites for practice (simple websites to begin with) and have been getting on pretty well. Obviously I am constantly googling how to do certain things, but I feel that I am picking up and learning a LOT.
One thing that I have been wondering is, is there a ārightā and āwrongā way to develop websites?
What I mean is, when I am trying to replicate other websites I am seeing results and what I am doing looks the same as what I am copying. But, I always feel that I may not be going about my coding in the correct manner, if that makes sense?
Are there a set of ārulesā which should be followed when developing websites? Does every developer have their own way of coding?
I feel like I am progressing well, but want to make sure that I am doing everything the way it should be done.
Good point.
I have not gotten on to this aspect of web development yet, I have just been studying html/css on CodeAcademy and trying to copy certain simple websites.
I will for sure get on to that though
Also, are there any websites/tools that can be used to check over my html and css documents? Just to pick up on any errors?
This will highlight any syntax errors and warn you of any other issues.
The next thing to do is read and start to implement some of the suggestions in the more-established style guides. A couple of good ones to begin with are the Google HTML/CSS Style Guide (https://google.github.io/styleguide/htmlcssguide.xml) and Mark Ottoās Code Guide (http://codeguide.co/).
Hey,
Just a thought that has been on my mind today so I thought iād post it up and get some feedback (to reassure myself more than anything).
I have been learning HTML and CSS and have been enjoying it immensely. I am also really interested in getting more into the design side of things.
However, my only worry is that there will not be any need for a web designer in the near future since sites like wix and wordpress make it rather simple to create a nice looking website. And surely these websites will become more and more advanced every year, making a web designer obsolete?
I just donāt want to spend my time learning all these skills, only for them to be irrelevant in the near future.
Wix & WP is crap. WordPress isnāt crap, I was just emphasizing.
WordPress is a viable framework and a gem of CMS concepts. Personally I feel WordPress is clunky & slow when pushed; however developers specialize in WordPress, building themes for the framework that others may install & use themselves, building plug-ins, and pushing it to itās limits with custom development within itsā boundaries.
Wix, is still crap.
Donāt be discouraged, if youāre more into design than development persay, iād suggest going at it hard. Developers donāt always want to have to think about design. I know myself, sometimes Iād rather just build the site, worry about setting up back-end framework (login, registration, etc).
I thought I should reply to your last comment about wordpress since I have been using it quite a bit.
Why clients like wordpress ?They can login and edit pages, galleries, thereās woocommerece which is a nice plugin for online store
Where you come in or any programmer for that matter ?With wordpress you can do so much with it, customise to how you want(you code it), make your own plugin & snippets so that the program will function how you want. So by you knowing HTML, CSS, PHP you can take this CMS and create unique powerful websites to how you want, you can customise from A-Z
I donāt know about wix is so no comment ā¦
But with a lot of CMS out there people still need help from a programmer because everything cannot just be done by a few clicks!
Thank you everyone for the replies, appreciated!
I realize that things change, new ways of working will constantly appear, new tools etc!
I like the idea of there always being something new to learn and adapt to.
What I aim to do is to continue down the route of web design.
So, continue for the time being practicing my html and css, copying other websites for practice, and also using various courses which include projects.
I am going to order a few books as well to further enhance my skills and knowledge.
Then I would move on to whatever would be best after html and css; Javascript? I will need to research that when the time comes.
Then I would move more onto the design side of things, color schemes, typography etc.
The general idea from then, after designing my own websites, creating a portfolio, designing a few themes to sell etc, would be to just always keep an eye on the industry and see where things are headed (I use feedly for this) and then I would learn and adapt to whatever ānewā thing is coming next.
Is this a good way to go about things? What would everyone else do that is just entering the field?
Picking up a few books is a good way to go. Go for the best you can find, there are some rudimentary books out there youāre better off without.
Iād strongly recommend looking into a paid instructional video service to really get you up to date on technologies. Free resources like this site are fine and all. I used Tree House & Lynda a little. Theyāre both great and have their advantages. Lynda is great and tackles more business oriented / technical perspective. Tree House covers the development aspects & coding practices more.
Tree House would be a good place to go to learn JavaScript, though Lynda has some very good āEssentialsā series which cover the āessentialsā of certain subjects. It might be worth looking into a javascript essentials course to really learn what youāre doing, save yourself the headache of learning improperly. Javascript is something you want to learn the right way as itās easy to mess up.
Again, using a paid service will allow you unlimited access to premium content & instruction for the month.
What I did, only having taken an intro to web course I almost failed, and building my own site for my other classes requiring websites for my design projects, I set off to build my own portfolio site. A site which Iāve redesigned three times now each with a unique set of features, layout, presentation, and all featuring my own blog system. I built a live blog viewer which parsed text from json files using ajax. Now my newest site uses a single page template and queries in content dynamically through a php object which reads the HTTP Queries to determine page type etc. I have some other dynamically generated page elements, and a rather complex contact form JavaScript object that Iām proud of haha.
In short, setting off to build a portfolio site early on will allow you a platform that is yours to do as you wish, and will allow you to invest and experiment with over many years. Iād recommend saving your versions
I bought a course on Udemy titled āThe complete web developer course 2.0ā and have been working through that mainly for the projects, currently copying the BBC website. It has been beneficial watching how the lecturer builds the website and iāve been taking notes and learning a lot.
I think I will carry on with HTML and CSS and then move onto Javascript.
I enjoy coding but I also want to be able to design websites. I was looking up āfront end developersā and that does appeal to me, perhaps I could leave the designing of websites to my spare time? Itās just that there seems to be a LOT more job opportunities for developers rather than designers.
Other areas iāve also been looking at are UI and UX design.
The bottom line is that you must do what you enjoy and have a stake in. Popularity in itself is not rewarding. It may even cause you to not be very good if you choose whatās most common. This is unfair to your clients, and to others in the field you follow.
Since Iāve begun Front End Development Iāve grown more akin to a Full Stack Developer, however I donāt say that because the term is daunting with no scope. I picked up mysql, php to allow my sites more functionality, building flat empty pages with no underlying life only interested me for so long. In the end through refining my process & interests I come to a point where I find relation to the Information Architect job title, which is still new and yet to be completely defined.
I began building the aesthetics & functionality of sites, learned databases & server scripting to build site templates & deeper logic, then moved on to refining my practices & coding methodologies. I reached deeper and broader in my own way. You can certainly employ UI and UX as a developer, there is no trade-off. You will be directly involved in building the UI and shaping your UX if anything. Try not to think of specialities in this way. Itās rare that for instance, youāll land a job purely because you label yourself as a UI or UX person. You gain the skills by doing the work, and that is what determines your title, your skills, and your qualifications. Do what interest you, pursue & work for it, and it most likely will pay off.
The catch? The catch is not to assume it will turn out precisely as you imagine it.
Glad you picked up the course and itās helping. They will only take you so far, but make for a great initial spike in learning.
Yeah, I agree 100%. I need to go in the direction I feel most in tune with, and at the moment (it may perhaps change in the future) is Web Design. Although I also want to be skilled in terms of making the website come to life, so to speak. I want to have the knowledge which allows me to design a website, and also make it functional.
There are so many different titles and when looking at job descriptions it all seems a bit confusing. I think the best thing for me to do is pick up as many skills in the areas that interest me, create a portfolio website, do some work for others (paid and unpaid) and take it from there.
I like this.
Thank you, and everyone else, for your help. It is greatly appreciated and helpful to me. This really is a great forum for top class advice. So, thank you!
