Teaching myself HTML, CSS and Javascript from scratch

[Prohibiting]

Is anyone else in the same boat as I am?

Last month I decided I wanted to do something "fun" and useful with my spare evenings by trying to learn a new skill. I had zero knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript and jQuery but thought I'd give it ago! A few weeks on and I've worked through the free HTML/CSS online course available on CodeAcademy. I'm currently working through the Javascript course now. Obviously they're extremely basic but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm impressed with how Javascript is used in connection with websites to make things happen. For example, clicking on a button which will reveal some more clickable things using a toggle function. I literally had no idea how it all worked.

Bit random but thought I'd share. I know there are web developer and programming experts on here. How long did it take you guys to get efficient?

My goal is to work through all the fairly short courses in CodeAcademy and then move to freeCodeCamp as apparently they're a little harder, albeit still beginner level. I'm trying to do 1 hour each evening.

Edited by Prohibiting on Wednesday 19th July 20:31

[Order66]

Prohibiting said:

Bit random but thought I'd share. I know there are web developer and programming experts on here. How long did it take you guys to get efficient?

Depends on your definition of efficient. A couple of years full-time to become usefully competent. To become truly "efficient" (as in being able to bang out very high quality code every day and be able to somewhat guarantee timescales) can take many more years, but like the standards you have to continually evolve. The one downfall of focusing on the web technologies is the rate of change - my "old school" languages like Java move at a far slower pace.

[CrouchingWayne]

I'm in a similar place. I did a lot of HTML/CSS when I was younger (think 15yrs ago) but got back into it a couple years ago now.

I've had a couple of false starts mainly as I don't or didn't know what I wanted to actually do. I've gone through HTML, CSS, JavaScript and some basic PHP work.

I've progressed onto C# using Unity to do basic phone and computer apps. Hopeful to actually "finish" a project and release it this year!

Similar to yourself it's nice to do something productive with spare time. I'm never going to be a professional web designer - just nice to understand some of it.

[mike9009]

I have programmed in many languages (Fortran, Pascal, ZX81 and more latterly VB) from an early age, but these later languages are completely alien to me. Thanks for the tips on the on-line tutorials - which tutorials have people found to be the best???


Mike

[SystemParanoia]

If you want to make phone apps with Javascript/CSS/HTML

Electron is where you need to go.

https://electron.atom.io/

the slack app mobile is built with it if i remember correctly


the microbit editor is Javascript focused and good for a little play in the emulator

https://makecode.microbit.org/

Edited by SystemParanoia on Wednesday 19th July 22:21

[Prohibiting]

mike9009 said:

I have programmed in many languages (Fortran, Pascal, ZX81 and more latterly VB) from an early age, but these later languages are completely alien to me. Thanks for the tips on the on-line tutorials - which tutorials have people found to be the best???


Mike

From my research reading various forums and reviews, the two websites that I mentioned in my first post are the best free online courses. After that you could sign up to the paid courses from Teetreehouse or Udacity which will take you through to the more advanced stuff.

[Craikeybaby]

I've come back to web development 10 years after graduating and it has changed a lot. I found tutorials are all well and good, but there comes a point where you just need to get stuck in to a project, either your own, or contribute to an open source project on Github.

[wiggy001]

Prohibiting said:

Is anyone else in the same boat as I am?

Last month I decided I wanted to do something "fun" and useful with my spare evenings by trying to learn a new skill. I had zero knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript and jQuery but thought I'd give it ago! A few weeks on and I've worked through the free HTML/CSS online course available on CodeAcademy. I'm currently working through the Javascript course now. Obviously they're extremely basic but I think I'm getting the hang of it. I'm impressed with how Javascript is used in connection with websites to make things happen. For example, clicking on a button which will reveal some more clickable things using a toggle function. I literally had no idea how it all worked.

Bit random but thought I'd share. I know there are web developer and programming experts on here. How long did it take you guys to get efficient?

My goal is to work through all the fairly short courses in CodeAcademy and then move to freeCodeCamp as apparently they're a little harder, albeit still beginner level. I'm trying to do 1 hour each evening.

Edited by Prohibiting on Wednesday 19th July 20:31

20 years as a programmer building ERP systems mainly with proprietary tools/language. About a year ago I started learning and doing web development as part of my role (I already knew the basics but had never built a web app from scratch). You really need to be building on these skills day in day out to be proficient enough to earn a living from them but what you're doing is exactly the right way to start.

As already mentioned, those tutorials will only take you so far though. If it were me I would:

- work through those tutorials on HTML, CSS, Javascript and jQuery (it's worth knowing JS before tacking jQuery, even though jQuery makes JS easier). This is your front end.
- Learn the basics of databases if not already familiar (SQL and/or object databases). This is your back end.
- Learn how to get your web app talking to a database so your front end actually does something useful (data entry - save data - retrieve data). Ajax is simple enough, especially with jQuery.

Then come up with your own project to put this all into action. Mine (still unfinished - work and baby got in the way) was a budgeting app based on an excel sheet I have (enter my account balances and it tells me what I'll have left in the account the day before payday, which direct debits have been or will be paid etc). An address book is a simple one to do too to get you started.

You've mentioned jQuery so I assume you already know this, but the "basics" of web development include a large number of JS and CSS libraries all useful for different things, and the current "flavour of the month" changes monthly! Some examples:

- jQuery simplifies Javascript
- jQuery UI and jQuery Mobile help you create visual effects easily
- Bootstrap simplifies your layout
- Knockout/Angular bind your HTML to your backend data, making your site/app responsive to data changes
- Moment simplifies dates

There are loads of others for everything you can imagine (some of the libraries for creating graphs and visualisations are pretty incredible!).

Someone will be along in a minute to tell me I shouldn't be using Knockout, or that Bootstrap is yesterday's news...