The internet has become an integral part of one’s life today. Nearly every other thing we search for or want to buy is available online. This increase in the internet activity has created a demand for more web developers, with web development becoming one of the most sought-after skills in the industry today. Thousands of companies around the world are continuously on the lookout for web developers to create and maintain their websites to cater to the needs of customers.

Web development, as they say, is not a hard code to crack, although building a full-fledged website is another story altogether. Thankfully, numerous online tools and resources can teach one to learn to code sans attending a traditional college or obtaining a college degree. If you are interested in how this works, here is a useful guide to show you all that goes into web designing and development up to the point where you can proudly proclaim that you are a self-taught junior web developer.

Let’s start with a few basic pointers you need to keep in mind before starting.

# Be clear with your plan

Before starting a web designing course, make sure you decide on what exactly you plan to do with your newly acquired skills. Do you plan to learn web development for fun or do you plan to utilize it as part of a career change? Or do you intend to use it only to create an app?

The goal may vary. However, the important thing is that you understand why you want to do this. It is this understanding that will help you become more productive during the learning process.

# Don’t get stuck in the tutorial rut

There is no need for one to be an expert of HTML or CSS coder before building things. A few hours of coding tutorials will be more than enough to start you up on the basics before moving on to the more complex server-side programming. Learn the fundamentals and continue to learn as you start building.

# Make the design fluid

The key to a successful web designing lies in its fluidity, aka its ability to adapt and change with the changes you make to it. Do not stick to one design alone, for, in most cases, what you draw on paper is not what will end up on the screen. Be open to change and learn to throw out things that don’t work while retaining things that do. This will help your website to be more responsive in the long run.

Coding Begins

Let’s start with the basics before moving on to the more important and complex parts of web development. We will tackle each part of the web design process in an easy to understand manner and provide a few examples of the online tutorials that will help you learn the same.

Frontend Design 

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This is the part of the web designing that the end user, aka a visitor to your website, will see and interact with. This part consists of the layout and background designs of your website, along with all the content, images, and fancy effects.

• HTML & CSS 
  This is where web development tools like HTML and CSS enter the picture. These are the internet’s foundational languages, with every web page out there being written in HTML and CSS. These languages provide directions to the web browsers on how to structure and organize the web pages for optimal viewing.
  HTML and CSS are the foundational languages of the internet. Every web page is written in HTML. It tells the web browser about how to organize and structure the web page. CSS controls the visual layout of websites. These resources cover the basics of HTML and CSS so you can build your first web page.
  Many online resources can help you learn HTML and CSS from scratch. Some of the common ones include A beginner’s guide to HTML & CSS by Shay Howe, interactive HTML and CSS tutorials by Codecademy, Easy-To-Follow CSS tutorials by HTML Dog, 30 Days to Learn HTML & CSS by Tuts+Premium, and HTML & CSS Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners by Microsoft Developer Network.
  These online resources will help you learn all you need to know about web designing using HTML and CSS for the frontend and help you make an attractive website.

Backend Coding

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HTML and CSS stop with the design coding for your website. They are not actual programming languages that can be used to make your website responsive. Web development is not only about creating a site that is pretty. It also involves creating the various parts that go into processing, storing, and manipulating data. In layman’s terms, it dictates how your website and the applications in it will work and lays down the foundation for a Responsive Web Design. 

Backend development requires a bit of logical thinking and problem-solving skills, which you would have acquired by now with frontend programming. So let’s move on to learning the basics of backend web development, which is associated with common server-side languages like PHP, Ruby, and Python.

• PHP
  In most cases, you will find working with PHP is easier than other server-side languages. PHP, for many years, has been the first choice for backend web development, owing to the ease of learning it provides to beginners. Some online courses can be considered for taking to develop and hone your PHP skills include learn PHP Step by Step by Web Schools, Interactive PHP Tutorials by Codecademy, PHP Basics Video Course by PHPAcademy, 25 Short Video Tutorials about PHP, and PHP 101: PHP for the Absolute Beginner by Zend Developer Zone.

• MySQL
  In most, if not all, of the cases, you will want your website to be able to store data like email addresses, usernames, and account information for later use. This is where the database comes into the picture. The database is like a storage facility in the background that records all the information entered on your website, allowing you or users to retrieve this data as and when needed.
  To create a database and link it to your website, you will need to learn a database development program. The most popular tool used for the same is MySQL, which you can learn in no time with the help of online resources like MySQL for Absolute Beginners, SQLZOO: Interactive MySQL Tutorials by SQLZOO, MySQL by Examples for Beginners by Professor Chua Hock Chuan from Nanyang Technological University, Basic Database Theory and MySQL Tutorials by KillerPHP, Fundamentals of MySQL +PHP by Web Schools, and Video Tutorials about Combining MySQL with PHP.

• PHP Frameworks 
  As you start coding, you will notice codes for common tasks repeating throughout the program. A framework allows you to automate these common tasks so that you can avoid writing lengthy pieces of code every time you want to repeat common tasks. This makes your code look more organized and easier to maintain, especially if you have moved on to create complex web applications.
  The basics of PHP Frameworks is Object Oriented Programming (OOP). A list of some of the popular online resources that will let you understand OOP and utilize its full potential to create robust PHP frameworks which includes Object-Oriented PHP for Beginners by Nettuts+, Learn Object-Oriented PHP Step by Step by KillerPHP, Laravel: The New Framework on the Block, CodeIgniter: Lightweight, Easy-To-Learn Framework, and Yii: Structured, Feature-Rich Framework.

• JavaScript (JS) and jQuery
  An interactive website attracts more traffic to it. If you want your website to be interactive, you will have to learn JavaScript. jQuery is a library that contains shortcut commands to commonly used JavaScript tasks. These essential tools will come in handy when you want to make a mobile-friendly website as well.
  Some online resources you can take a look at to learn JavaScript and jQuery include Interactive JavaScript Tutorials by Codecademy, Easy to Follow JavaScript Tutorials by HTML Dog, JavaScript Fundamentals: Development for Absolute Beginners by Microsoft Development Network, Try jQuery: Learn the Basic Building Blocks by Code School, 30 Days to learn jQuery by Tuts+ Premium, and Interactive jQuery Tutorials by Codecademy.

• Git
  Git has become a de facto collaboration tool for web development, which makes us familiar with this tool and it is must if you want to become a web developer. Free software that helps you create backups of your code at regular intervals, Git is a great asset when you are building a large website with many pages of complex code. In case, your website malfunctions after a change or update, you can use Git to move back to the earlier, working version of the website and start correcting your mistakes.
  Some online resources that offer great tutorials on this software tool include GitHub for Beginners, Easy Version Control with Git by Nettuts+, Try Git: Quick Intro Tutorial by Code School, Understanding Git Conceptually, Git Tutorials with Helpful Diagrams by Atlassian, Bitbucket: Unlimited Private Code Repositories, and Visual Git Reference Guide. 

By the end of these tutorials, you will probably learn to create a full-fledged, interactive, and responsive website. While building your website, you can also level up your coding skills by taking part in free coding games available online, including CodeChef, Coding Game, Hacker Rank, Code Wars, etc. These games will help you brush up your web development skills and transform your concept into an actual working production that you can be very proud of for sure.

Author Bio:

As the CEO of the most reputed Web Designing Company, Vishal strives to empower small businesses throughout India with the innovative use of SEO techniques. A workaholic CEO who loves to take risks aligned with his passion for taking his company to immense heights, Vishal is also a blogger and speaker. Creating the perfect work-life balance between his personal and professional personas, Vishal can be seen researching, writing or with his nose buried in an engrossing book when he decides to place the CEO cap aside for a moment.

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