How do Beginners Learn Front-End Web Development?

As commerce and advertising move online, businesses need websites. If you want to learn what front end web development is all about and how to build a user-friendly website, here are some ideas for front end web development as a complete beginner.

Getting Started with Front End Web Development

If you want to learn front end web development to build your own website or to explore a new career, it's a good idea to sign up for a bootcamp class or certificate course. This is the fastest, most efficient way to learn the new skills you will need.

If you want to explore front end web development before your class starts, you can get started for free on your own. Noble Desktop offers many free videos on its website, including Intro to WordPress or Intro to Front End Web Development. The videos are each about an hour long and are presented by experienced web developers. 

The First Steps When Learning Front End Web Development

When you sign up for a front end web development course, there are basic skills that you’ll learn as a beginner. These are coding, version control, libraries and frameworks, testing and debugging, and design skills.

Coding

You’ll need to know how to use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to work as a Front End Web Developer. Each of these languages plays a vital role in the creation of websites. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard markup language for creating web pages, providing instructions on how data should be displayed on a web browser. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) works in tandem with HTML; it’s the language used to style elements on a website such as the fonts, color, and layout to give the site a unique look. JavaScript allows programmers to add interactive elements to web pages, making them more dynamic and engaging.

Version Control

Front End Web Developers must be able to track and control changes that are made to the code. This is called version control and most programmers use a tool called Git to do this. Version control is an important part of debugging.

Libraries and Frameworks

Web Developers use libraries and frameworks to save themselves time and effort when coding. Instead of coding everything from scratch, these libraries and frameworks contain pieces of code you can use to perform particular tasks. JavaScript has many libraries, like jQuery, Lodash, and D3.js, and numerous frameworks, including React, Angular, and Vue. Front end web development classes go into depth on the libraries and frameworks and what they do.

Testing and Debugging

Another skill you will learn in a front end web development class is the methods used to look for mistakes. This is called testing and debugging, and Web Developers spend a lot of their time making sure their website works the way they are supposed to. A class will teach you the fastest, most efficient and most effective ways to do this.

Design Skills

Front End Web Developers also need design skills. They need to consider how users interact with the product and if the website meets their needs. Design is about more than how a website looks; it is about the user's experience with the product.

Free Front End Web Development Tools for Beginners

Many of the tools you will use in front end web development are free. It won't cost you anything to start using the coding languages you need to create a website.

HTML and CSS

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard markup language for creating web pages, providing instructions on how data should be displayed on a web browser. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) works in tandem with HTML to style elements on a website, such as fonts, color, and layout, to give the site a unique look. Both of these languages are free and open source, with an extensive community of programmers to help beginners.

JavaScript

JavaScript allows programmers to add interactive elements to web pages, making them more dynamic and engaging. JavaScript is also free and open source.

Libraries and Frameworks

Web Developers use free libraries and frameworks to save themselves time and effort when coding. Instead of starting from scratch, these libraries and frameworks contain pieces of code you can use to perform particular tasks. JavaScript has many libraries, like jQuery, Lodash, and D3.js, and numerous frameworks, including React, Angualr, and Vue. 

WordPress

WordPress is the world's most popular content management system (CMS). It is used to create websites and blogs. WordPress runs live and online camps all over the world to connect users to the community and keep them up to date on changes to this free, open source product. 

Live Front End Web Development Training for Beginners

Many people find live classes to be the quickest and most efficient way to learn skills like front end web development. Professional training centers offer bootcamp and certificate-granting programs for people who want to build technical skills. Classes meet in person or live online, on a part-time or full-time schedule. 

Bootcamp classes are perfect for beginners because they are short, intensive classes focusing on one topic, like HTML and CSS, JavaScript, libraries, or WordPress. These intensive classes begin with the basics and move through more advanced material.

The Next Step

After a bootcamp class or two, you may be interested in signing up for a certification course. These are usually made up of a series of bootcamp classes around a topic like front end web development. Certification courses are a good way to get a thorough education in coding techniques. Some training programs offer courses to help you put together a digital portfolio to prepare for a job search

After a front end web development course, you might want to learn back end development or full stack development. This would increase your web development skills and open up more job opportunities. 

Learn Front End Web Development Skills with Noble Desktop

Learn front end web development skills with Noble Desktop's Front End Web Development Certificate. This beginner-friendly course will teach you the coding skills you need to change to a career as a Front End Web Developer. Learn HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Git to create responsive websites optimized for any screen size. You will also learn to use WordPress, the world's number one content management system. The course also includes HTML Email Bootcamp and a portfolio bootcamp.

JavaScript is powerful and flexible. Developers have written a variety of tools on top of the core JavaScript language, unlocking a vast amount of functionality with minimum effort. In Noble's JavaScript Development Certificate, you will learn to build dynamic web applications with React and Node.js, create APIs with Express.js, and work with databases with MongoDB. You will also learn about Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that provide functionality such as dynamically creating HTML and setting CSS. APIs allow developers to incorporate functionality in websites from other content providers, such as Twitter or Facebook. The course also covers third-party frameworks and libraries you can apply to HTML to accelerate the work of building sites and applications. No previous coding experience is required.

If you prefer, you can take these Noble classes included in the certificates one at a time. Web Development with HTML & CSS covers building websites with HTML & CSS; creating multi-page websites with text, images, and graphics; styling with CSS; and uploading files using FTP. 

Advanced HTML & CSS includes important CSS concepts like positioning, advanced selectors, and relative type sizing. You will also learn to work with multiple background images, transparent color using RGBA, CSS gradients, and shadows. The course also covers creating animated effects with CSS transitions and transforms.

Flexbox, Grid, and Bootstrap covers laying out and aligning website content with CSS Flexbox. Learn CSS Grid to layout websites and Bootstrap to build layouts quickly.

JavaScript for Front End teaches you to make dynamic and engaging websites with JavaScript and GreenSock. Learn the basics of JavaScript and how to use free pre-made JavaScripts to add functionality. Create animated slideshows and build animated image enlargers.

WordPress enables you to create and maintain a website, even if you have no web design background or knowledge of the code that makes websites work. Noble's WordPress Bootcamp covers building websites and blogs with WordPress. Learn to install themes and plugins, test your code, and customize your website.

Learn how to code custom-designed emails that adapt to different screen sizes in HTML Email Bootcamp. Build and work with multiple layouts and gain a deeper understanding of email-friendly HTML/CSS and how to manage various email client issues. Create responsive emails that work across various devices, optimize images and graphics for mobile devices, and use media queries to fine-tune mobile styles.