How do Beginners Learn HTML & CSS?

As a beginner, studying HTML & CSS may seem overwhelming. Instead of trying to learn everything all at once, it’s best to start with the essential fundamental skills and terminology. Luckily, HTML & CSS are the basic building blocks of coding, so mastery of both is easily accessible, even for beginners. 

There are multiple ways to learn HTML & CSS as a novice. The foundational principles can be explored through free resources like YouTube videos or other online tutorials. Basic skills can be gained through on-demand, live online, or in-person classes, and a deeper level of knowledge can be reached through a certification or degree program. Each of these methods will have pros and cons for beginners, so keep reading to learn more about making the best choice for you.

Getting Started with HTML & CSS

Good news: Because HTML & CSS are entry level coding skills, there are no prerequisites or specific tools you need to get started. You will want to choose a code editor to work with, as this will be the software that you’ll use to create and edit HTML code, helping you build web applications faster and easier. Even though codes can be written from scratch using a normal text editor, HTML editors ensure hassle-free coding and a more efficient workflow. Plus, they allow you to easily check your syntax, insert commonly used HTML tags and structures, and also provide auto-completion.

There are two types of HTML editors: WYSIWYG (“What You See Is What You Get”) and text editors. WYSIWYG editors allow you to see what you’re editing as you’re editing it, instead of writing a line of HTML and CSS code and then previewing the result in another window. These editors do not require any hardcore knowledge of HTML, enabling non-technical folks with less HTML experience to easily develop websites.

With a text editor, you edit the page’s code directly first and then you preview it in a browser or the editor’s preview pane. Some of these editors also provide features of making a project, managing all the files related to the web, etc.

Below are some editors to consider. Ideally, the editor you choose will provide a clean interface, give you the features you need, and work in your preferred operating system, so you’ll want to be mindful of these things.

• Atom: an open source and free code editor. It was released by GitHub in 2014.
• Adobe Dreamweaver CC: a closed-source software and works well only within an Adobe ecosystem.
• Notepad++: free,open-source, multi-language code editor which was initially developed for Windows-based computers. It uses ‘Scintilla’ as the editing component and is written in C++.
• Sublime Text: a cross-platform editor with Python API. Some of its packages are open-source and are available on git.
• TextPad: general purpose editor for plain text files that offers a free trial.

The First Steps when Learning HTML & CSS

As a beginner, you’ll want to start with the foundational skills of HTML and CSS. You’ll begin by getting familiar with the tools of the trade and exploring a code editor chosen by either yourself or your course instructor. From there, it’s typically recommended you start with HTML first, practicing how to work with and emphasize text, how to use hyperlinks and tags, and how to add photos, tables, and forms. You’ll then move onto CSS, mastering styling basics, positioning, backgrounds, and custom buttons and links. 

Once you feel confident with these basic skills, you can try your hand at creating a website from scratch, starting with HTML and building out the styling and personalization through CSS. You can build out basic webpage features like a header, banner, the main copy, and any footer content. And, with your newfound skills, you can customize your site to fit your personal preferences, choosing background colors, button design and text, font styles, and images for your webpage. 

Below is a quick list of the HTML & CSS basics for beginners. You can use this list as a reference when researching potential classes to ensure you choose a course that covers the best topics for novices.

HTML:

• Headings
• Paragraphs
• Images
• Line breaks
• Bold, underline, and italicized
• Ordered and unordered lists
• Superscript and subscript

CSS:

• General format (selector, property, and value)
• Declarations and declaration blocks
• CSS comments
• Type selectors (also known as element selectors)
• Grouping selectors

Free HTML & CSS Tools for Beginners

Free resources are available for learning HTML & CSS. YouTube boasts a wide range of tutorials and informative videos on all kinds of coding subjects: from short five-minute episodes on the fundamentals to more in-depth breakdowns of advanced topics. YouTube is a great way to explore your initial interest or get answers to specific questions on HTML & CSS. Other websites like Google and LinkedIn offer short free tutorials and trainings designed to help you grasp the history and basic principles of HTML & CSS. 

Free resources are often your fastest option and can last anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of hours. Their brevity is one reason they are so popular for beginners, but the drawback of these courses is that they will lack the in-depth knowledge and real-time interaction with an expert instructor that more immersive programs offer. With that in mind, it’s best to use these resources as a brief introduction to make sure you’re interested in the subject (or as supplemental learning materials) as opposed to the sole source of your education. 

Live HTML & CSS Training for Beginners

Live HTML and CSS courses are an ideal learning method for those entirely new to the field. Live online classes are great for those who prefer a solitary learning environment with minimal distractions. They allow you to learn from the comfort of your own home (or wherever you choose), providing more flexibility. Additionally, if you live in an area with limited (or no) in-person options, online classes open up more opportunities for you. 

A great place to start would be Intro to HTML & CSS, a hands-on course that will teach you the basics of both of these fundamental tools. You’ll hand code a webpage from scratch using HTML, learning how to format paragraphs, headings, and lists. You’ll also learn how to create links, add images, and modify tags with attributes. By the end of class, you’ll be familiar with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), including tag selectors, class selectors, and the class attribute.

Noble Desktop’s HTML Email Bootcamp will help you gain skills to create responsive emails with personality. Boasting small class sizes led by expert instructors, you’ll learn HTML and CSS coding, including how to code effective and cross-mail-client compatible emails and optimize emails for desktop, webmail, and mobile users. By the end of this program, you’ll be able to code emails that display properly in various email apps for your business or clients.

Their Web Development with HTML & CSS will teach you how to develop websites with HTML and CSS, the coding languages used to create web pages. Using HTML, you’ll learn how to create webpages with text, images, and more. Then you’ll use CSS to style the content, create centered page layouts, add background images, style navigation, and make the page responsive so it adapts to various screen sizes using media queries. Finally, you’ll upload files to FTP to make your site go live.

The Next Step

If you’re looking to go a little deeper, you could try the Front End Web Development Certificate. You’ll learn HTML to mark up web pages, CSS for styling, JavaScript to add interactivity and animation, and Git to track code changes and collaborate with other developers. Ideal for those new to coding, you’ll develop the skills to create responsive websites optimized for any size screen (mobile, tablet, and desktop). Additionally, you’ll learn how to use WordPress, the world's leading content management system, to create customizable websites and edit content without the need to be a programming expert.

You could also attend Noble’s Software Engineering Certificate. The program's first section covers basics like how to HTML to mark up web pages and CSS for styling. You'll also learn the fundamentals of JavaScript, Git for version control, and how to use Flexbox and Grid to layout, align, reorder web page content, and make it adapt to different size screens. You’ll build upon these beginner skills while you learn fundamental JavaScript programming concepts, including variables, data types, loops, and DOM. Then you’ll learn React, a powerful JavaScript library for web development. Finally, you'll learn the lexical syntax of Python and master advanced topics like dictionaries, custom functions, and sorting algorithms. You'll progress to object-oriented programming, working with APIs, and querying databases with SQL, and get an introduction to Django, a Python web framework used for back end web programming. By the end of this course, you’ll have the skills and confidence to pursue a career in software engineering.