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Web Development - Serious Question

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 Rob Exile Ward 14 Apr 2020

Let's suppose 'someone' with some simple programming and technical expertise would like to learn to develop websites - starting with simple brochure type but moving on to more complicated apps, e.g. online appointments, ecommerce or other interactive applications - where do you start? In the old days it was easy, you'd just choose a language, get a copy of the compiler and start on page 1 of the manual - but where and how do you start with web development?

 jasonC abroad 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Probably start with the basics ie learn HTML and CSS, get proficient with those, and then move on to the wide wide world of JavaScript development.  I'd start with learning the basics of Javascript well before moving on learning any of the many frameworks that are in use these days.  You can do most things with Javascript these days include server side code and databases so one language can cover everything.

I'd learn how to write tests in Javascript as well, it will make for better code.

 mondite 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

You start off by choosing your Javascript library and then by the end of the first day you replace it with a new, better library.

More seriously.

A book along the lines of Web Design Playground (manning website has discounts on all ebooks as well at the moment) might be a good starting point. Runs through basic html/css and javascript to give the basics.

Then beyond that it starts to get messy fast. Unfortunately the web world has looked at all the mistakes and learning experiencing in the rest of the programming world and gone nah lets not learn from that and instead repeat them all but just do it faster.

 jasonC abroad 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Pluralsight an online learning platform is free for the whole of April, some of their courses might be worth looking at as a starting point

 StefanB 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

There are a number of ways to go and there are several niches in web development. 

Step 1: learn the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. To start with you only need the basics but depending where you go next, you have to dig deeper and learn about the details and things like testing frameworks. 

Then, there are many ways to proceed but two stick out in terms of the job market and freelance opportunities :

Option 1: go the pre-built framework direction: probably Wordpress. A lot can be achieved by customizing such frameworks and working with plugins for e-commerce and almost anything can be built with minimum coding. Once you get deep enough into this you will need to learn some PHP. A lot of people build very professional web sites and earn good money with this.

Option 2: become a full-stack Javascript web programmer. This means learning about modern web architectures with frontends that connect to backends through APIs. Learn Node.js and some API framework (express or koa), then pick a frontend framework (React or Vue). You should also learn about databases, both SQL and NoSQL. This is obviously much harder and requires more coding than option 1 but opens up more interesting opportunities. 

It all depends on your goal, though. There are a lot of additional options, but the above assumes that you want to earn money with this fairly soon. You can also build web apps in other technology stacks but the current demand for skills is in these options.

In reply to StefanB:

Thanks folks, exactly the sort if steers I was hoping for.

 two_tapirs 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

I can recommend the approach to learning that Codecademy take, and their 'learn web development' courses are great at taking a beginner through the very basics and building their confidence and skills

have a look at the course here:

https://www.codecademy.com/learn/paths/web-development

good luck, and hope that you enjoy it.  

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Wordpress is about 1/3 of all the sites on the internet.  If you are doing appointments, e-commerce etc you probably want to get expert on a platform and the plug-ins for it and only do your own code when there's no other option.

 MarkH55 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Do a web dev bootcamp.  Costly but fast and effective

 james wardle 14 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Java isn't the only game in town.   although granted its the most popular for really big websites.   Lots of medium size sites use PHP with a framework like Laravel 

Java is more of a more marketable skill.  But in terms of the about of time taken to go from zero to getting useful work done online PHP is not a bad choice.

These days it seems like you need to decide if you are going to be a front end or backend developer.  People who are great at both are hard to find!

 Alkis 14 Apr 2020
In reply to james wardle:

Honestly, if web development is your target, PHP is a much more marketable skill than Java. Unless you are going into enterprise, PHP is the norm. Personally, I use ASP.NET Core but that's me.

 StefanB 15 Apr 2020
In reply to Alkis:

Java - heavy lifting enterprise applications

PHP - Worpress-based websites for most small websites (business, reasonably-sized e-commerce, etc)

Full-stack JavaScripts - agile interactive web apps, APIs and sofware as a service solutions

This seems to be the current tech choices based on what I see in software companies and freelance portals.   

 stp 15 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

It depends a lot on what your final goal is. Start a new career, make a website for yourself and / or a few friends.

WebDev specifically refers to the coding side of making web sites. There is also UI (user interface design), UX (user experience), web design, SEO as well as wide variety of programming languages, libraries and frameworks.

Javascript (not Java) is currently a fairly major language for the programming side and various Javascript libraries/frameworks are popular. React in particular but also Vue and a bunch of others.

If you want a general web dev kind of thing then that's often referred to as front end development. This would involve HTML, CSS and Javascript plus some skill with graphic design and using images like JPEG, PNG and SVG (another markup language for vector graphics).

So it really depends on what you plan to do and what your end goal is.

 stp 15 Apr 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

A good free online resource to provide a quick overview in front end stuff is:

https://frontendmasters.com/books/front-end-handbook/2019/

Post edited at 11:40

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