It is extremely important to understand the fundamentals of web design and web development if you want to work in digital marketing, social media or design. At a minimum, a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and design is essential if you want to do anything on the web.
If you aren’t familiar with how websites are built, HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) provide the fundamental code that constructs the graphic user interface of the Internet’s world wide web. In a few hours of studying these two web markup languages, you will be able to start building your first website.
There are other useful skills you will need to learn if you want to build a career in web development like using a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, mastering a responsive design framework like Bootstrap, and building your digital portfolio.
** If you want to read more about how to build and online portfolio, CLICK HERE **
If you’re ready to get started learning the fundamentals of web development and how to build and design your own websites then continue with reading of this awesome HTML and CSS guide post...
1. Learning HTML and Css
Here are some of your best options for free online courses and self-directed education platforms for learning web design and web development skills. Here are the top 3 online places where you can learn HTML and CSS programming on the most effective and detailed way:
1. CodeAcademy – This is the student's favorite way to learn HTML and CSS for free. Codeacademy makes learning fun with scores, badges, interesting projects and an excellent Q+A forum if you ever have any questions.
2. Programmr – Learn through completing live HTML exercises in your browser.
3. Hack Design – Receive a design lesson in your email inbox each week. Currently 26 lessons from professional designers.
You can start your career in web design by building a responsive and accessible web portfolio using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript in this 5-part specialization from the University of Michigan on Coursera. If you want to build advanced web applications then React is one of the best programming languages to learn. Master front-end web, hybrid mobile app and server-side development in four comprehensive courses.
These are a few of the most recommended books for aspiring web designers.
1. HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites – An accessible, beautifully designed introduction to HTML and CSS.
2. CSS Mastery – If you’re already experienced with CSS but you want to learn more advanced topics, this is an excellent book.
3. The Web Book – A free ebook on how to create websites and applications with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP and MySQL.
** If you want to learn how to make money with eBooks, CLICK HERE **
2. Frameworks
Web design frameworks dramatically speed up your development time by providing a foundation of code and the latest responsive HTML5/CSS3 markup to build from. They also make it easy to have your websites look perfect on every devices and screen size. Here are the most popular:
1. Twitter Bootstrap – The most popular responsive web framework. It is packed with features, regularly updated and a good framework to start with.
2. Foundation – Light and fast mobile-first design framework.
3. Gumby – Beautiful design framework that uses SASS (Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets), an extension of CSS3.
4. Skeleton – A full web development kit for constructing responsive, mobile-friendly websites fast.
5. Base – A simple responsive, grid-based framework for web design.
6. Responsive Grid System – A simple framework for building responsive themes fast.
3. Web Network
Having a professional web design portfolio is much more important than your resume or credentials. These websites will help you network with other designers and feature your best work for feedback from the community. Here are the most popular:
1. Dribble – A community of designers sharing their work, process, and projects. The talent of designers on Dribbble is simply astounding.
2. Behance – The web’s largest community for designers. Recently bought by Adobe for over $150 million.
3. Cargo – A design community where they make apply and get approval from other designers.
4. Scoutzie – A portfolio site for professional designers that want freelance work with startups.
5. DeviantArt – More of an artist showcase community but this site is huge.
4. Basic Elements
Headings may be one of the easiest codes to learn and considering how crucial they are to your SEO, it's a good thing. There are six different types, as seen below. To create a heading, simply wrap your text in the heading tags of your choice.
What would a nice heading be without a paragraph to elaborate on the message? To get a paragraph like the one you're reading now, simply wrap your text in <p> tags like the example below, and don't forget to close it with a </p> tag!
The image tag is empty, because it only contains attributes, so it doesn't need to be closed. The attributes listed above include "src" or image URL. I also included the image alt text, and some styling properties (width and height). You can customize your image however you'd like.
A line break is also an empty element, so it doesn't need to be closed. A line break is basically an intentional space between two lines of text, created with <br>.
To make something bold, there are two code elements that work. However, my developers tell me that <strong> is used much more over <b>. Don't forget to close the <strong> tag! </strong>
Bold, italicized, and now underlined. This one is just as easy as the other two. Just wrap the text you want underlined in <u> tags, like this.
Yes, there is a difference between an ordered list and an unordered list. The ordered list contains numbers, while the unordered list contains bullet points. They both follow the same structure, but one letter changes. Here is the code sentence for an ordered list. The <ol> is the entire "ordered list," while the <li> is a "list item." You can include as many list items as you need.
As I mentioned in the last example, only one letter change is needed to switch from an ordered list to an unordered list. Determine which type of list would be more effective for your projects.
Setting a specific color uses the same code type as the previous example, but instead of using font-family, you use "color." You can experiment with actual colors (blue, red, orange, etc.), or you can also insert hex colors to customize your text to your brand.
Well, I don't know if it's the best, but I think it's pretty darn cool. The HTML code for creating a table can become pretty intricate, but if you get the hang of the basics, you shouldn't have too much of an issue. I'll show you how to create a simple table below. To make it easier to understand, <tr> stands for table row, while <td> stands for table data. Keep in mind that you can change the font, text size, text color, text alignment, and more.
5. Learning time
Learning basic HTML+CSS doesn’t take long, but learning to use them well does take some time. The basic tags and label can be understood in about one or two hours. But if you want to learn advanced HTML and CSS animations, then it will take more time.
I honestly can’t say exactly how many hours you’ll need to put in, but the chances are you’ll have to keep learning for as long as you keep designing. After all, the technologies change and get updated over the years.
To master HTML and CSS, you have to commit to lifelong learning because all these fields are very vast, the more you try the more will you learn.
HTML.com is a website created specifically for beginners who want to learn HTML. It covers everything you need to know about HTML. Follow their step-by-step tutorials and you will have the HTML knowledge to build your first website in a few minutes - not hours!
The website also has a full list (with a brief description) of each attribute and tag (in alphabetical order) used in HTML, plus the latest additions in HTML5. You can click to view the details of each property, code examples, and other elements.
This is an interactive online tutorial website for learning HTML. The content not only covers HTML and CSS, but also programming languages tutorials such as Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and C++.
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