Introduction

Where do I start?

“Where do I start?”… “What do I need to learn first?”… “Do I really need to learn to write code?” 

Web design is a huge subject and can be very intimidating at first. It is also constantly evolving and can be very challenging to stay current with best practices in the field. However, there are some basic foundational skills anyone can learn and leverage for designing and publishing websites. Most of the topics covered in this guide are battle tested methods for building websites for the foreseeable future.

What is code?

HTML, CSS and Javascript are the primary code technologies that structure, style and provide functionality to Web pages. They work together to render a Web page in Internet browsers and display the page content. They have different purposes, but essentially they are just keyboard text utilizing special characters (Syntax) to provide instructions to the Web browser in each language. It is essential for Front-End Web Designers to learn to read and write HTML & CSS. In addition, it is also important to have basic understanding of how to include Javascript in Web pages to add functionality.

About this guide…

This guide is intended as an introduction to key concepts in “Front-End” Web Design and covers some of the most popular methods for building websites. It is designed to provide those with little or no experience with basic knowledge how to get started. It might be best described as  a survival guide for beginners. The guide is organized into several parts that are structured to be studied sequentially, but can also be used as a reference guide for the individual topics covered.