Web development is a skill that can be almost entirely self-taught with online courses, e-books, and tutorials. Many web development specialists go to college to learn their craft, but you can learn on your own by following online guides and tutorials until you have the knowledge and skills to create great website apps.

Even when you become a web development expert, there are plenty of resources you’ll find yourself coming back to again and again. From API specifications to programming language syntax definitions, the web is full of documentation you’ll need to review to refresh your skills and learn new ones.

In this guide, we’ll look at five of the most useful online resources you can use to get started in web development.

1. The Odin Project

Video courses like those at Udemy are great for teaching specific facets of web development, but their modular nature can leave you with knowledge gaps. The Odin Project (opens in a new tab) covers everything you need to know to become a full-stack web developer – someone who can do everything from HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and JavaScript coding, to database and version control.

If you’re new to web development and don’t know where to start, this free program has a great structure to follow. It starts by showing you how to configure your text editors and version control tools, before teaching you HTML, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and JavaScript. You then have the option to continue the path to learning Ruby on Rails or Node.js. As a bonus, the program provides tips on how to land your first job now that you’re armed with the skills to do the job.

2. freeCodeCamp

freeCodeCamp (opens in a new tab) provides over 3,000 hours of coding training, broken down into 10-minute to three-hour increments. Lessons range from introduction to HTML and CSS, to machine learning and data analysis with Python. Best of all, all 8,000+ tutorials are free.

The lessons take place in a text editor, where you write your code. The results of your code are displayed in real time in a fake web browser. If you get stuck, help is provided in the form of video tutorials, guides, and blog posts.

freeCodeCamp works well as an educational tool because it requires you to do the work yourself. The experience mirrors what it’s like to code in the real world, as you tear your hair out for a few minutes trying to figure out why your code isn’t working before the dime finally drops. By the time you complete the course, you’re sure you know what you’re doing and you get a certificate to prove it!

3.Udemy

For beginners in web development, online video courses from an instructor are unbeatable, and Udemy (opens in a new tab) is the undisputed king of these. With over 155,000 lessons and 115 million minutes of video, you’re sure to find a course that’s exactly what you need.

Other students rate each Udemy course, and you can read reviews from those who have taken each course. This means you know what you’re getting into before you start and whether a particular lesson will be worth your time. You also receive a certificate of completion for each course, which can be handy for your CV. Udemy offers multiple payment options, so it’s inexpensive whether you plan to take a single course or multiple courses.

Remember that watching videos will not make you a web developer. Once you understand the topic described by the speaker, you will need to put your knowledge into practice, try the code for yourself and create your own web applications.

4. CSS Tips

For website developers new to CSS, CSS tips (opens in a new tab) has several guides that you can come back to again and again. These are comprehensive yet easy to understand, with excellent, clear examples.

CSS-Tricks doesn’t just have CSS guides. Even seasoned web designers and developers regularly return to guides on Developer Console Commands, jQuery, Data Attributes, CSS Grid, and CSS Flexbox. Mastering these web design basics can make you a better web developer, able to quickly build web applications with clean and efficient code.

5. Awesome Cheat Sheets

Once you’ve mastered a few programming languages, learning new ones becomes easier. You usually don’t need to read another textbook cover to cover to understand how to use a language. You often just need a cheat sheet that shows you sample code and describes the specifics of the language and its syntax.

Awesome Cheat Sheets (opens in a new tab) is a curated list of cheat sheets for many of the most popular modern programming languages. Each cheat sheet is one page long and written in the code of the language in question. It’s a great way to get an instant overview of a programming language’s code structure and get all the most important tips for applying it.

Cheat sheets usually list their sources as well, so when you inevitably need to dig deeper into a particular quirk of a language, you can quickly find an answer.

Summary

There are hundreds of thousands of amazing online resources to learn and develop your web development skills, and we’ve only described five of them. Throughout your career, you need to keep up to date with the latest technologies, tools, and methods, so be sure to bookmark these resources.

To help you on your way, consider our recommendations for the best website design software (opens in a new tab) and web development tools (opens in a new tab)many of which can speed up your development time and help you manage larger tasks and projects.