Web-Development Roadmap For Beginners

Web-Development Roadmap For Beginners
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

Before you start, lay out where you think you’re going

There’s no better time to start than now. There are hundreds of tomorrows and thousands of laters, but remember, yesterday you said tomorrow. So start now.

There are thousands of new jobs available for web developers each day — the demand is rapidly growing. So why are you still doubting getting started?

Web development isn’t easy, and it’s not for everyone. It’ll take you time to understand even the basics, so you need to consider a lot of things. Ask yourself what your strengths and weaknesses are. Try to understand the overall flow of web development: How does the internet work? How does data get passed from one end to another? What are the languages you want to learn (and their dependencies)? And how do they function with one another?

You need to understand the overall view before you can choose which path to take because once you decide, there’s no turning back — kidding. I’m just saying it’s for the best.

These are some of the fundamentals of web development.

Front-End Web Development

From the root word itself, it’s the front of any system. In web development, this is what the user sees — the website itself — the view, the color, the font, and the design. This is where the user interface is created, whether it’s for the web or for mobile. The basic foundation you need to learn in front-end web development is HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Client-side

This is for front-end development. This requires the browser. such as Google Chrome or Firefox. to run the scripts or codes. This is where the user interacts. The client-side scripting languages are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

HTML

HTML contains the building blocks of web programming. It usually dictates the arrangement of the content.

CSS

CSS is responsible for the design, colors, font size, and some animations too. It helps make the interaction more enjoyable and eye-catching.

JavaScript

JavaScript is responsible for the enhancement of the HTML. This is used whenever the webpage needs to be dynamic and have special effects. One of its abilities is it can run on all modern browsers. It’s lightweight and makes the execution process fast, enhancing the user experience to its best.

Once you’re able to have a grasp of those three front-end foundations, you can then proceed with learning the client-side libraries, which are React, Angular, and Vue.js.

Back-End Web Development

This is where you communicate with the database, handles almost all the logic, and send the requested data to the front end.

A server can be written in different languages. The easiest way to learn, among other choices, is by Node.js which is JavaScript-based. Once you get comfortable with JavaScript, you can easily transition from front end to back end, as they’re both on the same language. Other back-end languages will be mentioned below.

Server-side

This is for the back-end development, including the server for its processing. This isn’t visible on the client’s end. It’s working on the backside. The languages for the server or the back end are PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby on Rails, Python, etc.

What it does:

  • Functions like customization of the website
  • Dynamic inputs and changes to the website content
  • Responses for every data query from the user — a good example is when the user logs in, the verification is done on the back end to check if the user validates a certain authentication

Working and understanding the database is one of the core functions in back-end development. A database via SQL is the most popular, but there’s also NoSQL and GraphQL.

Databases

Databases are where the data of a certain application is stored. There are two common types of databases: SQL and NoSQL.

The Requirements and a General Overview Before We Start

You have different options in choosing your text editor.

  1. VS Code: This is the most popular choice. It’s easy to use, and there are hundreds of extensions you can use to make coding fun, enjoyable, and easy.
  2. Atom
  3. WebStorm
  4. Sublime Text
  5. Vim: This is the hardest — it’s way too advanced for now

Know your operating system (OS)

Are you using a Mac, Windows, or Linux? An OS is the backbone of any system. Without it, you can’t interact with anything.

Mac: Developed by Apple for its Macintosh system, Mac’s the most popular choice.

Windows: Developed by Microsoft, a Windows machine is cheaper than a Mac, but when it comes to the risk of malware, Windows is the most vulnerable.

Linux: A UNIX-like source software that provides full-memory protection and multitasking operations. It’s open for everyone, but it’s the least used OS.

Conclusion

This is a self-taught developer starter series. Feel free to visit my profile for more tools, resources, and tutorials.

Thanks for reading!