Web development for beginners with links to learning resources from my personal journey.
My personal web development journey began over 20 years ago when I couldn’t afford to hire someone to build a website for me. So, I decided to learn. At the time, resources were limited, but I was determined to understand how websites worked from the inside out. Drag-and-drop tools existed, but I wanted to go deeper and learn how to code myself. As a self-taught web developer, I explored HTML, JavaScript, and eventually PHP — often hitting roadblocks, sometimes even giving up. But I kept going. Now, if you’re just starting out or didn’t have the chance to study web development at college, this page can help you begin your own journey.
🛠️ Who Builds a Website?
Whether you’re planning to build a website yourself or hire a team, it helps to know who does what. Building a site is a bit like building a house—each part has a specialist.
If you’re a lone wolf you’ll need to understand and rely on good learning resources
The Key Roles You Should Know. The roles from stake holder, the project manager, UX design, the designer, the front end developer to back end developer.
By job title.
- Client Stakeholder
- Project Manager / Coordinator
- UX Design (User Experience)
- UI Designer (User Interface)
- Web Developer (Front End)
- Web Developer (Back-end)
- Content Writer
- SEO Specialist
- Graphic Designer
- QA Tester
- Hosting & Domain Manager
1. You (the Client!) also known as the stake holder.
You bring the vision—what the site should do and who it’s for.
2. UX/UI Designer
These folks design how the site feels and looks. UX handles the flow and experience; UI makes it visually appealing.
There are some great free online resources for learning UX/UI design — from beginner-friendly to more advanced. Here are some standout options:
🔹 Google UX Design Certificate (via Coursera)
- URL: coursera.org/google-ux-design
- Cost: Free to audit (or low-cost if you want the certificate)
- Why it’s good: Created by Google, it’s beginner-friendly and covers the full UX design process — research, wireframes, prototyping, testing.
🔹 Interaction Design Foundation (IDF)
- URL: interaction-design.org
- Cost: Some free articles and resources, but full access requires membership
- Why it’s good: Deep-dive content, practical case studies, and a strong focus on both theory and real-world practice.
🔹 freeCodeCamp – Responsive Web Design & UX
- URL: freecodecamp.org
- Cost: 100% free though you will be asked to support their model.
- Why it’s good: Includes UI/UX basics in its responsive design courses, with hands-on HTML/CSS projects.
- You will need to freeCodeCamp, an AI and WC3Schools as well. freeCodeCamp doesn’t really offer the why clearly enough.
🔹 Adobe XD Ideas & Learn Platforms
- URL: xd.adobe.com/ideas
- Cost: Free
- Why it’s good: Articles, tutorials, and design inspiration straight from Adobe — great for visual design and prototyping skills.
🔹 UX Design Institute – Free UX Course
- URL: uxdesigninstitute.com
- Cost: Free intro course
- Why it’s good: Gives a solid overview of what UX design is, including career advice.
3. Front-End Developer
They take the design and turn it into a real website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Everything users see and click on—they build it.
4. Back-End Developer
Handles what goes on behind the scenes—like databases, logins, and form submissions.
5. Content Writer
Writes the words your visitors will read—headlines, product info, blog posts, and calls to action.
6. SEO Specialist
Makes sure your site is search engine or Google-friendly so people can find it.
7. Graphic Designer
Creates the logo, icons, images, and branding elements. By the way, I created my Logo, it’s not copied or from an AI, it’s all mine.
8. Tester (QA)
Checks for bugs, broken links, and makes sure the site works on phones and tablets too.
9. Hosting & Domain Setup
Someone needs to launch the site, secure it, and keep it running. That’s the hosting and domain side. It’s worth remembering that you can host your won website but you will have to purchase a domain name, and make sure you’re doing the purchasing.
You don’t need a huge team—many of these roles overlap or can be handled by one person. But understanding the process helps you build smarter, faster, and with confidence.
Maybe you wish to learn to build websites. So where do you start and where are the best resources to be found.
Mozilla Foundation – Your blueprint for a better internet.
Without doubt, the Mozilla Foundation and the learning experience on MDN. Their words, not mine.
Mozilla use a words I can totally identify with. I didn’t have the advantages that beginners do today. Back in 2005 things were way different, the resources available to beginners was beyond anything I had. In fact I remember using a MS application called Front Page, I hated it! Teach me HTML and CSS! It was the same when I was learning to work with a database and told to learn QBE. What is QBE! no, I won’t, ask the web. So I learned SQL, much much better. Back to learning web development. My resources was W3Schools and still is, it’s the only place, well, it was until AI came along. W3Schools has the best reference library. No I missed an opportunity, YouTube, when I was learning to build websites developers were already making videos on websites production and coding languages, damn, and they were doing it fast, I was poor, I didn’t have the kit either. In a future post I will tell you how to create a YouTube videos as I create my own. So now you have everything you need, right at your finger tips, the rather exhaustive WWW. Now you have too much, really, the places to learn as a beginner, besides school have grown massively. I will tell you this though, I was 50 in 2005, yes, 50 years of age. Could I get a job as web developer, no! But I learned anyway, at home in my own time. Because I am a creative person and I love technology.
So, I will list resources available to you in the next section, but for now, a good place to start is Mozilla.
“We originally launched the MDN Learn Web Development section in 2016 with the aim of making MDN more accessible to non-experts and helping to take new web developers from “beginner to comfortable”
Mozilla foundation
Yes, there’s more to come, I will be at this for weeks, so please follow along. There’s also SEO to come, suggested resource is
