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General Discussion

Juan Luna
Juan Luna
11,483 Points
Posted by Juan Luna
Juan Luna
11,483 Points

A BIG confusion...

Hi, I'm Juan Felipe Luna from Bogotá, Colombia; I want to learn all about Front End Development and I started with HTML and CSS, I'm ready to start with Javascript and jQuery and in the future I want to learn Wordpress. I have seen a LOT of different stuff related with Web Design and I'm really confused, for example: I thought that with CSS and HTML from scratch I would be able to do a lot of things but I recently heard about Sass, Less and Compass, I thought that learning Javascript I would understand jQuery perfectly but I recently heard about Backbone.js and Angular.js; and finally I thought that learning HTML+CSS+Javascript I would build a web page but (just the Front End, I know) but I recently heard about Bootstrap and Foundation. I don't know, the most I learn about Web Development and Web Design the most I discover new frameworks, libraries and other stuff. There are something I'm missing? I'm really confused. Am I doing it right learning HTML, CSS and Javascript from scratch? Can someone tell me what is the normal process of learning Web Development? I don't know if my question was clear, I just want to know if I am doing things right and what are those tools/frameworks/ides/libraries/whatever that I need to learn.

3 Answers

Jim Withington
Jim Withington
12,025 Points
Jim Withington
Jim Withington
12,025 Points

I think you can trust that learning through a Treehouse track is going to get you skills that you need in the correct order. It sounds like you're getting ahead of yourself a bit. :-)

I'm new here too, and I want to make sure I have the foundations built before I jump into the new and exciting—before you learn to race bikes, you first have to get good at riding a bike. :-)

Gloria Dwomoh
Gloria Dwomoh
13,116 Points
Gloria Dwomoh
Gloria Dwomoh
13,116 Points

Yes that is a thing all of us face and it feels endless to be honest. If you do HTML + CSS + Javascript, those things will be easier for you. So don't be swayed, stick to those things. You need to know HTML at least, to kind of understand Bootstrap/Foundation for example. Since you are learning the building blocks of things you'd see in these framework, I suggest sticking to it would be good. You can do the guided tracks so you have a certain flow to follow. There is one on Front-end web development.

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points

It's the endless cycle. There is always something to be learning. Get your foundations down first. Vanilla HTML, CSS, and JS and/or jQuery. Once you get the foundations down, you'll understand more how to use a front end framework like Bootstrap or Foundation.

You'll learn more about how awesome Sass, Less, or Stylus can be, after you learn vanilla CSS.

You'll learn how nice Haml or Jade can be, after you learn HTML.

You'll learn how or when Angular, Backbone, Handlebars, etc come into play after you get your foundation. Just like building a house. Don't worry about proper attic ventilation until you get the foundation poured. Although this is a house that is always under construction...lol

Follow the tracks here, it'll help in your process.

Juan Luna
Juan Luna
11,483 Points
Juan Luna
Juan Luna
11,483 Points

So, I need to learn HTMl, CSS and Javascript to built the Front End of a webpage, and all the other things are tools to work better with them, they are not mandatory but are REALLY helpful. Am I right?

Thanks for the help :)

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points

There isn't really a one answer fits all here.

I'm hesitant to just say yes here, but more or less, yes.

There's use cases for them all, advantages and disadvantages, and what not.

The exception being Angular and Backbone like libraries. They behave more like a backend language. Some really cool web apps have been built using those libraries though.