The Next Step from HTML, CSS

I'm working my way through front-end design, and for me, the next steps beyond HTML and CSS are LESS/SASS and Bootstrap.

Hi Josh,

Me also I missed that bit off I have just setup foundation 5 with Sass and compass it is great you can literally launch a full foundation 5 project from the OSX Terminal. it was a bit of a challenge as I had changed the settings on my terminal somehow on a different part of my learning with a program called GNS3 for computer networking OOPS.

Hi Anthony, in every day practice you'll most likely end up using CMS Systems like Wordpress, Joomla, Typo3, Drupal, etc. with components/plugins and you'll modify these systems to your clients needs. But to do this in a professional way you need to have a profound knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Frameworks like Bootstrap (i.e. part of the Joomla CMS since Version 3.x). You won't build every site for a customer like you learned in "Build a Simple PHP Application" or "Enhancing a Simple PHP Application" but you need to know how such a system/site works in theory to be able to modify them - at least in a way that makes sense :-)

HI Holger,

I appreciate your comment I have a plan in my head to focus on HTML, CSS, JS, Foundation/Bootstrap and WordPress I have played around with Joomla and Drupal but never really liked to use them!

I think I will always look at those as options but would you say it's best to stick to a set workflow or completely start a fresh depending on the project ?

IMHO that's very depending on the type of project and of course the amount of money your customer is willing to pay but more often then not you're going to find yourself reusing solutions, code, components, parts, etc. that are already at hand or you've already used/modified for an other customer (and I think there's nothing wrong with that as you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time :-) )

Lets not forget about the elephant in the room, databases. I personally use MySQL and you can create custom search features, store or update user profiles, save forms, etc. You'll learn to use CRUD, which stands for CREATE READ UPDATE and DELETE and allows you to pretty much save or manipulate any type of data much like a computer hard drive and display it on websites. JS/HTML/CSS <-> PHP <-> MySQL is the foundation to fully customized dynamic and interactive websites. Wordpress uses these three technologies and it's how its search function works and how it stores its posts/pages.

Hi Eduardo,

Thanks for pointing that out that is the kind of setup i'm looking for can you suggest any learning material for this side of the web ?

Hi Anthony, as Eduardo Garcia already pointed out a profound knowledge of databases, of course, (especially DB's you're going to use in combination with PHP like mySQL for example) is essential and you might want to look into Database Foundations and Using PHP with MySQL.

Thanks Holger I didn't even realise there was a database foundations course on Treehouse :)