Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

General Discussion

Kenton Kotsiris
Kenton Kotsiris
6,130 Points

When to learn bootstrap?

Hi Everyone! I'm fairly new to coding and am currently taking the front end developer track here (I hope to be come a front end developer). I'm in the CSS portion of the track, so still a long way to go.

My question is now that I've gotten a little familiar with HTML and CSS, as well as learning the basics of a text editor (sublime 3), I want to start practicing!! What I've been doing is searching job posting and seeing what skills they are looking for (my plan it to match those to help me better get a job when all this is over) and I've noticed Bootstrap mentioned a lot.

My questions: Should I try to learn Bootstrap now in addition to CSS, or should I focus on CSS and dive into Bootstrap at a later time?

Also, is there anything I should be looking at to make me a good candidate for a job in front end web dev?

I plan on moving on to learn java and jquery once I get all this HTML and CSS down.

There is so much to learn that it excites me, I just don't want to spread myself too thin.

Any input would be grateful!

4 Answers

Ben Holland
PLUS
Ben Holland
Courses Plus Student 4,062 Points

Hi Kenton

Maybe focus on CSS then use those skills to use in Bootstrap because if you know your CSS ,HTML well Bootstrap is great if not , it's confusing for new comers .

Also learn simple Javascript and jQuery they would help because they all come under the HTML5 categories .

Also Swift would be great for you if you have a Mac since its simple for new -coders and give you principles and techniques you can use in a wide variety of situations .

Kenton Kotsiris
Kenton Kotsiris
6,130 Points

Thanks so much for the suggestion, Ben!

Nkosi Ndlovu
Nkosi Ndlovu
9,652 Points

hey Kenton

I'd suggest learning Html, Css, Javascript and Jquery. For front end you might want to look into photoshop and illustrator. Bootstrap is a framework and IMO can be daunting task to learn if you don't know your css. Make sure you add Emmet to your Sublime Text. For work, you will have to make as many projects as possible. All the best

Kenton Kotsiris
Kenton Kotsiris
6,130 Points

Thanks for the input, Nkosi

Bill Hinostroza
Bill Hinostroza
19,273 Points

I would first focus on getting better at HTML and CSS. Once, you truly master it and memorize the syntax.

I would try to learn Bootstrap just cause it's a universal framework for front end developers.

I've been using Bootstrap this past month for various projects. My opinion is that it's OK to learn both CSS and Bootstrap at the same time. Bootstrap doesn't need much CSS if any; most of it is implemented by adding classes to HTML elements. So, for a simple, default look & feel, HTML is all you need to work in. Then, once you want to start handling click events, use jQuery - so much easier to read and write than vanilla JavaScript for DOM manipulation.

Start small then iterate. Have fun and ignite your curiosity that will drive your passion for learning more. I ended up spending most of the day on a small project just because I wanted to learn more about how to vertically align text within an element, which led to flexbox, which led to making this: http://codepen.io/WheelsGoRound/pen/LBlrA

Kenton Kotsiris
Kenton Kotsiris
6,130 Points

Thanks for the tips, Robert. Awesome pen by the way!