Modern Web Designing for Student Bloggers

BY MIKKIE MILLS

Web design is a valuable and in-demand skill. Many people want to know more about how websites work so they can make their own or use their skills to advance their careers. The good news is that the major languages, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, are easy to learn. The best thing you can do is get your feet wet and start learning right away. Here is a little information on what these languages do.

HTML

HTML is the most foundational language in web design. Its full name is Hypertext Markup Language. A markup language is a type of programming language that combines human-readable content with tags that let the computer know how to display the content. HTML is executed by the browser, meaning your visitors can see your HTML. In days gone by, different browsers would render HTML slightly differently, but it is pretty standardized at this point.

Your HTML is how you will include content on specific pages. Understanding this language is essential for designing websites. Despite this, most web designers don’t directly create pages with HTML anymore. Instead, they use content management systems and frameworks to do a lot of the legwork for them. Nonetheless, if you want to create good websites, you should learn this language.

CSS

CSS is a styling language used to extend the capabilities of HTML. It is almost always used in conjunction with HTML today. If a website were a house, HTML would be the structure and CSS would be the decorations.

Your stylesheets can be separate from your HTML pages. This means that you can have a few pages that share styling easily. Returning to the house metaphor, you may have a few rooms in a house that share a similar design style. The CSS lets you easily continue the same design language between each room.

Many frameworks will give you a lot of tools for handling CSS. Some, such as Bulma CSS, use this language exclusively. It can be a powerful way to format and design how your web content looks.

JavaScript

JavaScript is more like non-web programming languages than HTML and CSS. It isn’t intended to be human-readable and it relies heavily on computer syntax. JavaScript is used primarily to control the behavior of elements of your website.

For example, if you wanted to create an image at the top of your page that changed to a new picture every few seconds, you would likely achieve that with JavaScript. Unlike server-side languages such as PHP, JavaScript is executed by the browser. This lets you interact with and get data from the browser window. For this reason, it is often used in responsive design. However, some modern frameworks circumvent needing JavaScript and create responsive code using CSS only.

Many web designers use various JavaScript frameworks to give them more complex functionality. Additionally, if you develop your expertise in this language, you can create almost any website functionality imaginable. It is very powerful. Nonetheless, it isn’t necessary for creating basic pages.

Building Your Website

It’s time to get started making your own website. Once you’ve learned the basics of HTML, CSS and JavaScript, you can develop almost any website you can image. These languages are very powerful.

Learning to make a basic web page with HTML and CSS is a good starting point. This will get your comfortable with the essential elements of web design. After that, create some more advanced functionality such as a JavaScript-based popup call to action. Once you have these basics down, try using a framework and content management system to build a more complex website.

You may be surprised how easy it is to learn the basics of these languages. They are very learner-friendly. Nonetheless, genuine experts in web design can create masterful web magic by using HTML, CSS and JavaScript to their fullest extent. Get started learning today and see what you can achieve. You’ll be creating websites before you know it.

Byline: Mikkie is a freelance writer from Chicago. She has a passion for advanced learning, reading, and health and fitness. She is also a mother of two who loves sharing her ideas on education, learning, health, fitness and yoga. When she’s not writing, she’s chasing the little ones around or can be found at the local climbing gym or doing yoga.