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DevelopmentLearning ResourcesWeb

What are the best resources to learn web development?

14

Options
Considered

60

User
Recs.

Mar 20, 2020

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

12 Options Considered

Best resources to learn web development?	Price	License	Features
-- Mozilla Developer Network	-	CC-BY-SA	-
-- Codecademy	-	-	Code editor, forum, progress saver, written tutorials
-- freeCodeCamp	-	-	Projects, chat, exercises, written tutorials, video tutorials, progress saver
-- PluralSight	-	-	Video tutorials, written tutorials, progress saver, projects
-- Code School	-	-	Editor, video tutorials, progress saver, forum

Mozilla Developer Network

Add Video or Image

Top Pro

The range of topics is wide

Great resource for beginners to learn about how websites function, and the guide then moves onto writing and playing around with front-end technologies. See More

Top Con

No exercises to work with

Τάσος Χαλκιάς's Experience

I use it as a JavaScript reference and I have to say that it is the most complete, credible and up-to-date resource I have found so far. See More

Specs

License:CC-BY-SA

Top Pro

Close to first-hand information

The best information sources are the W3C, JavaScript, Golang etc. specs, but they are too hard to read. All these videos (lynda, udemy, mail.ru, etc.) and articles may and do contain outdated and sometimes incorrect information. See More

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Codecademy

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Top Con

Lack of context

Codecademy is great for providing a hands-on approach, but there is a lack of context regarding how to start a project in real life. While users may learn how to code using Codecademy's interface, they may not have any idea how to code independently. See More

Top Pro

Excellent progression

Codeacademy doesn't overwhelm beginners with information. It gives bite-sized information, the bare minimum needed to finish a task and get to the next one. As the course progresses, it slowly fills in background information. See More

Specs

Features:Code editor, forum, progress saver, written tutorials

Languages:HTML, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery, Ruby, Python

Top Con

Not the best structure for quick refreshers

The content of the lessons is aimed very much at people just starting to learn how to code. This is perfect for beginners but if you want to use Codecademy to refresh your knowledge the lessons are not designed to be quickly done. See More

Top Pro

Bite-sized lessons to help you stay focused

Each lesson in code-academy focuses on a single concept, and repetition is provided to drill the concept. See More

Top Con

Allows infinite loops to run

If you run an infinite loop, the browser freezes. Many other similar websites will give you an error, preventing the loop from running. Though not a bug, the lack of feature to stop infinite loops from running can be quite frustrating to beginners. See More

Top Pro

User friendly

Top Con

Buggy

Codecademy is known to have many bugs which interfere with the editor, resulting in error messages despite having the correct answer. See More

Top Pro

Good built-in editor

Codeacademy has a powerful, beginner-friendly integrated development environment (IDE) that can also be used outside of curriculum. See More

Top Pro

Engaging teaching style

Right from the start, users write code. They start small in an environment that has constant feedback and gradually progress to more complex concepts. Users can see code results instantly, giving great feedback. See More

freeCodeCamp

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Top Pro

Welcoming, active community

freeCodeCamp strongly encourages interacting with other learners and experienced programmers. They provide chatrooms which are always active and full of members happy to answer any questions you may have. Pair programming (programming with another user) is encouraged as a great way to work through some of their coding challenges. There are also meetup groups where you can code in person with other freeCodeCamp students. See More

Top Con

Excessive focus on the basics

This platform focuses too much on the basics. See More

Specs

Features:Projects, chat, exercises, written tutorials, video tutorials, progress saver

Languages:HTML, CSS, JavaScript

Top Pro

Completely free

Free for anyone who wants to take the camp. See More

Top Pro

Self-paced

There is no set schedule with freeCodeCamp. You can work through the program as fast or as slow as you want. See More

Top Pro

Actively developed

They are frequently updating courses and adding new material. See More

Top Pro

Open source

Due to freeCodeCamp being open source, you are able to contribute to the program that helped teach you how to code in the first place. It's a great way to give back and gain experience. See More

Top Pro

Gain real world experience while helping nonprofits

Once you've completed all the courses and practice levels on freeCodeCamp, you are able to participate with other learners on developing software for non-profits. It's an amazing way to gain experience and build your portfolio as a developer, while helping out a non-profit organization. See More

Top Pro

Browser-based

All courses used by freeCodeCamp are done in the browser, rather than students having to set up their own environment. This makes it much easier for beginners to get started. See More

Top Pro

Two certificates available

There are currently two certificated available (Front End Development and Back End Development) that you can get once you've completed all the projects. There is a third certificate in the works (Data Visualization). See More

PluralSight

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Top Pro

You can see the professionals coding

Top Con

Paid

Not Free See More

Specs

Features:Video tutorials, written tutorials, progress saver, projects

Top Pro

Mobile apps available

Available iPhone and Android apps. See More

Top Con

No code challenges or quizzes

You have no exercises to do on your own, only videos. See More

Top Pro

Huge breadth of content (over 4000 courses)

Courses on software development, design, 3D modeling, and much more. See More

Top Con

Not free

It is possible to have 1 month free with a Microsoft subscription, but after that, you will have to pay. See More

Top Pro

Consistent quality

The course quality is high because Pluralsight has a full-time editing staff that carefully reviews every video produced. They enforce audio, video and content standards that help ensure a consistent and high quality result. See More

Top Con

No badges

Team Treehouse has a badge scheme that can be linked to your LinkedIn. PluralSight doesn't. See More

Top Pro

New material added frequently

PluralSight is constantly adding new courses to reflect the evolving industry. Currently they offer over 4000 courses. See More

Top Pro

Offers learning paths

PluralSite offers learning paths, which help you figure out which courses to take and in what order. See More

Top Pro

Offers advanced content

PluralSight offers programming courses for intermediate and advanced students, providing more depth than many of it's competitors. See More

Top Pro

Very rapidly updated with new courses every week

Sometimes 10-15 courses can be released per month, keeping up with tech trends much better than the competition. See More

Code School

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Top Con

Requires paying to complete courses

Although the beginning of each course is free and you can see if you are interested in pursuing it, to complete the course you must pay. See More

Top Pro

Practice the code after each video

After each video, there are a series of challenges that give you a chance to apply what you just learned. The great thing about these challenges are that they force you to think through a problem, and use the new skills to solve it. It's not just regurgitating facts; it requires some effort. See More

Specs

Features:Editor, video tutorials, progress saver, forum

Languages:C#, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby, SQL, Objective-C

Top Con

A bit too basic

There is not a lot of advanced content. See More

Top Pro

Paths for learning different skills

While you can jump into any video you like, there is also the option to follow a path for what you are wanting to learn. These give a nice direction if you are wanting to improve on a particular area and guide you into what to do next. See More

Top Pro

Fun and engaging teaching style

The instructors often use humour throughout the videos while letting their passion for the topic show. See More

Top Pro

Video tutorials

Videos give an overview of the course/lesson plan before a single line of code is written. This gives context and a general understanding of what is possible and how teaching will be approached. See More

Top Pro

In-depth courses

Code School is not just for beginners to programming, but provides plenty of intermediate and advanced courses for students as their skills grow. See More

Top Pro

Videos show how to build an app in real time

Soup to Bits is a series of videos that shows a developer creating an app from scratch in real time. It's easy to pause a video and follow along with the developer. See More

SoloLearn

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Top Pro

Gamification

XP, levels, badges, certificates, etc. See More

Top Con

Only the most commonly used languages are covered.

C++, Java, JavaScript, C#, Python, SQL, PHP, Swift, Ruby, JQuery, HTML, CSS. You won't find anything less common like Haskell, Erlang, Elixir, Common Lisp, Scheme, Clojure, Rust, etc. See More

Specs

Languages:C/C++, Java, JavaScript, C#, Python, SQL, PHP, Swift, Ruby, JQuery, HTML, CSS.

Offline operation:Yes

Mobile apps:Yes

Top Pro

Easy for beginners

Anyone can get started with this. See More

Top Con

Limited usefulness for intermediate or experienced programmers

No advanced coding challenges. Look for those on other sites like hackerrank. See More

Top Pro

Completely free

Top Pro

Offline learning mode for mobile apps

Allows learning while disconnected from the net. See More

Top Pro

Share and modify others' projects

Top Pro

Browser-based code playgrounds

No software installation needed, just a modern web browser. On mobile devices though the mobile apps are highly recommended. See More

Top Pro

Excellent mobile apps available

Udemy

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Top Pro

Not subscription based

You buy a course and can access it for life. See More

Top Con

Most courses are expensive

While Udemy does offer free courses, most of them are around $100. See More

Specs

Features:Progress saver / video tutorials

Top Pro

Easy to identify the best courses

All cores have several free lessons so you can try and see if the teaching style suits you. See More

Top Pro

They run campaigns fairly frequently where they discount courses

Most courses are discounted when they run the campaigns and the discounts can be substantial. See More

Top Pro

Friendly community

Both on site and on various social networks Udemy aims to create a community of friendly people that can help each other out. See More

Top Pro

Offers intermediate and advanced courses

Udemy offers plenty of courses for beginner programmers, but also has a large variety of more advanced courses to choose from. See More

Lynda

Add Video or Image

Top Con

No forum/space to ask questions regarding the courses

You're pretty much on your own if you have any queries, unless you get lucky and find something on reddit. See More

Top Pro

Quality and high production value

Lynda produce a real quality learning, top notch video and audio with the industry leaders running the training. See More

Specs

Features:Video tutorials, progress saver, tutorials

Top Pro

Huge amount of courses available

Right now, they have over 600 for development, 700 for design, 1,200 for business, 700 for web development, and 700 courses for photography. See More

Top Pro

There's a free trial available

If you're not convinced about the product, you can still try it out for ten days without paying for it. See More

MIT OpenCourseWare

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Top Pro

Independent study course

It includes all resources and course materials to get you excited about and interested in programming. See More

NetBeans IDE

CodeBrainer

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