Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to SafariWhen comparing W3Schools vs SoloLearn, the Slant community recommends SoloLearn for most people. In the question“What are the best websites to learn to code?” SoloLearn is ranked 17th while W3Schools is ranked 21st.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Easy to learn
All the tutorials are written in a straightforward and easy to understand way.
Pro Built in editor
Almost every example has a "try it yourself" button which opens up an editor in a new tab. It allows you to play with the example code and see how it works.
Pro Well organized tutorials
All of the lessons are separated into their own pages, which makes it easy to learn about specific concepts.
Pro Great source from Google search's perspective
Pro Completely free
Pro Offline learning mode for mobile apps
Allows learning while disconnected from the net.
Pro Easy for beginners
Anyone can get started with this.
Pro Share and modify others' projects
Pro Browser-based code playgrounds
No software installation needed, just a modern web browser. On mobile devices though the mobile apps are highly recommended.
Pro Excellent mobile apps available
Pro Gamification
XP, levels, badges, certificates, etc.
Cons
Con Outdated practices / problem solutions
The practices that are shown to solve the problems at hand are rarely, if at all, updated. Usually, their tutorials and learning material is updated only after they see their profits drop.
Con Doesn't care about teaching right
There are multiple errors in the data they show. Although the solutions they show work, they will lead to unmaintainable code. That happens even when the maintainable code alternatives are as easy or accessible to new programmers as the alternatives.
Con Certifications not recognized
Many professionals in IT agree that w3s certifications are not recognized by them and are deemed useless. Good luck finding any respectable professional that accepts a w3s certification.
Con It is for profit
What defines what goes is and what gets fixed on w3schools is what gives them profit and what doesn't (through their ads system).
Con Written tutorials only
While many learning resources offer a mixture of media in their courses (such as videos, challenges etc.), w3schools offers only written tutorials and code editors. This makes w3schools more beneficial as a quick reference rather than a primary learning resource.
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.
Con Limited usefulness for intermediate or experienced programmers
No advanced coding challenges. Look for those on other sites like hackerrank.
