Beginning web development career.

[HollyJ24]

Hi! I am hoping that anyone might be able to help me with some questions about web developing in general and using html and css. I can't seem to find any simple answers and it's driving me crazy! I have just learnt the basics of HTML, CSS and Javascript. I can build basic sites from scratch.

Everyone I have spoke to or everything I read online pretty much says they don't build from scratch anymore and most things are doing on cms systems like wordpress. I have downloaded wordpress locally hoping to get in some practise sites. I have watched a 2 hour tutorial on building a wordpress site but the video was just adding in elements and editing them there was no coding etc. I don't know if I am missing something but how does my HTML and CSS skills come in handy when there is no coding to be done? I haven't actually got stuck in with building a site yet but I feel like why would you get paid to do that when anyone can just go on and move things around etc .. or have I just wasted 2 hours watching the wrong sort of tutorial. I feel really lost with what my next moves are ... I don't know where to put my newly learnt code skill into practise and I also want to do practise pieces so I can start putting together a portfolio site.

Thank you so much for reading my complaining :'D

 

[swift]

I'm afraid I can't help you on the whole WordPress front specifically as I've never properly developed with it (through choice). But irrespective of the CMS you work with, each is going to require some kind of theme to help present things that the user can control (which is probably what you want to have a look at).

I don't generally have a positive outlook on CMS websites, and I feel they're often unnecessary depending on the type of business you're working with but certainly it's worth knowing about them. And of course, WordPress isn't your only choice - there are a plethora of alternatives, you just have to find one that's suitable for your needs.

If you don't want to get into CMSs then take a look at static site generators like Hugo, Jekyll or Jigsaw. These allow you to compose your website from templates & markdown files and in the end, you end up with the built HTML.

I think the key is so that you're not just hand-coding all of your pages, instead, you're coding the templates to build those pages and that's why you find a lot of people saying they don't write just plain HTML anymore.

Uh.. I hope that helps at least a little!

 

[ivan.moony]

You know about machine code? It is a languages of ones and zeroes that processor can understand. It is almost impossible for humans to work with, so they invented assembler - a low level language that translates to machine code. Assembler is also complicated for humans to use, so they invented procedural programming like C (as one of the branches) that translates to assembler. Things got simpler, and they wrote HTML declarative language interpreter with support for javascript, all probably written in a procedural language like C.

Why I'm telling all this? I noted several languages in respective order of their complexity: [machine code] - [assembler] - [C] - [HTML + Javascript] - [...]. So, what language comes next in a sequence. One of the answers is WordPress. It translates our mouse dragging and interacting with high level interface to HTML + javascript upon saving edited site. Yes, you can consider WP as a very high level programming environment, but we all agreed to call it CMS. The bottom line is that it translates drag-drop-fancycontrols to HTML + Javascript

The goal of WP is to automate all the programming by replacing it with dragndrop, fancy input / output controlls, and a bunch of default and adjustable properties. But environment at that much high level is just hard to conceive to support just about anything that more close relative to programming language - HTML + Javascript supports. For those unsupported tasks you have to reach for Javascript, and there are documented interfaces and tutorials on how to connect js code to WP pages. I believe those js code bundles are called WP plugins. For writing plugins, you use js + HTML programming (until someone figures out how to make plugins only with mouse).

With usual pages, you can get through without even touching js in WP. But some rare specific tasks (like online games, language translators, math equation solvers, drawing fractals...) would require using js.

P.S.
Don't think anyone can use WP. Well, they can, but it's about attitude. Regular users probably say: I don't want to get into all that stuff. I'd rather ask someone else to do it. And then we, programmers and web designers come in - we are ready to grapple with all the problems that are laid onto path towards fully functional program or web site. And when we encounter something we don't know, unlike regular users, we are ready to learn.

P.P.S.
Your next step? It depends on you, but this is what it could look like, considering your current knowledge and a will to learn new stuff: Yes, portfolio site would be a nice start (put it online as your showcase). Next, you can start earning money. Search for freelance sites, there are two types: (1) customers bid for programmers, and (2) programmers bid for customers. Offer or pickup some task while showing off your previous work (your price depends on this). For a start, choose simpler things without scripting. Later, if you decide to dive into more complex and more expensive projects, when you run into problems you can always find a help, either on mentioned freelance sites, either on forums like this one, either on Google search. Importantly, when deciding what technology to use for some project, to a beginner like you, I recommend using only popular technologies because of their availability for tutorials and getting general help.

You might also want to check server side scripting (maybe PHP) and database access (maybe MySQL). These are a bit more complicated, but real moneymakers, and 80% or more web pages are based on these important technologies. Again, WordPress may automat many tasks without needing to get hands dirty, but you never know.

Upon enough finished projects to brag with, your hiring price raises, and maybe you could even find a steady job in a company with a name if you want to. You lose your freelance freedom, but you gain a steady income.

This is just one of the paths available to you, as a beginner. Probably there are better ways to stand on your feet as a web designer, but this one is what I'm aware of.

 

[HollyJ24]

I'm afraid I can't help you on the whole WordPress front specifically as I've never properly developed with it (through choice). But irrespective of the CMS you work with, each is going to require some kind of theme to help present things that the user can control (which is probably what you want to have a look at).

I don't generally have a positive outlook on CMS websites, and I feel they're often unnecessary depending on the type of business you're working with but certainly it's worth knowing about them. And of course, WordPress isn't your only choice - there are a plethora of alternatives, you just have to find one that's suitable for your needs.

If you don't want to get into CMSs then take a look at static site generators like Hugo, Jekyll or Jigsaw. These allow you to compose your website from templates & markdown files and in the end, you end up with the built HTML.

I think the key is so that you're not just hand-coding all of your pages, instead, you're coding the templates to build those pages and that's why you find a lot of people saying they don't write just plain HTML anymore.

Uh.. I hope that helps at least a little!

Thank you that helps! I will take a look at those site generators.

 

[HollyJ24]

You know about machine code? It is a languages of ones and zeroes that processor can understand. It is almost impossible for humans to work with, so they invented assembler - a low level language that translates to machine code. Assembler is also complicated for humans to use, so they invented procedural programming like C (as one of the branches) that translates to assembler. Things got simpler, and they wrote HTML declarative language interpreter with support for javascript, all probably written in a procedural language like C.

Why I'm telling all this? I noted several languages in respective order of their complexity: [machine code] - [assembler] - [C] - [HTML + Javascript] - [...]. So, what language comes next in a sequence. One of the answers is WordPress. It translates our mouse dragging and interacting with high level interface to HTML + javascript upon saving edited site. Yes, you can consider WP as a very high level programming environment, but we all agreed to call it CMS. The bottom line is that it translates drag-drop-fancycontrols to HTML + Javascript

The goal of WP is to automate all the programming by replacing it with dragndrop, fancy input / output controlls, and a bunch of default and adjustable properties. But environment at that much high level is just hard to conceive to support just about anything that more close relative to programming language - HTML + Javascript supports. For those unsupported tasks you have to reach for Javascript, and there are documented interfaces and tutorials on how to connect js code to WP pages. I believe those js code bundles are called WP plugins. For writing plugins, you use js + HTML programming (until someone figures out how to make plugins only with mouse).

With usual pages, you can get through without even touching js in WP. But some rare specific tasks (like online games, language translators, math equation solvers, drawing fractals...) would require using js.

P.S.
Don't think anyone can use WP. Well, they can, but it's about attitude. Regular users probably say: I don't want to get into all that stuff. I'd rather ask someone else to do it. And then we, programmers and web designers come in - we are ready to grapple with all the problems that are laid onto path towards fully functional program or web site. And when we encounter something we don't know, unlike regular users, we are ready to learn.

P.P.S.
Your next step? It depends on you, but this is what it could look like, considering your current knowledge and a will to learn new stuff: Yes, portfolio site would be a nice start (put it online as your showcase). Next, you can start earning money. Search for freelance sites, there are two types: (1) customers bid for programmers, and (2) programmers bid for customers. Offer or pickup some task while showing off your previous work (your price depends on this). For a start, choose simpler things without scripting. Later, if you decide to dive into more complex and more expensive projects, when you run into problems you can always find a help, either on mentioned freelance sites, either on forums like this one, either on Google search. Importantly, when deciding what technology to use for some project, to a beginner like you, I recommend using only popular technologies because of their availability for tutorials and getting general help.

You might also want to check server side scripting (maybe PHP) and database access (maybe MySQL). These are a bit more complicated, but real moneymakers, and 80% or more web pages are based on these important technologies. Again, WordPress may automat many tasks without needing to get hands dirty, but you never know.

Upon enough finished projects to brag with, your hiring price raises, and maybe you could even find a steady job in a company with a name if you want to. You lose your freelance freedom, but you gain a steady income.

This is just one of the paths available to you, as a beginner. Probably there are better ways to stand on your feet as a web designer, but this one is what I'm aware of.

Thank you very much that is also helpful, I think I will get on with building a portfolio site as a project and have a look around at the freelance work available and see what's right for me or what I think I am able to do. I think that is one of the problems which makes it all confusing is there are so many opportunities and paths to take!