Here’s a short breakdown for you to use when looking to learn how to code (websites or use computers more technically than just opening up Chrome and surfing the web)
Just something to reference if you need to go back to it.
Useful Apps: Microsoft VS Code https://code.visualstudio.com/Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/
This is what I learned to do websites when I did them from scratch. Lots of tutorials depending on what interests you. From web development to python to using frameworks.
Some words to Learn
Web Development is the focus for the stuff below
WordPress https://wordpress.com/
This is called a CMS (Content Management System). Instead of building a site from scratch, it has 90% of the stuff built in so you can just click a button to add new pages and a menu and other stuff. People who don’t know how to code should start here. You can either download wordpress and set it up on a server or just pay WordPress to host it for you. They have some free tiers of hosting. It’s built using a language called PHP which IS NOT important right now for you to learn.
Microsoft VS Code
If you do have to code, this app makes it easier. I use it to code my little chips, websites, and applications (like the Twitter Bot I built). This is an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Think of it like the ‘Microsoft Word‘ of coding. It’s just an app to edit and run my code. You can also run code using the CMD (or PowerShell).
HTML + CSS
Websites are built using HTML and CSS. If a website is a house, think of HTML as the wood framing and drywall and CSS is the paint.
JavaScript
JavaScript (JS) makes it do cool stuff (JavaScript is coding, HTML is not). These three make up 99% of all websites. It was invented to run code in a browser in the late 1990s.
jQuery (requires JavaScript)
A library with lots of website apps people already built so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
Bootstrap https://getbootstrap.com/
Makes CSS and JavaScript a LOT easier. A framework invented by Twitter so you can write less CSS and JavaScript. It lets you organize stuff on a page 100x easier and simple to copy and paste stuff.
Django https://www.djangoproject.com/
This lets me build websites quickly without having to do 99% of the work. Uses Python as the language to build stuff. I use this instead of WordPress when the client wants a super custom website. WordPress is good if you just want to get a basic website and add pages to it.
Python https://www.python.org/downloads/
My language of choice to do actual coding with. This can be installed on a Windows or Linux PC pretty easily. This language lets you do stuff on the computer. Not necessarily website related but at work I use the Django framework to let me build websites using Python + HTML + CSS + JavaScript.
Node.js
This lets you run JavaScript on a computer without the browser. I can show you how to use all this sometime.
CMD (or PowerShell) in Windows. In Linux we call it a Terminal
This is an app run commands. Everything you do with a keyboard and mouse (open folder, open file, delete file, edit file) can be done using the CMD prompt. This is useful for low powered computers.
RDP
Remote Desktop Protocol is used to log into a Windows server since you need to use a mouse and keyboard to navigate.
SSH
Secure Shell. A way to log into a linux server. No mouse, just keyboard. This is how the original computers were set up.
FTP
A way to get files or push files from one system to another
SFTP
A SECURE way to get files or push files from one system to another. Data is encrypted.
FileZilla
An app that makes running SFTP a lot easier.
GitHub
This is where a lot of developers / coders backup their code. You don’t need to know this for awhile since you have to use the command line to back up stuff to.
Useful Apps
- Microsoft VS Code (To do the coding) https://code.visualstudio.com/
Other resources and Tutorials (if you’re not already enrolled in one)
- YouTube: HTML + CSS Beginner to Pro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3e-cpL7ofc
- Bootstrap Tutorial won’t make sense until you do the above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eow125xV5-c
- CodeAcademy (Online Tutorial). If you’re serious about this stuff, let me know and I’ll pay for you https://www.codecademy.com/catalog/subject/web-design