Here are 15 websites geared towards learning web design & development. I did not put them in order of relevance or value because they really all depend on your level of skill and what you are trying to do with your web skills.
I am a huge advocate of online learning and I truly believe if all of this wealth of online courses was available when I was younger I may have skipped out on college and sped through these courses in my free time rather than dropping crazy money on a degree.
At the end of the day I started Trellis for less than 1/5 of what I spent on college and it was the best decision I ever made. Think about that for a moment before you spend 100k on an education you may never directly utilize.
I really believe that if you have the motivation, these types of online learning websites may be a better option than going into massive debt to earn an education that you could get for free or at a very low cost online.
As a company or individual, programming has become increasingly useful so I urge everyone to take it upon him or herself to learn as much as they can regardless of their industry or job title. At the end of the day the cycle of automation will continue and “software will eat the world” as the famous quote goes.
Being educated in areas of programming will only make it easier to transition into this future of more and more automation, even if your job isn’t to directly code or build web based products.
1) W3schools.com
w3schools is one of the first online web design learning websites ever and has helped many designers & developers learn the basics of HTML and CSS. It is a great resource for looking up quick HTML, CSS, Javascript and other front end code or syntax that may have slipped your memory. For more advanced backend programming like PHP, MySql and Ruby you might want to look elsewhere to learn that type of information.
2) Codeacademy.org
Codeacademy is one of the best places to learn to code for both backend and frontend programming languages. It has a great platform for classes in most of the major web programming languages like Ruby, PHP, Python, Javascript and HTML/CSS. The classes are setup so that you can go at your on pace. If you only have a few hours a week or want to blow through all the courses in a few months it’s a great for either type of need.
3) Treehouse
Treehouse has really come on strong over the past few years and is now one of the leaders in online web based learning. They have a basic package with 1000’s of videos and a pro version with industry professionals at 49 a month. They are quickly becoming one of best places for online technology learning so check them out if you are looking to build your skills on the web.
4) Stackoverflow
Stackoverflow is a great website for finding specific technology problems and solutions to those problems. It’s answers are based on user information with an awesome system for developing user credibility. You can gain and lose reputation as your answers and comments get votes.
This site can help you gain answers to questions regarding CMS’s, Frameworks, and other programming or web based knowledge that you wouldn’t find on traditional programming learning website like W3schools or Codeacademy.
5) Udacity.com
Udacity is one of my favorite educational outlets out there. It does not necessary going into the basics of HTML/CSS and other traditional programming languages that you will get with other learning platforms. Rather, it helps you develop a strong understanding of the principles and fundamentals of programming and engineering to make you the best software engineer or coder out there.
It is incredibly effective at helping you develop a coding base of knowledge you would most likely have to pay infinitely more for anywhere else because it is free! I sincerely believe the level of knowledge on this site is equivalent to top university computer science departments; so don’t spend 200k if you don’t have to.
5) Stack Social
Stack Social has a great web design bundle of 8 courses that you can buy by donating to charity. If you beat the average price you get all 8 courses for an amazing deal as the average price hovers around 10 dollars. There are also a ton of other courses on the site that can teach you other web-based skills.
6) Google Developers
The University Consortium by Google helps developers build applications that can be utilized on Google products like Android and Google App engine. You can submit a course to get reviewed so anyone with expert knowledge can have his or her own course. This makes it an excellent way to get specific courses on topics that only certain technology experts in the world have.
7) Lynda
Lynda is one of the leading resources for business professionals to learn skills like video, web design, 3d modeling, photography and many other useful skills. With an unbelievable plethora of software based learning videos they have courses and tutorials on niche and well-known topics.
8) Killer PHP
Killerphp.com is exactly what you would think it would be, a website for learning awesome object oriented PHP. PHP is one of the most widely used programming languages on the web and is the backbone of popular platforms like WordPress, Magento, Drupal, Joomla, and other web based systems.
9) Tuts Premium
Tuts Premiumhas a wealth of information for learning web development, graphic design, motion graphics, and much more. They have awesome classes on WordPress design, Javascript and other high demand web based skills. I highly recommend checking out Tutsplus because they are always on top of their game by updating and coming out with new material that is relevant to the most advanced and useful web technology out there.
10) Coursera
Coursera has over 624 courses and close to 7 million members. If you just want to better yourself with state of the art technical knowledge such as statistical mechanics or other knowledge only found at elite Universities around the world, there is no better place than Coursera.
11) Udemy
Udemy has a wide range of courses but their core focus is on web and mobile. They have a great selection of web, graphics, business and mobile courses so they are a great fit for someone looking to become a freelance web developer or start a web-based business. Some of their courses are a bit pricey considering there are so many free courses online available, but if you make the most of them you will still get your moneys worth.
12) Code School
Codeschool gives you access to a pretty awesome plethora of web based learning materials such as HTML/CSS tutorials and courses all the way to advanced IOS development for only 30 dollars a month. I personally have not taken advantage of many of their courses but they seem to be growing and the 30 dollars a month does not seem like a bad deal for all of the materials they have.
13) CodeHS
On their homepage Code High School states they are the best way to learn how to code. I am sure some of these other websites on this list would have something to say about that but they do make a solid case with plenty of materials to back it up. They have a tiered subscription model with a free version and two paid options so if you are looking to learn how to code you might as well try it out for free and you can always decide to upgrade later if you like it.
14) Khan Academy
I was amazed when I first came across Khan Academy because of the unbelievable wealth of learning material on the website by essentially one guy, Sal, the founder of Khan Academy! They have since grown tremendously; having earned venture funding growing their learning infrastructure into truly one of the best places to learn, well, pretty much anything you would in school. If you haven’t checked out Khan academy, please do so because it is simply amazing how much material they have developed in such a short amount of time.
15) Ugurus
Ugurus is not a website for learning specific coding knowledge, but a website for professionals looking to grow their web design or marketing agencies. If you have web design or marketing clients, plan on doing freelance work, or want to start your own web agency this is a great place to learn some valuable skills as far as prospecting, choosing the right clients, and getting higher prices for the services your provide.
This guide by Accredited Schools Online provides more insight into the differences and benefits of some of these major online educational technology platforms and websites.
