No business can afford to be without an online prescense and a website is an essential part of that. Web developers are in high demand and will be for years to come. And if you are thinking of pursuing a career in web development, you might be wondering about the best online web development courses.
Searching for the right course can be overwhelming – there are thousands of options! This is why we decided to create a list of some of our top picks.
Table of Contents
What To Expect From a Web Development Course
There are hundreds if not thousands of web development courses available online. Some provide theoretical knowledge through videos and quizzes, while others are more practice-orientated. Thankfully, there are high-quality options that include both.
Learning to code can be challenging if you have no prior experience with any programming languages. However, the right course will not only teach you the basic theories of web development but help you implement your learnings too – these are the courses you should consider first.
Learning theory on its own won’t be enought to make you a good developer – you need to practice – and you don’t ever stop learning either. There are always new ways to solve problems and build solutions, so if you want to become a web developer, be prepared to keep honing your skills.
Top 8 Online Web Development Courses
Depending on your budget and needs, you can go for free, premium, short, or long-term courses. To help you out, we included a bit of everything.
We haven’t listed these courses in any specific order either – each of these courses is a popular choice.
1. Skill Path Web Developer – Codeacademy
- Cost: 7-day free trial, then $39.99 per month
- Duration: 30 weeks
- Qualification: Shareable certificate
Code Academy is a great place to learn web development. The platform offers plenty of self-guided beginner tutorials to learn the basics of the field.
There’s also an in-browser development environment to learn the fundamental structures of HTML and CSS, and JavaScript, by creating your own code. After you master the front-end, you can move to the back-end languages like Ruby on Rails or Python. Learners can round up full-stack web development skills in a little over seven months.
Students also get to work on projects where they practice responsive design, build React apps, and more.
2. Computer Programming – Khan Academy
- Cost: Free
- Duration: Self-paced
- Qualification: Practice projects
If you’re after extensive free web development course resources, Khan Academy is the place to be. You can access their free modules with video tutorials, information slides, and challenges to test your new skills in web development. Plus, there is audio and video guidance throughout the program.
The Computer Programming course walks you through the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You’ll learn how to make web pages interactive, cover the basics of SQL, use jQuery, and more.
3. Web Design for Everybody: Basics of Web Development & Coding Specialization – Coursera
- Cost: Free or $49 for a certificate
- Duration: 6 months
- Qualification: Shareable certificate
Coursera’s web development specialization covers how to write HTML5 and CSS3, create interactive web pages with JavaScript, and much more. You’ll learn how to optimize a website for a smartphone, tablet, or larger screen browser.
The classes mainly consist of pre-recorded video sessions. There are also hands-on projects that you have to finish to get a certificate of completion. Working on these projects will allow you to get some first-hand experience coding and creating websites.
4. Learn Web Development – Mozilla
- Cost: Free
- Duration: Self-paced
- Qualification: None
The team behind the Mozilla Firefox browser has created an excellent resource for web developers of all levels. The Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) is packed with articles, tutorials, and resources for students who want to become expert web developers as well as those who are just starting out.
If you’re not into reading, you may want to skip this course, as you’ll need to do plenty of it. The course covers many advanced topics in consecutive order, and you have the flexibility to take the assessments throughout.
The modules also have a strong focus on accessibility. As a web developer, you must have this feature in mind, especially when working with nonprofit or government organizations.
5. JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures – freeCodeCamp
- Cost: Free
- Duration: Self-paced
- Qualification: Shareable certificate
freeCodeCamp is a completely free educational resource for everyone interested in coding. There are plenty of courses offering certificates, and the JavaScript specialization is the best web development course they have.
If you have a basic understanding of HTML and CSS, you can benefit from solely focusing on JavaScript. You’ll master how to make web pages interactive by practicing coding on the platform. You’ll also learn how to manipulate strings and create your own algorithms.
6. HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for Web Developers – Coursera
- Cost: Free or $79 for a certificate
- Duration: 5 weeks
- Qualification: Shareable certificate
Here’s yet another top-rated web development course on Coursera. It introduces students to essential tools by focusing on modern trends such as web compatibility across all devices and fast page loading times.
Students can learn how to create modern web pages with HTML, CSS and create web applications with JavaScript.
To get a certificate, you have to sign up for the full course. In the full version, you’ll also receive peer-graded assignments that you have to complete in order to pass.
7. Practical React Fundamentals – Code.tutplus.com
- Cost: Free
- Duration: 1.6 hours
- Qualification: None
If you’re interested in front-end development, you’ll want to learn React. This popular UI framework helps create dynamic single-page applications quickly, and it’s suitable for beginners.
Students will learn how to create a complete web app, build out the components, handle the styles and states, and work with web and lifecycle events with React. The course is completely free and consists of 14 short yet highly valuable lessons.
This is the shortest program on our list (it takes only 1.6 hours to complete!), and it’s packed with valuable tips and tricks that will help you start your first React project.
8. Learn to Code Awesome Websites in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript – Dash
- Cost: Free
- Duration: Self-paced
- Qualification: None
Dash is an online project created by the General Assembly computer programming school to make coding accessible to everyone. They provide a solid introduction to web development, and this course has five multistep projects for students to complete.
The projects include building a personal website, a responsive blog or Tumblr theme, a small business website, a CSS robot, and a Madlibs game. If you’re someone who appreciates learning on the go, this is the best course for you.
Note that there aren’t any videos, which some users may see as a downside. The focus is on you and acquiring coding skills by working on real-life projects.
The platform tracks which skills you need for each project and the skills you have already mastered. By the time you graduate from the program, you’ll have acquired 82 skills.
Plus, you get to publish your completed websites online and access them in all their glory.
Conclusion
Web development is one of the most lucrative modern careers that doesn’t require a degree. Thanks to an array of online sources, you can make a start entirely for free.
It’s best to choose the course where you can acquire some real-life coding skills like Code Academy, Mozilla, Dash, or freeCodeCamp. If you need more background first, you can always go for the more video-oriented courses offered on Coursera or Udemy.