The Basics of Web Coding
Web coding is a key part of building websites and apps. It involves writing code using a variety of programming languages to create content and structures that can be displayed in browsers. A lot of people learn coding to build their own sites and apps, but it’s also possible to become a professional web developer, working with businesses, organizations, and individual clients to design, develop, and maintain websites and applications. The process of creating a website can be very rewarding, and anyone who is interested in this career should consider taking the leap.
There are two broad sections of web coding: front-end and back-end. The back-end deals with the server side of a site, and is responsible for database structures and data storage. The front-end handles the design and content that you see when visiting a site, and is built using three main coding languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Almost everything we do on the Internet requires some form of coding to get it all working. When you upload a picture to Facebook or tweet on Twitter, the process is actually a simple one — but it uses lots of different bits of code that are hidden from us as users.
The basics of web coding involve using tags and keywords to tell a computer what to do. This is why coding is called a language, because you’re effectively communicating with computers in their own language. You’ll find that there are different types of coding languages, and each has its own rules and syntax that you need to learn.
If you want to build a website from scratch, you’ll need to start with a blueprint. This is called a wireframe, and it’s important for both you and your web developer to have the same vision of the site you’re trying to create. It’s worth investing time in this early stage, as it will save you a lot of hassle and expense later on.
Once you’ve got the wireframe, it’s time to start building the actual website. This will likely be done in a program like Adobe Dreamweaver, although there are other options out there. These programs are usually pretty simple to use, and will allow you to create the basic structure of a page.
The next step is to add any multimedia files or text that you want to the site. This can be a bit tricky, as you have to know how to use the programming language to add files and then make them work correctly.
Once the basic structure of the page is in place, it’s time to give the site some style. This is where the web designer really gets to work, using code like CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and HTML (HyperText Markup Language) to create a webpage that is both functional and beautiful. These codes are used to define where things go on the page, such as a header or a paragraph of text, and they’re what gives a webpage its unique aesthetic.