12 Courses for Starting Your Web Development Journey

I have been covering a lot of web development topics on this blog, especially as of late. I guess the main reason for doing so, is the fact that there is enormous demand for it.

Technically, the demand has always been there, but as more and more people are starting to learn about web development and how beautiful of a career it is, the demand continues to rise. I haven’t covered anything in particular on how to get started with web development as a whole, so this post will hopefully serve that purpose.

I’ve written about resources that enable you to learn Python, learn Java or even HTML5 coding, but trying to learn all of these one by one is not going to yield very great results, we want a full-scale course to help us master the art of web development.

Learning Ecosystem

Most importantly, we want to build websites and applications after the end of a course we’ve gone through, and this is exactly what you will be able to do by trying out either of the courses in this roundup of what seems to be some of the best content available, as far as video materials go.

I must warn you, as these courses are premium and do require a monetary signup in order for you to gain access to them, and the reason for making this a premium roundup is very simple: I believe that once you pay for something, you’re getting a little bit more quality, alongside great support. Essentials things for beginners.

1. EduCBA IT: Learn PHP & MySQL

EduCBA IT: Learn PHP & MySQL
A brief, but descriptive course on how to get started with web development, particularly the two very popular web development programming languages: PHP & MySQL. It has been enrolled to nearly 4,000 times and is one of the best starting points for beginner programmers.

You’ll learn how to use modules, how to design a simple page and even learn how to work with something as ‘complex’ as a login system for your website. Highly recommended for new coders.

2. John Bura: Essential Programming Bundle for Web Developers

John Bura: Essential Programming Bundle for Web Developers
I’m still recovering from the shock that I recieved when I realized that there are nearly 50 hours of learning material in this course, that’s pretty much a full working week for many people, so you can imagine how long it might take to go through all of this material.

The good thing is, John has made sure that he touches each language and particular topic very briefly, but in such concise manner that you’re still able to take away a lot of the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Alongside the default full-stack that he will teach you, there is some material brewing up regarding XCode, which is an iOS development platform – great if you’re also looking to make mobile apps as your business (or knowledge) grows.

This is the one you need to get if you want to learn pretty much everything that there is to learn, at ease and at your own pace. Nearly 2,000 other students are waiting for you on the other side to help you with your questions and other issues.

3. Ash Anderson: HTML & CSS From Scratch

Ash Anderson: HTML & CSS From Scratch
Ash has the right approach, and realizes that most of the web is built on scripting languages like CSS & HTML, and because of that: he wants to give you a decent introduction on how to work with those two languages, because you will be using them quite a bit – as a web developer.

It’s not expensive at all, and by the end of it; you’ll have enough knowledge to give yourself challenges and you’ll be proficient enough to start picking up some more advanced tutorials.

4. David Morales: Learn to Develop with Symfony2

David Morales: Learn to Develop with Symfony2
I honestly think more people should take the approach of teaching through frameworks, not only do they give us better understanding how a language works, they’re also very easy to use and master: plus, if you look closely – it’s not hard to tell how the actual code would look in the raw language it’s been built on.

The author, David Morales, takes you on a small field trip of the PHP framework Symfony2 and how to build a simple application with it. It’s a nice course, and it has also all the required information on how to setup your own development environment.

I’d get it if only for that last bit, because with time – you’ll have to learn how to deploy and work with those things anyway, keep that in mind.

5. Randy Yates: Teaching You LAMP in 3 Lessons

Randy Yates: Teaching You LAMP in 3 Lessons
Web development is hardly just programming, a lot of the time you’re going to be tackling server related issues and optimization processes, in order to make everything compatible with that what you’re trying to create.

In this course, you will learn about the LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) stack, how to build your first LAMP server, and also there is a little bit of scripting with JavaScript, CSS and HTML involved to nail the basics down.

I highly recommend this course to LAMP beginners, or those who have no idea how to work with a server at all.

6. Eduonix: Learn Complete Web Development From Scratch

Eduonix: Learn Complete Web Development From Scratch
I’m quite sure this is the most talked about web development course on the web, as far as premium content goes, and not just because it has nearly 5,000 students enrolled, but because it’s so educational and up to par with the latest web standards.

Eduonix creates and distributes high quality technology training content, and this web development course is not an exception. You will be learning several technologies:

  • HTML / CSS
  • JavaScript / jQuery
  • XML / JSON / AJAX
  • PHP / MySQL / Yii

Yii is a very popular Web 2.0 framework for PHP developers, and in this course you will learn the basics of Yii and how to make a professional looking website with it. Hands down, a great course for any beginner looking to start building websites in just few weeks.

7. Eduonix: Learn Responsive Web Development from Scratch

Eduonix: Learn Responsive Web Development from Scratch
Responsive web design is among the top web design trends in 2014, and no doubt that every web developer and designer should master the craft of building responsive websites. In fact, I strongly advise to pick up this skill as soon as you begin, because technology is continously evolving, and it’s more than likely that one day: responsive design will rule the web.

This course is built by the same people who built the one above, only here we are going to be learning about Bootstrap 3, and all of the different CSS3 selectors that are being used when building responsive websites.

8. EduCBA IT: The Basics of PHP Programming

EduCBA IT: The Basics of PHP Programming
In this course, EduCBA explores the PHP programming language for developing web pages, websites, and content in general. This course will walk you through the basic understanding of PHP, and then apply that knowledge we have learned – in order to make a dynamic web page.

This is a highly recommended course for those who want to learn the art of building dynamic websites with PHP. You might have prior knowledge of CSS and HTML, and if so; this is the course to grab. But, at the same time, it’s great for any beginner and will cover a lot of things within its 30ish lectures.

9. The Digital Craft: PHP Video Tutorials for Web Development

The Digital Craft: PHP Video Tutorials for Web Development
It’s a lot shorter than the one we just saw above, but perhaps that is exactly what you need, a little bit shorter and concise version of how to build a dynamic website in PHP, I’m going to assume that you have some prior goals set in place – and so will know what kind of a choice to make. Try reading the reviews for better understanding of how each course differs from one another.

10. Alex Yang: Ruby On Rails for Entrepreneurs & Startups

Alex Yang: Ruby On Rails for Entrepreneurs & Startups

Ruby on Rails, often simply Rails, is an open source web application framework which runs via the Ruby programming language. It is a full-stack framework: it allows creating pages and applications that gather information from the web server, talk to or query the database, and render templates out of the box. As a result, Rails features a routing system that is independent of the web server.

Alex takes you on a journey to mastering Ruby on Rails (see definition above), and will teach you everything there is to know about building successful web applications, and with the new knowledge you’ll acquire – you will be able to put your new ideas to the test, and have enough experience to build and launch them.

The things you are going to learn that stand out from the rest:

  • Programming with Ruby 2 and Ruby on Rails 4
  • Front-end web development with Bootstrap 3
  • How an API works and how to use Stripe payment API
  • Standard features like login system, form manipulation, images, dashboards, history.
  • Learn to deploy GitHub and Heroku

it’s an extensive course and it’s the one that I recommend myself, as there is plenty to be learned and it’s directly aimed at those who’re business owners, entrepreneurs, or potential startup launchers.

11. Bradley Berger: Learn Practical Javascript from Scratch

Bradley Berger: Learn Practical Javascript from Scratch
Bradley is assuming that you know some HTML and some CSS, and wants to further extend your knowledge by offering you a deep dive into practical JavaScript. If you know anything about web development, you’ll know that great things can be achieved by combining these three languages.

You get access to 30 courses that will teach you things you will be remembering for the rest of your development career, hence the course name “Practical”. JavaScript is great language to learn, even if for playing with it only. Definitely see my post about the habits of a JavaScript developer.

12. Bradley Berger: HTML5 & CSS3 Complete from Scratch

Bradley Berger: HTML5 & CSS3 Complete from Scratch
JavaScript might not be your thing, and the same author that built the JavaScript from scratch course, is also presenting a highly acclaimed HTML5 & CSS3 from scratch course, which has been enrolled for by several hundred students.

You will learn how to build a full-scale website that you can sell to your potential clients for hundreds of not thousands of dollars, I guess marketing is a completely different topic in this case. But, there are 50 lectures in this course, and plenty of stuff to learn; definitely check out the amazing reviews it has gotten so far.

Learn Web Development from Scratch

I guarantee you that this is the most comprehensive list of courses for web development that you will find anywhere else on the web, you get exactly what you pay for, and in this case – it is knowledge based on quality standards.

I’m still going through some of these myself, and by far the most impressive thing has been the support that you receive from each of the course owners and students that are learning at the same pace that you are.

All in all, a great starting point for anyone, and hopefully I’ll see you on the other side, once you get a few of these wrapped up.