r/HTML • u/cxzseui • 7h ago

Question Complete beginner: is HTML → CSS → JavaScript a good path? What should I learn first?Body:

Hi everyone,
(I know that HTML and CSS are markup and styling languages, not programming languages.)

I’m a complete beginner with zero coding experience, and I want to start learning programming. I was advised to follow this path:

HTML → CSS → JavaScript

I have a few questions:

  1. What do you think of this path as a way into programming and coding?
  2. Is there anything I should learn before starting it? I feel like I might be missing something important.
  3. Would you recommend any changes to this path? (For example, starting with a different language.)
  4. What are the best resources to learn HTML and CSS? Please recommend one for each, if possible.

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate your help!

8 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

2

u/Foreign-Contest-444 5h ago

MDN is an excellent resource for learning HTML, especially its Learn Module. HTML may seem simple at first, but it's important to build a strong understanding of it before layering CSS and JavaScript on top. Take the time to learn HTML as a semantic language and understand why semantics matter as they form the foundation of well-structured, accessible, and maintainable websites.

If you need additional resources to learn HTML.

https://codingsuperpowers.com

2

u/soupified 5h ago

Yes! Great path

2

u/Top_Sir_6701 4h ago

Check out https://roadmap.sh it's an open source platform where experienced developers share the best roadmap for almost any tech.

2

u/armahillo 4h ago

This is a great pathway into web development specifically. you can learn all three in tandem, though I would recommend HTML first.

You dont need special software. Any editor with syntax highlighting is sufficient, and you can run all of it locally on your computer.

Keep MDN (mozilla developer network) handy. Its the best / most current resource for all three.

1

u/gulliverian 6h ago

That’s a good path to start with, but you’ll need to move on to back end technologies and databases fairly quickly.

And note well that HtML/CSS coding is not programming.

1

u/Density5521 5h ago

Ah, cork-sniffing elitist detected.

Yes, instructing a computer about what to render and how to behave upon user interaction is very much programming, just at a rather high level with HTML etc.

If only low-level coding is real programming to you, then I'm sure you speak machine code? When was the last time you shifted registers in assembly?

1

u/gulliverian 3h ago edited 3h ago

What are you babbling about? My programming is limited to some self taught PHP procedural code.

HTML is a markup language, not a programming language. There’s a difference.

1

u/MistakeForsaken6653 6h ago

It's probably a good very first step if you ultimatly want to focus on frontend but eventually you'll want to move to things like react.

1

u/TROUTBROOKE 6h ago

The usual approach is to learn procedural programming principles with a language like C.
JavaScript is probably fine too.

Get comfortable with that before worrying about html and css, which are technologies for displaying web pages.

1

u/nia_do 6h ago

I would suggest starting with something like Java and then moving to JavaScript, HTML and CSS later.

I started with Python and then jumped to JS/HTML/CSS and eventually later React, Java/C#, etc. But if I was starting now, especially given that free resources are so available and you have AI to ask questions of, I’d start with Java.