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General Discussion

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

Web design track or front-end web development track?

Hi I'm new to web development and not sure where to start. I want to build beautiful websites, with which track should I start? the Wed design track or front-end web development track.

3 Answers

Matthew Batman
Matthew Batman
30,187 Points

Are you more interested in designing or programming? A front-end web developer typically specializes in coding the interfaces of sites and applications. A designer...designs them.

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

I want to be able to design beautiful websites and learn how to build them. In the design program you learn how to code the websites. In the other track it’s 100% and I’m not sure which I should choose.

Are you looking to do this as a hobby or?

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

Looking to do this as a hobby for now. But I hope to be good at it and be able to work as a freelancer and build websites. (Im in high school so im looking for a full time job).

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

Thank you everyone for helping me decide!

Christian Edmonds
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Christian Edmonds
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,115 Points

Hey Shaked Gvirtsman. Learning web development is definitely a process and you will most likely benefit from doing both courses. As to where you should start, I would say it depends on what you want to do with your skills.

Are you wanting to start a career in web development/design? If so, awesome! I would suggest starting with the Front-End development track. If you want to design for the web, a really important step is to understand the limitations of browsers and what the current spec is for html and css. You become more valuable if you can present a design without elements that are just not possible with current technology (not that you shouldn't experiment and find ways to make it work!) Understanding code will enable you to make your slick designs become a reality on the web.

It sounds like you want to build visually stunning sites, which is super cool. I would suggest checking out sites like codepen.io to see how others have turned their designs into code.

Both courses require learning the principles and tools for design and code. I would recommend starting with the Front-End track. All the best as you begin!

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

Hi Christian. Thank you so much for the detailed answer! I’m really confused because of the descreption. In the design track it says:”In this track, you’ll learn how to design and build beautiful websites”. (This is a part of the description). This sounds like what I want to be able to do. Because of that I’m not sure with which one to start. I will learn how to design and build basic websites. Do you still think I should start with the front end web developer track? (I would be really happy to hear your opinion:).

It's more common now for designers to know at least some html/css. Looks like the Design track contains all the html and css courses that the Front End track has.

You could rephrase the summary of each track to something like:

  • Web Design track: Learn to build well-designed websites
  • Front End track: Learn to build interactive websites
Christian Edmonds
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Christian Edmonds
Front End Web Development Techdegree Graduate 21,115 Points

Sorry, if the descriptions aren't being helpful. Don't let that discourage you from starting one or the other! At this point you should probably do whatever peaks your interest the most. You can always switch whenever you want to! Treehouse will save your progress and even apply your course history to both tracks since both tracks require the same courses like lauralouise pointed out, e.g. Introduction to HTML and CSS. I'd say just start one and see what you think!

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

Thank you everyone for helping me decide!

lauralouise
lauralouise
14,853 Points

Hi Shaked -- if you look at the tracks, there is a lot of overlap. I'd recommend starting with Web Design and then hopping over to Front-End Development for some extra courses that suit what you're wanting to learn. You might take longer to get a "Complete" track (ideally with time you'll complete both!). But in the mean time, you'll be able to learn the skills you want to achieve your goal.

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

The design track looks like what I want to start with because I want to build beautiful sites. I think that as a start I want to build more "simple websites". I can't see something specific I want to learn in the other track.

Go with the design track then. You can always switch things up later if necessary.

Shaked Gvirtsman
Shaked Gvirtsman
2,270 Points

Thank you everyone for helping me decide!