Okay, so you wanna build stuff on the web? Cool. I started out fumbling through it, and let me tell you—it ain’t magic. But if you don’t get the basics straight, the whole thing kinda crumbles like overbaked cookies.
I made mistakes. Still do. But these are the things I shoulda known when I first opened a text editor and thought I was about to build Facebook.
1. HTML, CSS, and the JavaScript Beast
The holy trinity. Learned those names before I could even spell “frontend.” HTML? It’s like bones of the site. CSS? Fancy skin, lipstick, earrings, sometimes glitter. And JavaScript? That wild unpredictable friend who makes things blink, move, react, yell.
Don’t skip ‘em. Don’t jump into React ‘cause it’s trending. I did that. Regret? 6/10. Learn the basics first.
2. Write Code That Doesn’t Look Like Garbage
Your future self will curse your past self if the code is ugly. I once named a variable xxlolwut45—I swear. Couldn’t tell what it was for a week later.
Like seriously tho, indentation matters. Comments help if you ain’t around to explain. And name your functions something that doesn’t need a decoder ring.
3. KISS (Not the Band)
Keep it simple, stupid. That’s what they say. Overthinking a feature will bury you.
I once wrote 100 lines of code for a button. Guess what? It toggled a color. Coulda done it in five lines. I cried a little.
Simple wins. Fancy code is for showing off. But it often breaks.
4. Tiny Screens Rule the World Now
You scroll TikTok? You use your phone in bed like a goblin? Yeah, everyone does. That’s why you build your site for the phone first.
Then work your way up to laptop size. Not the other way ‘round. I used to design on a 27-inch monitor then cry when my site broke on a Galaxy S9.
Lesson learned: media queries are your frens.
5. Accessibility Ain’t Optional (Even Though We Treat It Like It Is)
You want your site to be usable by everyone, right? Even that one dude using a screen reader. Or your grandma with bad eyesight.
Use the right tags. <header>, <nav>, not <div class="weirdthing">. Add alt text like your life depends on it. Make sure colors don’t make people squint like they’re staring into the sun.
Bad accessibility? That’s just laziness pretending to be efficiency.
6. Components = Bricks
I didn’t get this at first. But think of your site like LEGO. Each part is its own lil’ thing. Navbar? One brick. Search box? Another.
You build blocks, not spaghetti. React taught me that, but the lesson works everywhere—even in vanilla JS. Reuse, don’t repeat.
Components make life easier. Especially when stuff breaks. Which it will.
7. Git or Regret It
You mess up a file and wanna undo it? Git can save your life. Literally, once I deleted a whole project accidentally. Hit undo? Nope. It was gone.
With Git, you got time travel. Safe backups. Branches so you can test ideas without nuking your progress. GitHub’s your portfolio. Start pushing code, even if it’s janky.
Always commit. And write messages that future-you won’t hate.
8. Test Like You’re Paranoid
Assume it’s broken. Just… always. Check it in Chrome, Firefox, Safari. Resize the screen. Use your mom’s old phone.
Click everything. Hard. Rapid fire. Try to crash your site. If it survives, you’re doing alright.
Don’t know automated tests yet? That’s fine. Manual clicks still count. Start there.
9. Fast Sites = Happy Humans
I built a portfolio once with 10MB of images. Nobody loaded it. Including me.
Shrink your images, dude. Don’t load ten fonts. Cut down on huge libraries when vanilla JavaScript will do. Lazy load videos.
Google loves speed. People love speed. You should too.
10. Keep Learning or Get Left Behind, Sorry
You stop learning? You stop building. It’s that simple. The web changes faster than memes.
I learn something new almost every week. Sometimes on accident. Sometimes on YouTube at 3am. Doesn’t matter. Just keep going.
Try new things. Break stuff. Fix it. Repeat. That’s the cycle.
Some Last Words I Wish Someone Said to Me Early
Start small. Like really small. A single page with some buttons. Don’t chase shiny tools. Learn the roots. Build dumb stuff until it works.
Be okay with being confused. Happens to me daily. Ask questions that feel dumb—chances are, they’re not.
And hey, if your site crashes, no one’s gonna die. Probably.
If you made it this far, congrats. That’s step one to becoming a web dev. Step two? Go build something right now. Doesn’t have to be pretty. It just has to exist.
I’ll see you on the internet. Broken layouts, bad commits, typos and all.
Also, you can know more about Budget Travel in startups here.