Best Free Resources to Learn Web Development

This is one of the best collection of free resources you can use to learn Web Development and explore new possibilities.

Hello readers! So, Web Development is a field which many people want to go into. It has a very high number of jobs and is easy to learn (especially basic frontend development) as a beginner even if you do not have a computer science degree and you are a self-taught developer.

So learning web development is a worthy investment of your time in learning something which would truly help you in your career. You could either go with either Frontend Development or Backend Development or both of them to be a Full Stack Web Developer.

So, here I will be presenting you with some really great free courses which would help you in learning various Web Development technologies and frameworks.

We will divide our resources into stacks and frameworks so that it is easier for you all to figure out what resources to follow for any particular stack or framework you want to learn.

So let us begin with each framework one by one and later I will list out some resources for learning Full Stack Development (all at one place).

Django

Django is a Python-based framework used in Web Development. It is quite popular due to its ease of use and various built-in features. It is a Python framework so the syntax is also quite easy. It comes with a built-in database too which makes it easier for beginners. Django also has a built-in user authentication system which is a big advantage.

Django is a backend framework but with the help of templates, it can produce complete websites with ease. Django templates are very easy to use too.

Django can also be used for API development too. It uses the Django Rest Framework (DRF) to do so.

So, here are a few free resources that help you to learn Django in a very intuitive and easy way.

Django Tutorials Playlist by Corey Schafer

This is an amazing Django tutorial series which teaches Django in such an amazing way that it gets so easy to learn. It is a little bit longer but it is completely worth it.

This is the place I learnt Django from when I literally had no idea how Django worked. His teaching style is really good. He also teaches how to host it on Heroku / Linux servers and use AWS for file storage.

JustDjango YouTube Channel

This is another amazing channel which solely focuses on Django. It teaches you various aspects of Django through many projects built using Django. Its style of teaching is by making projects related to Django. This channel covers almost everything on Django ranging from Django Channels to Django API development.

Django for Everybody| Coursera

This is a specialization on Coursera which is very popular and has a high approval score of 4.8/5. Though it is not completely free of cost, you can still watch the videos and access materials for free. Though, you won’t be able to get the Graded assignments for free.

One more option is to apply for financial aid on Coursera to get it for free. It is need-based and you should apply for it only if you really cannot pay for the certification.

Django Official Documentation

This is a great resource too since it is officially made by Django. It is a great resource to get started with Django and understand the concepts behind each stuff in Django.

Some other resources to get project-based learning on Django (after getting acquainted with the basics) are:-

Flask

Flask is another Python framework for Backend Web Development. It is also very popular and is a perfect choice for small web apps and for building APIs. It is lightweight and has the bare minimum features though you can always add packages to extend its functionality.

It is easy to set up and is easier than Django. But for larger websites, Django is a better choice. Flask shines in API development though.

So, here are the courses to help you get started with Flask.

Flask Tutorial Playlist by Corey Schafer

This is another playlist by Corey Schafer and it follows the same path as in his Django Playlist but developing the same website by Flask. It is again an excellent source to learn Flask. I personally learnt a lot from this tutorial series.

Flask Tutorial on DigitalOcean

This is a great tutorial for learning Flask. This is good if you prefer to learn the basics of Flask and do not want to go in-depth of Flask. This guide will walk you through the various basics of Flask and will help you get started with Flask.

React

Now, let’s move on to some Javascript based frameworks. React is a Javascript library which helps you to build a great frontend for your websites. It is best suited to make Single Page Apps (SPAs).

React is not very easy to learn. It makes use of JSX (a variant of Javascript) in which HTML is embedded between Javascript. You first need to have a good working knowledge of HTML, CSS and JS to learn React. Using React Native, you can build native Android and iOS apps with the same piece of code.

So, here are some resources to learn React:-

React Official Tutorial

This is the official React tutorial made by Facebook. This is one of the best places to start learning React. It teaches React with the help of a hands-on project.

React Tutorial By Scrimba

This is a free tutorial by Scrimba and is a perfect place to start learning React. It is beginner-friendly and being video-based, it is more user friendly.

ReactJS Tutorial For Beginners by Codevolution

This Youtube free tutorial series on React is one of the best React tutorials out there. This one is perfect for beginners and teaches every component of React in great detail. This is very good and well-formed and teaches the concepts in a very easy way.

Complete React Tutorial with Redux YouTube Playlist

This Youtube free tutorial series on React and Redux is a great tutorial series for anyone who is learning React and Redux concepts. This playlist contains 44 videos which go into great detail on important concepts of React and Redux (state container for React).

Angular

Angular is also a Front End Development JavaScript Framework. It is developed by Google and is one of the most sought after frameworks. It is a little bit more difficult than React for beginners but is quite popular and useful.

While React depends on Redux and other third-party tools to be complete, Angular does not rely on third-party frameworks. Angular has almost everything built-in.

Angular uses TypeScript language which is a superset of JavaScript. Here are a few great courses to help you get started with Angular:-

Build Your First Angular App by Scrimba

This is a great 33 part series by Scrimba which teaches Angular for free. It is very good in quality and has been super useful for students to learn Angular.

Angular Official Documentation

Angular documentation is a very great place to be at to start learning Angular. The documentation for Angular is very detailed and is broken down into different concepts and they have tried to put it easily. This resource is really very helpful.

Angular Tutorial for Beginners by Codevolution

This tutorial series is by Codevolution, the same YouTube channel whose React series I have included too in this list. It is a good and detailed resource to learn Angular. They teach it in a very simple and intuitive way for beginners to understand it properly.

VueJS

VueJS is another popular frontend framework which is growing these days. It is easy to learn and is very easy to set up initially. For small projects, Vue is a really great choice.

Vue is a lot less popular than React and Angular so finding good free courses is a little difficult. Here I am mentioning the best ones I found for Vue:-

Vue3 Official Documentation

Official Documentation of Vue is great and is a great resource to start with for learning Vue since there are not many free resources available for Vue.

Learn Vue.js — Full Course for Beginners

This a good course to get you started with Vue JS. This is by FreeCodeCamp and is one of the best free Vue courses out there. It is good if you prefer the video style of learning.

NodeJS, Express and MongoDB (Server Side JS)

NodeJS, Express and MongoDB are quite popular for server-side development using Javascript. NodeJS is a Javascript runtime while Express is a framework based on NodeJS. MongoDB is a NoSQL database which stores data in JSON format.

So, let’s see the best free resources we can use for learning these technologies:-

Learn NodeJS (W3 Schools)

This is a good way to start learning more about NodeJS and how it works. It teaches you about various uses of Node and introduces you to NPM (Node Package Manager). It is good for beginners.

Server-Side Development with NodeJS, Express and MongoDB (Coursera)

This is a really good course which teaches you server-side development in great detail. It has high ratings and is a very good course from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. It deals with all these three tools and discusses the usages of all these technologies for server-side development.

Express Web Framework Tutorial by Mozilla Developers

This is an excellent choice for learning Express and NodeJS through text format. This is a high-quality tutorial written by Mozilla Developers and is a very good place to go to for learning Express.

MongoDB University

This is the best place to learn MongoDB. This series of tutorials are made by MongoDB themselves and are completely free. There are various tracks and courses available on MongoDB university which are very good resources to learn MongoDB.

Full Stack Development Courses

Now, let’s have a look at some courses which will teach you both frontend development, backend development and database management together. These are all in one course and are made to help you learn these things together since they are used together.

Have a look at some great courses that will teach you Full Stack Development:-

Full-Stack Web Development with React

This is a great course to help you learn Full Stack Web Development with React. It is a MERN (MongoDB, Express, React and NodeJS) course. This course would be helpful to anyone who wants to do full-stack web development with Javascript.

Full-Stack React and Django

This 7 part series is for someone who is already familiar with both Django and React and wants to learn to implement both of these together. He explains the concepts very clearly and explains even the basic of things. This is a really good tutorial for anyone wanting to learn Django with React.

Full Stack Web App with VueJS and Express

This tutorial series by FreeCodeCamp is good if you wanted to try out VueJS with Express to make a complete web app. This tutorial series is good and is useful for someone familiar with Vue and Express and now needs to use them together.

So, these were some of the free resources I would recommend getting started with Web Development. Hope you liked these free resources and would make the best use of these to level up your coding skills and be a better developer.

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