Regardless of whether they are classified as programming languages or not, there is little doubt that HTML and CSS—along with JavaScript—are the cornerstones of the World Wide Web. Luckily, they’re among the easiest technologies to learn and showcase.
As a budding web developer, how do you practice and demonstrate your skills? First, you’ll need one or more projects to test your skills and take the learning process beyond just learning the syntax.
These eight projects are perfect for brushing up on your HTML and CSS skills and showing off what you’ve learned.
Building a personal website is one of the most popular and at the same time challenging projects for HTML and CSS beginners. It is a comprehensive project that will test most of the skills you have acquired during your learning process. Additionally, a personal website is a great place to display your resume and connect your GitHub account.
Many beginners use software like SquareSpace or WordPress to handle the more technical aspects of website building. With these tools, you can focus on improving your markup and styling skills. Or you can create a website from scratch and put all your skills to the test.
A personal website can serve as a portfolio for all your work. The header is perfect for introducing yourself, showing contact information, and linking to other works. Likewise, the footer may contain links to social media accounts and other information about you and your services.
A tribute page is a one-page website that describes the qualities of someone you consider an idol or role model. Requiring only basic HTML and CSS knowledge, this project is one of the easiest tasks you can do to show off your skills.
The most distinctive feature of a tribute page is the image of the subject. Therefore, positioning this image correctly requires technical skills, design skills, and an eye for detail. You need to choose the right background colors to complement the image.
The subject name is just as important as the image and is often highlighted in the header with unique fonts and colors. In addition, a tribute page includes a paragraph or two on the topic, links, and public contact information.
A survey form project will test your knowledge and skills in interactive controls. It covers the full range of UI/UX including receiving and sending user input. Additionally, in this project, you will use HTML elements such as radio buttons, text boxes, check boxes, and labels.
Your survey form doesn’t need to ask real questions or store answers in a database. Instead, you can use placeholder text to demonstrate that you have mastered proper webpage structure. In addition, you can create a responsive form whose content adapts to the screen size.
A landing page is another one-page website designed specifically for marketing campaigns. The aim is to win customers for a company or to generate leads. Therefore, a landing page is often the first point of contact to search engine optimized websites.
Analytics can help you determine how effective your landing page is. It is paramount to design the landing page in a way that ensures maximum engagement. Despite its simplicity, a landing page is one of the more challenging projects for beginners.
This project requires creative skills to make the most of the various HTML elements that are available to you. You need CSS knowledge to create complex layouts on different devices.
Your landing page needs to be interactive and responsive enough to engage your audience and generate user activity.
At first glance, an events page seems like any static website project on this list. However, the key feature is a registration button for visitors who want to attend the event. Another standout feature is links to the venue, itinerary, and speakers.
This project will test your ability to fit a lot of information into a limited space. Therefore, your website must clearly state the purpose and benefits of the event (if applicable). You can also add relevant images of the venue, speakers, and event theme.
For an events page, you need to know how to use HTML and CSS to divide your page into sections. In addition, the header should contain an interactive menu and the footer should display additional information.
A restaurant website needs to use the right combination of colors to make food and drink more attractive to customers. You can also make the website interactive to increase customer loyalty. For example, hovering over a meal image will bring up a menu card with price and availability.
This project is an opportunity to put your layout skills to the test. For example, you can use image sliders to showcase the restaurant’s menu options. Alternatively, you can use CSS grid or flexbox to align the foods. Even simple animations on buttons and images can give your website an exciting look.
A restaurant website may require skills beyond simple HTML and CSS, such as: B. jQuery and @keyframes.
A website clone is often seen as the ultimate test of your HTML and CSS skills as it takes more time and effort to complete than any other project. Video sharing sites like YouTube and Netflix are popular candidates for website cloning due to their complexity and professional look.
The cloning process begins with screenshots of the website’s interface, especially the interactive elements. You then use all the skills at your disposal to recreate the appearance of the different parts of the site.
Your clone site should include features like search engines, comment sections, channels, and payment plans. You can also embed an HTML5 video background to mimic the video playback capabilities of those websites.
This project offers a glimpse into the thought process of large, professional web development teams. In addition, you can use the Test tool in your web browser to take a look at the HTML and CSS source code of these websites.
Parallax scrolling is a common effect on modern websites, where background elements scroll at different speeds than foreground elements. Despite its visually stunning appearance, a parallax website is one of the easiest projects for beginners.
To get the best parallax effect, split your webpage into three or four sections, each with a different background image. The most important ingredient in creating a Parallax website is the Background attachment: fixed CSS property for the corresponding images.
Some beginners use online website builders like Wix, WordPress, and Elementor to create parallax websites quickly. However, these tools undermine the challenge and learning curve of creating a parallax effect from scratch.
Next steps in your web development journey
HTML and CSS are just two of the many technologies you can use to create interactive websites. Therefore, choosing a stack to focus on is often overwhelming and confusing for beginners.
Luckily, a programming language is king of web development. JavaScript may be harder to master than HTML and CSS, but the benefits are immense. By learning JavaScript, you can use frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js, saving you time and effort in building an amazing website.
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