Web development path: 59 days from zero to your site online
Fifty-nine one-hour sessions, one a day, in four modules, for people who have never written a line of HTML. The goal: go from "I have no idea how a web page is made" to "my site is online, accessible, and I wrote every line of it". No prerequisites, no jargon left unexplained, a single new idea per session at the beginning.
Why web development, and for whom
The web is the most direct door into programming: three languages (HTML for structure, CSS for looks, JavaScript for interaction), one essential tool (a browser, already installed), and a visible result at every session. This path is built for true beginners: every term is defined the first time it appears, every exercise uses free tools, and the final project is a real site, published at a real address, that you can show.
The method, the same every day
| Time | Phase | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| 20 min | Theory | The session's course (on the module page), read calmly, with note-taking. |
| 30 min | Practice | You type HTML, CSS or JavaScript yourself, open it in the browser, and SEE it work. Every exercise has an explicit success criterion. |
| 10 min | Recap | Three lines in the notebook, then redo today's exercise without notes. |
Typing the code by hand matters as much as understanding it: never copy-paste an example, retype it. The typos you will fix — an unclosed tag, a forgotten brace — are exactly the errors you will know how to repair later.
The tools, installed once (day 1)
- A browser: Firefox, Chrome, Edge or Safari — the one you already have will do. It runs everything you will write during the first three modules.
- A code editor: VSCodium (the fully open-source build of Visual Studio Code) is recommended; Notepad on Windows or TextEdit on Mac are enough to start. A code editor is not a word processor: it saves plain text, with no hidden formatting.
- A free GitHub account, created in module 4, to publish your site with GitHub Pages, GitHub's free static hosting.
- A digital notebook: a simple folder of text files, one file per day.
No credit card, no subscription: the whole path runs on a browser, a free editor and a free GitHub account.
The golden rule
One hour every day beats seven hours on Sunday. If you miss a day, you do not catch up the next one: you shift everything by a day, and you trim module 4. Sessions are numbered D1 to D59, with no calendar dates: only order and regularity matter.
Learning with AI, without letting it code for you
This path can be followed with an AI as a tutor, preferably a model that runs on your own machine (see your first local model): your experiments never leave your computer. It saves you time when it makes you work, and wastes your time when it works in your place.
- Ask it to explain an error, to quiz you, to proofread your code. Not to write the exercise: the day you want to fix your site alone, it will not be inside your head.
- Never copy its code without rereading it line by line and opening it in the browser yourself. A model writes plausible HTML that sometimes displays nothing.
- Check what it claims against the official documentation, MDN Web Docs: a model can be wrong with confidence, even about a common tag.
- Never paste passwords, personal data, or private file contents into it.
Every session ends with an "Agent tips" box: how an agent (Claude Code, Kimi Code, OpenFox) would do the same task, the trap to avoid, and the proof to demand. You learn by hand, and along the way you learn to delegate without being fooled.
The four modules
Module 1: how the web works, and HTML, from the page skeleton to forms. Module 2: CSS, from selectors to responsive layout and dark mode. Module 3: JavaScript, from variables to calling a public API, with three small interactive widgets. Module 4: accessibility, performance, then Git, GitHub Pages and the final project — a multi-page site, accessible and responsive, published online. Each module is one page: sessions follow one another, each with its goal, its course, its step-by-step practice and its recap. Check off a module when all its sessions are done; your progress stays in your browser.
Recommended free resources
- MDN Web Docs — Learn web development — the reference to keep at hand for the whole path.
- freeCodeCamp (free): the "Responsive Web Design" and "JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures" certifications extend modules 2 and 3.
- web.dev — Learn Accessibility (free): the course that extends module 4.
- GitHub Pages documentation: the official guide for module 4.
- The W3C HTML validator: paste your page, it lists the markup errors.
The end-of-path checklist
- I can explain what happens between typing an address and the page appearing.
- I can write a complete HTML page: headings, paragraphs, links, images, lists, a form.
- I can style a page with CSS: colors, typography, flexbox, grid, media queries.
- I can write JavaScript that reacts to clicks and modifies the page.
- I can call a public API with fetch and display the result.
- I can make a page keyboard-navigable and screen-reader readable.
- I can use Git: init, add, commit, push.
- My site is online on GitHub Pages, accessible and responsive, and I can explain every line.
A box you cannot check is not a failure: it is the list of what you will pick up first.
- 1Web development module 1: how the web works, and HTMLDays 1 to 14: browser, server and requests, then HTML — skeleton, headings, text, links, images, lists, forms — up to your first complete page opened in the browser.
- 2Web development module 2: CSS, the art of stylingDays 15 to 28: selectors, colors, typography, boxes, flexbox, grid, media queries and dark mode — your pages become pages people want to read.
- 3Web development module 3: JavaScript, the page that reactsDays 29 to 42: variables, conditions, functions, the DOM, events, fetch on a public API, and three interactive widgets — counter, todo list, dark-mode toggle.
- 4Web development module 4: accessible, fast and onlineDays 43 to 59: accessibility, semantic HTML, performance, Git and GitHub Pages, then the final project — a multi-page site, accessible and responsive, published and documented.