Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

General Discussion

Raulis Pranckevicius
Raulis Pranckevicius
1,894 Points
Posted by Raulis Pranckevicius
Raulis Pranckevicius
1,894 Points

Front end web dev or web design? Which first?

What do you boys and girls think? Which track should I choose to start my code learning first? Front End Web Dev or Web Design? What I'm thinking is that after finishing the front end track I'll have enough skills and knowledge to jump into web design and get the most out of it. Or there's no big difference? Thanks :)

2 Answers

andren
andren
28,558 Points
andren
andren
28,558 Points

Honestly they aren't that different, tracks are collections of courses, and there are a lot of courses that are present in both of those tracks.

The main difference between the tracks is that "Web Design" has some courses that focus specifically on design while "Front End Web Development" has courses that focus on JavaScript which is a topic not covered at all in the "Web Design" track.

Since knowledge of JavaScript is pretty important when it comes to designing modern websites I'd recommend starting with the "Front End Web Development" track. And then completing the courses you have not done yet in the "Web Design" track.

Raulis Pranckevicius
Raulis Pranckevicius
1,894 Points
Raulis Pranckevicius
Raulis Pranckevicius
1,894 Points

Cheers for your answer, that's what I thought too, just wanted to her that from someone who's more experienced.

Nathan Ainsworth
Nathan Ainsworth
7,231 Points
Nathan Ainsworth
Nathan Ainsworth
7,231 Points

I actually think the other way round is far better (i.e. start with Web Design, then do Front End).

The biggest issue with studying online is giving up - so anything that keeps your momentum up over the long run is going to be key.

Web Design is about 20% shorter than Front End, it has a lot more fun classes to help you get up and running quick - and some of the courses are just on design so you can fire through them quite fast - whilst Front End has more courses and some of them are quite dry (but essential like Git and website optimisation).

I think what you want to do is complete BOTH tracks to get an awesome foundational skillset, but by starting (and completing) the smaller and simpler Web Design course first, you get a huge psychological boost that allows you to then tackle the Front End track. And as mentioned earlier - they have a fair few courses in common so by the time you finish Web Design, Front End will be a smaller mountain to climb.

The average Treehouse user only completes like 10% of a full track before giving up permanently, so you need to focus strategies that impact long term outcomes.

Same thing can be applied to the JavaScript courses - sure, you'll want to do the Full Stack JavaScript course but you might as well start and finish the Beginner JavaScript course to build your confidence and get a sense of satisfaction.

You can research the "debt-snowball" technique of paying off debt to read about a similar psychological phenomenon for involved in tackling long term finance goals, which is what the above advice is essentially is based on.