As a beginner developer, it’s easy to get excited about the "cool" stuff—like JavaScript, React, or building complex apps. But when I first started learning front-end development, I realized that the key to truly understanding JavaScript (and eventually React) wasn’t diving into JavaScript immediately. It was mastering HTML and CSS first.
You might be thinking, "Why focus on HTML and CSS? Isn’t JavaScript the real power behind web development?" While JavaScript is incredibly important, HTML and CSS form the foundation that makes JavaScript work seamlessly. In this post, I’ll explain why learning these "underrated" skills made learning JavaScript much easier and helped me avoid common pitfalls early on.
-The Importance of HTML: The Backbone of Every Web Page
HTML is the backbone of every webpage. It’s the structure—the building blocks—that defines what your content looks like and how it’s organized. Without understanding HTML, JavaScript becomes harder to learn because you won’t know how to interact with or manipulate the content of a page.
Think of it like this: you wouldn’t try to build a house without first understanding its blueprint, right? HTML is the blueprint of a webpage, and JavaScript is the tool that helps you change things in that blueprint.
When I first started learning JavaScript, I found myself trying to manipulate HTML elements without fully understanding their structure. For example, if I wanted to change a paragraph’s text or add a button that performs an action, I had to know exactly where to place these elements in the DOM (Document Object Model). Understanding HTML made this process so much easier.
Without knowing HTML, trying to work with JavaScript would have been like trying to read a map without understanding where the landmarks are.
-CSS: The Visual Layer That Made JavaScript More Intuitive
While HTML is responsible for the structure of a webpage, CSS controls the visual appearance—how things look. Knowing CSS is just as important as knowing HTML because it allows you to style your webpage and make sure everything is in its right place.
Why does this matter for JavaScript? Well, when you’re using JavaScript to change the look of a page (for example, to make something disappear or change its color), understanding CSS means you’ll know exactly what properties to change. Without it, JavaScript can feel like a random, frustrating mess.
I remember when I first tried to use JavaScript to add interactive elements to a page, I spent so much time trying to figure out why the changes weren’t visible. The reason? I hadn’t fully understood how CSS worked. Once I understood how CSS positions elements and defines their appearance, it became clear how JavaScript could change things like colors, sizes, and positions on the page.
Here’s a simple example:
<div id="box" class="box">Click me to change color!</div>
<style>
.box {
width: 100px;
height: 100px;
background-color: lightblue;
}
</style>
<script>
document.getElementById('box').addEventListener('click', function() {
this.style.backgroundColor = 'orange'; // Manipulating CSS with JavaScript
});
</script>
In this example, I used JavaScript to change the background color of the box. Understanding the CSS property background-color helped me write the JavaScript that changes it on click.
-HTML + CSS = A Smoother JavaScript Learning Experience
So, why does learning HTML and CSS first make learning JavaScript so much easier? JavaScript is all about interacting with HTML elements and manipulating their appearance through CSS. If you don’t understand HTML, JavaScript becomes a mystery because you won’t know how to target the elements you want to change. If you don’t know CSS, you won’t know how to adjust the styles JavaScript manipulates.
By understanding how HTML and CSS work together, I could focus on the logic and functionality of JavaScript without getting caught up in the structure and design of the webpage. Here’s how this played out for me:
When I first learned about DOM manipulation in JavaScript, I was confused. What is the DOM? How do I change things on the page? But once I learned HTML and CSS, it clicked. I understood that the DOM is essentially a structured representation of the HTML elements on the page, and JavaScript can be used to modify those elements in real-time. It became much easier to apply JavaScript logic to these elements when I knew their structure and how they were styled.
-React and JavaScript: Building on What You Already Know
If you’re planning to learn React, you’ll see how much of it relies on what you already know about HTML and CSS. React uses JSX, a syntax that looks like HTML, to define components. So, understanding HTML before jumping into React helps you quickly get comfortable with JSX.
In React, instead of manually adding HTML elements to a page, you create components that render HTML elements based on state and props. Since React elements are built from JSX, which resembles HTML, it was easy for me to pick up React after understanding HTML.
In addition, many React libraries like styled-components rely on writing CSS in JavaScript. If you’ve already learned CSS, you can apply those same styles within your React components, making the learning curve much smoother.
-How HTML & CSS Helped Me Avoid Common Pitfalls in JavaScript
One of the most valuable things I learned by focusing on HTML and CSS first was how it helped me avoid common mistakes when writing JavaScript. For example:
- Not knowing how to select elements properly❗: If you don’t understand how HTML elements are structured, you might struggle to use JavaScript’s getElementById or querySelector methods to find the right elements.
- Layout issues❗: Sometimes, JavaScript works as expected, but things don’t look right on the page because you didn’t fully understand how CSS affects element positioning or sizing. Knowing CSS helps you anticipate layout problems before they become JavaScript issues.
Understanding the basics of HTML and CSS helped me troubleshoot problems faster because I had a clearer understanding of how things should be laid out and styled before I started manipulating them with JavaScript.
In the End
To be honest, I can’t emphasize enough how much a solid understanding of HTML and CSS helped me in my JavaScript learning journey. It might seem tempting to jump straight into JavaScript and frameworks like React, but without the basics, things can get overwhelming pretty quickly. Trust me—when I took the time to really get comfortable with HTML and CSS, everything else just clicked.
So, if you're just starting out in web development, give yourself the gift of time with HTML and CSS. It might feel slow at first, but that foundation will make learning JavaScript and React so much easier and more enjoyable. You'll see the difference!
"Thanks for reading, keep coding!"❤
Top comments (2)
Thank for the useful infor! Understanding HTML and CSS makes learning JavaScript simpler by clarifying how to manipulate elements and troubleshoot layout issues. Echoapi can aid this process by offering seamless API testing, helping developers efficiently integrate JavaScript functionalities with well-structured web designs.
Hey, thanks so much for the comment! I’m with you, having a solid grip on HTML and CSS makes JavaScript way less of a headache, especially when you're messing with the DOM or fixing layout stuff.
Never tried Echoapi, but it sounds pretty cool! I’ll check it out, appreciate you mentioning it❤