There is a huge demand for Front-End Web Developers or Web Designers in IT and Front-End Developer Jobs are also one of the highest-paying jobs. These all are the reason people love to choose this field. Frontend development is all about UI/UX where the main concern is related to the layout, styling, or designing of the website. Every web designer or frontend developer’s journey starts from HTML and CSS and after a better understanding of both, they need to jump into Javascript to add interactive features to their HTML and CSS design.
When it comes to learning methods for frontend development most people love to go with online videos or materials however sometimes for reference or to understand the concept in-depth from beginning to the end books are the best options.
Why Learn Front-End Development?
Front-end developers are the highest-paid professionals and use their talent in order to design easy, appealing, and user-friendly websites. It is a mixture of many things including interface, text, image, and animation and the front-end developer uses these elements and presents the complete result in front of the end user.
Front-End Developers deal with the design and layout aspects of the websites whereas back-end developers are primarily responsible for server-side tasks such as API integration, website functioning, etc.
So, if you have an interest in any of these aspects then you can definitely choose front-end development as your career.
Below is the list of some best books to learn frontend development or web designing. These books are good for both entry-level and experienced developers. We have categorized these books into two sections- for beginners and for experienced. One thing you need to keep in mind is that in programming you need to keep updated yourself but basics concepts always remain the same and they should have a strong command of basics concepts first before moving on to the advanced level.
Best Front-End Development Books For Beginners:
1. HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites, by Jon Duckett
This book by Jon Duckett is incredibly popular. If you are a beginner in designing and recently started learning HTML and CSS then this book is best for you to learn everything from scratch to an expert level. The quality of content in this book is very high, also the presentation of everything is well organized. You will find the definition of every topic along with the code and its output. The author of this book has made code so visual that everybody can understand it. Graphics are wonderful in this book and all the properties, examples, and code are explained using a color-coding system to differentiate everything. It has magazine-style layouts and designs with high-quality pages.
2. JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development, by Jon Duckett
To add functionality to your HTML and CSS code, again we recommend you to follow this book written by Jon Duckett. All the concepts of javascript are very clear and presented in a well-structured and organized way from scratch in this book. Jon Duckett is an expert in javascript and this book will teach you how to use javascript in real-world applications taking a realistic example. In the beginning, you will be learning about the fundamentals, DOM manipulation, and handling user events in javascript and then you slowly will be moving to jquery.
3. HTML5: The Missing Manual
For anyone who wants to learn front-end development then this is the perfect book for them. Ideal for beginners HTML5: The Missing Manual will keep the readers engaged and help in learning the most complex elements very easily. The writer of the book Matthew Randolph has penned down everything starting from basic HTML to CSS and going up to more complex topics like JavaScript and AJAX in this book in order to give the person an overview of everything.
HTML5: The Missing Manual is a vital guide for someone who needs a clear explanation of everything with proper examples. The beginners will find step-by-step tutorials which can be followed easily in order to gain complete knowledge. In this book, you will learn video tools, dynamic drawings, a Jargon-free guide, online web apps, drag, and drop, etc.
Best Front-End Development Books For Experienced:
1. Learning Web Design: A beginner’s guide to HTML, CSS, Javascript, and Web Graphics, By Jennifer Niederst Robbins
This book has around 600 pages and the best thing about this book is it has a ton of exercises to test and experiment with your code and which will make your concepts more clear. You will be learning about HTML, CSS, and Javascript as well as web graphics and responsive web designing in this book. The title of this book mentions that the book is for beginners but most beginners find that it has advanced topics so if you already have basic knowledge of web design then this book is best for you to have in-depth knowledge of web designing. If you are a beginner we recommend you learn the basics first then pick up this book.
2. Eloquent Javascript: by Marijn Haverbake:
Marijn Haverbeke beautifully covered all the concepts of javascript in this book and he will walk you through the fundamentals of javascript starting from variables, control structures, functions, and data structures. Then you will be moving to advanced topics like object-oriented programming and regular expressions. The third edition of this book covers the 2017 version of javascript and will walk you through some new concepts like class notation, template strings, black scope, arrow functions, iterators, async functions, etc. The author has also added exercises and some mini-projects in this book to test your skill and for a good grasp of all the concepts explained in this book. One thing you need to keep in mind before picking up this book is that like the name suggests this book introduces more about introduction to programming using javascript and it’s not an essentially javascript book. Also, we have categorized this in an experienced section because you may face difficulty while solving its exercises. You may have to take help from the internet for clarification but that will make your concepts more clear.
3. JavaScript: The Good Parts 1st Edition
Now people who want to upgrade their level, JavaScript: The Good Parts 1st Edition is best for them. This book contains both good and bad parts about the language which it scrapes off. This book makes JavaScript a more reliable, readable, and maintainable language which is exactly required for coding. This book will help you to explore the elegant, lightweight, and highly expressive language which is very helpful in creating codes. This book contains numerous things such as functions, arrays, methods, styles, regular expressions, etc, all for better understanding.
Other Books For Front-End Web Development:
- Don’t make me think revisited
- Designing with Web Standards
- Responsive Web Design
- CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions
- Front-End Web Development: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide
- You Don’t Know JS – ES6 & Beyond
- JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
- Javascript Allongé
- Learn JavaScript VISUALLY with Interactive Exercises
jQuery is an open-source JavaScript library that simplifies the interactions between an HTML/CSS document, It is widely famous for its philosophy of “Write less, do more”. You can learn jQuery from the ground up by following this jQuery Tutorial and jQuery Examples.
Conclusion:
In the end, you need to know that each Book is fully loaded with the knowledge to learn Front-End Web Development, you can pick out the one to start with as per your requirements and convenience!
