The hardest thing about going from backend dev to frontend dev is understanding CSS and HTML layout. Without a clear mental model, the experience of trying to position things on a web page feels like really frustrating[1]. I cannot recommend more highly that you do the following:
- Read through http://book.mixu.net/css/ and take notes like you are in university. When you come to a point that seems ambiguous, copy-paste some of the example html/css into a file, modify it, and view it in the browser to check your understanding.
- Turn these notes into flashcards in a Spaced Repetition program like https://ankiweb.net/about. Try to write questions that ask why something turns out some way. Don't be surprised if many of the questions end up feeling like rote memorization. There is a reason why med students do a lot of rote memorization: they are trying to build a mental model of a very complex system.
After that if you have time and don't already have a project to work on, you might want to
- Build a bunch of things in just HTML/CSS. When you have a question about how to position something, try to predict what the answer is. If you can't, then look up resources and add another notecard to represent what you learned.
The hardest thing about going from backend dev to frontend dev is understanding CSS and HTML layout. Without a clear mental model, the experience of trying to position things on a web page feels like really frustrating[1]. I cannot recommend more highly that you do the following:
- Read through http://book.mixu.net/css/ and take notes like you are in university. When you come to a point that seems ambiguous, copy-paste some of the example html/css into a file, modify it, and view it in the browser to check your understanding.
- Turn these notes into flashcards in a Spaced Repetition program like https://ankiweb.net/about. Try to write questions that ask why something turns out some way. Don't be surprised if many of the questions end up feeling like rote memorization. There is a reason why med students do a lot of rote memorization: they are trying to build a mental model of a very complex system.
After that if you have time and don't already have a project to work on, you might want to
- Build a bunch of things in just HTML/CSS. When you have a question about how to position something, try to predict what the answer is. If you can't, then look up resources and add another notecard to represent what you learned.
[1] http://i.imgur.com/Q3cUg29.gif