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Useful resources for learning how to program at your web store

· Education

One of my biggest advantages over the competition is that we can understand and read programming language. We can make small adjustments to HTML, CSS and PHP to build a perfect web store. When We have to start blank, we cannot yet build a simple contact form, but we do understand what such a form does and which 'checks' are built in, for example. we certainly do not want to call us good, we are the best.

This blog post will elaborate on Learn programming Online by your self.

Useful resources for learning to program
If you want to have a unique made-to-measure web shop, or make adjustments to your current web shop, you may have to make changes to the code from which the web shop is built. This is also called programming!

Programming is not easy, but most people teach themselves. If you have a lot of free time and motivation you can use the internet to find almost everything about how to program. There are also various forums where you can go with your programming and coding questions. In the Netherlands there are also a number of courses at MBO and HBO level where you can learn to program. These are normal courses that last at least two years, which says enough about the difficulty of learning to program yourself.

First, we will discuss the why of programming in more detail. With most web store software you do not need knowledge of it, so why would you still teach yourself? Here you will find various tips for courses and training courses where you can learn to program, but we recommend that you first try it yourself by examining HTML, for example.

computer programming

What is programming exactly?
In principle, a computer and a website cannot come up with anything on their own. For every action that is required, a code must be entered that has been devised by a person. The code determines how the texts and visual resources are displayed on a website. By making changes to this, your website will look different. When you start programming, you actually set up a step-by-step code that fits the website system.

With this you indicate per step what the website should look like and which elements it should contain, so you can also add a video or images for example. When it comes to text, you can make adjustments such as placing a link in it or displaying text in a different color or font. Entering this code language is called programming.

Which programming languages ​​can you learn?
The fact that programming is not easy to learn is also because there are different code languages ​​that you can learn, so you've probably heard of CSS, PHP and HTML for example. These are all different code languages ​​that work slightly differently. If you follow a programming course then you often learn a lot from everything, but if you want to teach yourself the programming, it is best to start with the most commonly used HTML.

A programming language often consists of text and characters, which is also called code. Because it can look very complicated, it is difficult for most people to understand. In particular, more complex code languages ​​such as PHP and JAVA cannot be changed without having learned for it.

Javascript

Is it necessary to be able to program yourself?
Many people who start an online store wonder if it is necessary to learn these code languages ​​themselves. In most cases, however, a good start can be made without any knowledge of code. Most web store software use so-called CMS systems, CMS stands for Content Management System. This term actually indicates that you can adapt the website in a system that allows you to adjust the text and visual content in a kind of word processor.

Editing a page in a CMS system is very similar to working in the well-known MS WORD that everyone has experience with. You can adjust the text and place images between the text in the same way. Of course you can also change the font in a CMS system. However, a CMS system does not always have all the options that you may need. For example, a CMS system such as WordPress does not have the standard option to adjust the font size, which means that you still have to dive into the HTML code if you need it.

However, there are also web store makers who prefer to build a web store via code, but this takes a lot more time and you make mistakes easily, the big advantage is that you can use this to completely customize the web store to your wishes. There are other reasons why it may be useful to have knowledge of code as you will discover in the following paragraph.

In addition, you can of course also hire someone else who has a lot of knowledge of code. Unless your neighbor or knowledge is good at it, you will have to hire an expensive freelancer or web design agency. Let it be clear that good programmers do not come for a low price.

Why is it useful?
Although it is not necessary to have knowledge of programming yourself, you can still achieve a number of benefits with it. If you have a web store, it will happen that the code needs to be adjusted and if you cannot do that you will need help for it, which of course costs money. If you can do one thing and another yourself then you can at least make the small adjustments yourself so that everything in your web store looks well-arranged. If you are very good at programming, you can tailor-make your own web store yourself!

Make small adjustments yourself
If you are a web store owner then you will probably be bothered by the many small flaws in the design so that your web store does not yet look completely professional. If you want to make these small adjustments yourself then you will often need to have knowledge of CSS, this code mainly determines the structure of a website page, if you see certain elements skewed, too low or too high then you can adjust this with CSS .

Completely customized
If you want to go even further with making adjustments to the code, then it is really necessary to delve further into code languages ​​such as CSS and HTML. Once you have progressed in this, you have a big advantage over other web stores because you can determine the design of the web store yourself. This makes it a lot easier to create a unique online store that allows you to distinguish yourself from the standard web shops of competitors.

The preparation to learn programming
If you want to learn how to program, you can register for a course or a course, for example. It is wise to prepare somewhat. If you have no experience with it at all, it can be as difficult as learning Chinese, for example! Therefore, be prepared to apply the tips below as well as possible; this is also a good start if you want to learn programming yourself.

Work on your English language!
The first thing you need to master is an advanced knowledge of the English language. If you are good at English then you will recognize and master the many professional terms of programming. Are you not good at English? Make sure you first learn this by following an online course, for example.

Immerse yourself in the professional terms!
The next thing you can do is draw up a list of the many professional terms you need to know to be able to program properly. When you look for information about how to program, the professional terms bump into you. This works just like learning a foreign language, find all the words that you don't know and possibly write them down so that you can remember them better!

Read a book!
In addition to a lot of online resources, there are also plenty of books and manuals in which you can find information about how to program. For example, at Bol.com you can also buy beginners manuals. The advantage of a physical book is that it reads well and you can keep it if you are experimenting with your computer right away. The disadvantage is that physical books quickly fall behind current events.

See also: Learn Java: How do you do that and what is the use of it?