Designing & Building Websites is Easy

Summary

This video script offers a streamlined approach to learning web development, emphasizing the importance of finding the 'flow state' for efficient skill acquisition. It suggests using the 80/20 rule to focus on essential tools like Figma for design, HTML and CSS for implementation, and JavaScript for functionality. The script advocates for learning by doing, using online resources to tackle challenges step-by-step, and highlights the significance of solving real-world problems over mastering tools.

Takeaways

• 😀 To build a website, you need skills in design (Figma), implementation (HTML, CSS), and functionality (JavaScript).
• 🚀 Focus on achieving a state of flow to learn new skills efficiently by finding a balance between the task and your abilities.
• 📚 Apply the 80/20 rule to reduce learning difficulty by mastering the essential 20% of tools to achieve 80% of the results.
• 🔍 Use Google, YouTube, and other resources to find quick solutions and initiate a positive feedback loop for motivation.
• 🎨 When designing, start simple and replicate existing designs to learn and then create your own.
• 🔑 Utilize Figma's features like auto layout, components, and variables to streamline the design process.
• 🛠️ Break down complex designs into smaller elements and use rows and columns for effective web design.
• 📝 In web design, focus on content and interaction to ensure the design is both informative and user-friendly.
• 💻 Start building websites with basic HTML and CSS, then progress to JavaScript for added functionality.
• 🔗 Understand the importance of linking CSS to HTML for styling and use variables to maintain consistency in design.
• 🌐 Learn to use flexbox for responsive design, allowing elements to adapt to different screen sizes.

Q & A

What are the essential tools and skills needed to build a website according to the script?

The essential tools and skills needed to build a website include Figma for design, HTML and CSS for implementing the design, and JavaScript for adding functionality.

What does the term 'state of flow' refer to in the context of learning new skills?

The 'state of flow' refers to finding a balance between one's skills and the task at hand, where the task is challenging enough to keep one focused without causing boredom or frustration.

What is the 8020 rule as mentioned in the script and how does it apply to learning tools for building websites?

The 8020 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, suggests that 20% of the effort will yield 80% of the results. In the context of learning tools for building websites, it means focusing on learning just enough (20%) to achieve the main tasks (80%), rather than trying to learn everything.

How does the script suggest reducing the difficulty level when learning a new skill?

The script suggests reducing the difficulty level by focusing on the 20% of the skills or tools that will be used 80% of the time, and by using resources like Google and YouTube to find quick solutions and tutorials.

What is the purpose of looking at competitors' designs when starting a new web design project?

Looking at competitors' designs can provide content and design ideas, as good design solves problems, and understanding what works for others in the same field can be beneficial.

What is the two-column layout mentioned in the script and why does it work for most businesses?

The two-column layout is a classic web design structure that separates content into two vertical sections. It works for most businesses because it is simple, effective for displaying information, and easy to build.

Why is it recommended to start by replicating designs when learning web design?

Starting by replicating designs helps beginners to understand the principles of good design and the functionality of elements without the pressure of creating something original from scratch.

What is the significance of creating components in Figma and how does it help in the design process?

Creating components in Figma allows for consistency and efficiency in the design process. If a design element is used multiple times, changes made to the original component will automatically update all instances of that element in the design.

What is the 'Go Live' plugin mentioned in the script and how does it help in building websites?

The 'Go Live' plugin is a tool in Visual Studio Code that allows developers to see their HTML code rendered in a browser in real-time, which helps in quickly testing and debugging the website as it is being built.

How does the script suggest learning HTML and CSS for building a website?

The script suggests learning HTML and CSS by implementing a design, starting with the basics, and using resources like Google and YouTube to find quick solutions and tutorials when needed.

What is the importance of using variables in CSS as mentioned in the script?

Using variables in CSS helps in maintaining consistency throughout the design and makes it easier to make global changes, such as updating colors or font styles, with a single modification.

Why is it recommended to set a width of 100% for images in the script?

Setting a width of 100% for images ensures that they occupy all available space without overflowing the screen boundaries, which is important for responsive design.

What role does the flexbox play in the script's approach to building websites?

Flexbox is used to manage the layout of elements within a webpage, allowing for a dynamic and fluid container that adjusts the size and position of elements on different screens.

What is the main takeaway from the script regarding learning new skills for web development?

The main takeaway is to focus on solving specific problems using the skills or tools, rather than focusing solely on learning the tools themselves. Learning by doing is presented as the easiest and fastest way to learn anything.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Building a Website: Tools and Skills Needed

To build a website, you need skills in design, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Instead of spending months learning these, this channel focuses on quick and easy methods. The key is to get into a state of flow, balancing skill and task difficulty. Use the 80/20 rule: learn 20% of the tools to achieve 80% of the results. Start by doing tasks to create a positive feedback loop. Use Google and YouTube for quick learning and begin with small, manageable projects. Learning is about doing and solving problems incrementally.

05:02

💡 Simplifying the Design Process

Begin your design process by opening Figma and exploring community inspirations. Focus on content and interaction. Start with simple, tried-and-tested layouts like two columns. Use Google to find suitable fonts and sizes, and practice by copying existing designs. Gradually, you'll be able to create original designs. Use features in Figma, such as auto-layout and components, to streamline your work. Components allow you to make changes universally across your design. Break down complex designs into smaller, manageable elements and solve problems one step at a time.

10:04

🛠️ Building Your Website: HTML and CSS Basics

To build a website, start with HTML and CSS. Install VS Code, create an HTML file, and begin coding basic elements like headings, paragraphs, buttons, and images. Use CSS to style your elements by linking it to your HTML file. Focus on assigning fonts, colors, and other styles using variables from your Figma design. Use class names to style specific elements and Flexbox to manage layout and positioning. By dividing problems into smaller tasks, you can gradually build up your skills and confidence. Learning by doing is key, and it's important to solve real-world problems using these tools.

🌐 Developing the Hero Section with HTML and CSS

Create a hero section by grouping elements with div tags and using Flexbox for dynamic layout management. Apply Flexbox to the parent element (body tag) for flexible and responsive designs. Set width and margins to center your content and ensure it adapts to different screen sizes. Create variables for fonts and colors to maintain consistency. Use class names for specific styles and apply cascading style sheets to manage element properties efficiently. Building incrementally and practicing through solving design problems will enhance your skills over time.

🎯 Focus on Problem-Solving and Real-World Applications

The best way to learn is by solving real-world problems. After mastering HTML and CSS, move on to JavaScript for adding functionality. Employers seek problem-solvers who can use tools to address business needs. Practical experience, such as building a WordPress site for a friend or designing a website that helps a business, is more valuable than theoretical knowledge. The focus should be on using tools to solve specific problems, enhancing learning through doing. This approach applies to any skill, including video editing or coding, ensuring practical and efficient learning.

Keywords

💡Figma

Figma is a cloud-based design tool primarily used for user interface design, which includes creating website layouts and designs. In the video's context, Figma is presented as a crucial tool for creating a good design before implementing it with HTML and CSS. The script mentions using Figma to find inspiration and to create a simple two-column layout for a website design.

💡HTML

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is the standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications. The video emphasizes learning HTML as a fundamental skill for building websites, starting with simple elements like headings and paragraphs, and progressing to more complex structures.

💡CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is used for describing the presentation of a document written in HTML or XML. In the script, CSS is highlighted as a tool for styling web pages, including setting fonts, colors, and layout properties like flexbox, which is essential for responsive design.

💡JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language that enables interactive web pages and is an essential part of web development. The video mentions JavaScript as a tool to add functionality to websites, suggesting that after mastering HTML and CSS, one should learn JavaScript to enhance web pages with dynamic features.

💡State of Flow

The state of flow refers to a mental state where a person is fully immersed in an activity, experiencing a sense of energized focus. The video discusses the importance of finding the right balance in task difficulty to achieve flow, which is essential for efficient learning and maintaining motivation while building a website.

💡80/20 Rule

The 80/20 rule, also known as the Pareto Principle, suggests that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. In the context of the video, it implies that one should focus on learning the most critical 20% of a tool or skill to achieve 80% of the desired results, making the learning process more efficient.

💡Google

Google is mentioned in the video as a resource for quickly finding solutions and information while learning and building a website. It emphasizes the idea that professionals often use Google to solve problems and that it can be a more effective learning tool than extensive tutorials or courses.

💡YouTube

YouTube is highlighted as a platform for learning through video tutorials. The script suggests watching a few videos on specific topics, such as HTML and CSS, to get started with building a website, rather than spending months in 'tutorial hell.'

💡Auto Layout

Auto Layout is a feature in Figma that allows for creating flexible and responsive designs. The video explains how to use auto layout to create adaptable designs that can change based on the content or screen size, which is crucial for modern web design.

💡Components

In Figma, components are reusable design elements that can be easily modified and updated across a project. The video demonstrates turning a button into a component, which simplifies the process of making consistent design changes across multiple instances of that element.

💡Flexbox

Flexbox is a CSS layout module that makes it easier to design flexible responsive layout structures without using float or positioning. The script explains using flexbox to manage the layout of HTML elements, allowing them to be dynamic and fluid, which is key for creating responsive web designs.

Highlights

To build a website, one needs skills and tools like Figma for design, HTML and CSS for implementation, and JavaScript for functionality.

The channel focuses on quick and easy learning by getting into the state of flow, which is a balance between skills and task difficulty.

Learning should be paced to avoid boredom or frustration, following the 8020 rule to achieve results efficiently.

The 8020 rule suggests learning only 20% of a tool to accomplish 80% of the tasks, simplifying the learning process.

Google, YouTube, and other resources can assist in learning the essential parts of a tool for specific tasks.

To initiate a positive feedback loop, start by doing things that yield quick results to stay motivated.

When designing, begin by replicating existing designs to understand the basics before creating original work.

Web design should focus on content and interaction, ensuring the design effectively communicates and engages users.

Use Figma's type tool and auto layout features to create flexible and adaptable designs.

Components in Figma allow for consistent design elements that can be easily updated across the project.

Design systems in Figma, such as type scales and color variables, streamline the design process and updates.

When building a website, start with HTML and CSS, learning just enough to implement the design.

VS Code is used for coding websites, with plugins like 'Go Live' to render code directly in the browser.

CSS properties and flexbox are essential for styling and positioning elements on a webpage.

Div tags and flexbox are fundamental in building responsive and organized web layouts.

Learning by doing is emphasized as the most effective way to acquire new skills, such as video editing or web development.

The speaker shares personal experiences of learning new skills by tackling real problems and projects.

The transcript concludes by stressing the importance of solving real-world problems over mastering tools.

Transcripts

to build a website you will need these

skills and tools figma to create a good

design HTML CSS to implement that design

and JavaScript to add functionality some

people spend months learning these tools

before building their first website but

on this channel we focus on making

things quick and easy and the easiest

way to learn new skills is to get in the

state of flow it means finding a balance

between your skills and the task at hand

if you have a task that is too easy you

will get bored

and if it's too hard you will get

frustrated or burned out you need to

keep the task just hard enough to keep

you focused that's why video games

increase in difficulty as you progress

through the game and life is a game as

well so always try to reduce the

difficulty level when learning a new

skill the easiest way to reduce the

difficulty is the classic 8020 rule do

20% of the work to get 80% of the result

so in reality you only need to learn 20%

of these tool tools to build websites

now how would you know what to learn and

what to skip just learn the bare minimum

to achieve the task in hand plus we have

Google YouTube and other tools that will

do most of the work first just do things

to get results that will initiate a

positive feedback loop to keep you

motivated for the next steps so if you

want to design something don't buy a

course or spend months in tutorial hell

watch a few videos and then design once

the design is ready ready watch a few

videos on HTML and CSS and start

building of course you will get stuck

and forget things go back and watch some

more videos then come back and proceed

with your task sometimes a normal Google

search is also enough professionals

Google stuff all the time once you learn

how to learn you can learn anything you

want let me show you open figma on your

browser or install the desktop app go to

community and find some inspirations

but this could get confusing as there

are a lot of designs to choose from a

better way is to look at your

competition after all good design solves

a problem and looking at your

competition will give you some content

and design ideas once you have some

content in mind we can start the design

process web design focuses on two things

number one content number two

interaction your design should do both

these things effectively let's start

simple Le just try to replicate this

design the classic tried and tested two

columns layout works for most businesses

and easy to build use the type tool to

write a heading but we need to decide

two things which font and size to use

here the answer is simple just ask

Google and after a few minutes you will

know the answer you see how you just

learned something new that is easy and

actually solves your current problem now

let's put a small paragraph

we already know which font and size to

use here but how much spacing between

the heading and the

paragraph again look it up with practice

these things will become very easy but

if you try to learn everything at once

you will either burn out or forget

everything in a few days in the

beginning just copy everything once you

get good at replicating designs you will

be able to create your own

designs let's adjust the spacing here

now we need a call to action button or

maybe two buttons depending on your

situation just write the action name

then press shift and a to create an auto

layout it's a handy feature in figma to

make flexible layouts more on that later

look for an image or illustration to go

with our heading this is important and

will take some time you don't need a

course to judge an image just use your

gut feeling to decide and if you are not

happy you can always use a different

image for now just keep moving forward

solve one small problem at a

time now as you will try to build next

sections the problems will get bigger

but there are amazing features in figma

to solve those

problems create a type scale and save

them as

variables do the same thing with the

colors every time we write or use color

in figma we use these variables so later

we can change the design with one

click let's turn turn that button into a

component so if we need another button

in the design we can just drag and drop

that button on the

page let's say the final design has six

buttons and we want to change the button

Style Just modify the original component

and every single button will change in

real

time we can turn anything into a

component then drop that into the page

to complete our design let's create a

card like YouTube this may look

difficult to replicate but designs are

just small elements arranged into rows

and columns you just have to break it

open design smaller elements

First Once you are happy with the design

turn that into a component now we can

use it how many times we want and change

the design whenever we

want so you don't need to learn

everything in figma you just need two

things the 20% that will be used 80% of

the time

speaking of 80% let's move on to the

actual building part because that is

where the designs come to life now

similar to designing we will solve one

small problem at a

time so just learn enough HTML and CSS

to start building once you build a few

basic websites you can start learning

JavaScript to add some

functionality let's start simple we will

learn HTML and CSS by implementing this

design we used figma to design our

website in the same way we will use vs

code to build our website so first

install it on your

computer once installed and running

create a folder where we will save our

files and images now we need to create

an HTML file to write our code just

write an exclamation point and hit enter

don't worry about all this code for now

just focus on the task at hand in the

body tag write H1 and press enter write

the heading and save your file to render

our code on the browser we are going to

install a plugin click go live and you

should see a website open up in the

browser congratulations you just created

a new

website H1 just means heading one H2

means heading to and so on to write a

normal sentence or paragraph just use P

you don't need to understand or remember

anything now Pro developers Google

syntax all the

time the important thing is to just

build something and gain some

confidence we will get to the Head tag

as well but for now let's add a button

and image to complete our hero section

to create a button we write button and

then whatever the action is but what we

have here is a link that is styled as a

button to add a link to the page we use

the anchor tag WR a and hit enter we

have two Fields here the reference and

the action name

for that we will use

CSS but first let's add the image as

well to add the image right IMG and hit

enter we have two values the source of

the image and the alternative text for

that image place the image in the folder

and reference it here now that we have

all the elements in place it's time to

style our page first create a CSS file

to write our code then we need to link

the CSS file in our HTML so the browser

can access the CSS as as well that is

the purpose of the head tag it contains

instructions for the browser that

doesn't appear on the

website now let's find and import our

font into the CSS

file again don't try to understand the

code just copy and

paste first thing we need is the fonts

and color style so let's bring our figma

variables into CSS just assign a name to

the colors and copy paste all the color

codes same thing for the headings and

paragraphs but we need four values here

font weight font size line height and

the font family you could have written

this in four lines as well property on

left and value on right CSS is very

straightforward you select the element

you want to Target then inside the curly

brackets do your magic whatever you

write here will be applied to the

element on the page so if we want to

change the background color to Black we

need to select the whole website by

selecting Sting the body tag then just

assign black color to the background

property but instead of writing color

manually we just use the variable we

created

earlier in the same way let's assign the

text color as

well to assign the font properties we

just write font and the value we created

earlier now let's turn this link into a

button once again let's select the

anchor tag and apply some values to IT

background to assign a background color

color for text and padding to give some

breathing

room now we have our first button ready

but we want a different style for the

secondary button how do we select that

if both have the same HTML

tag very easy just assign a class name

to that

button think of it as assigning a label

to an element you can label a lot of

things with the same class name and

Target them at

once more on that later for now we need

to style this button we target a class

by writing period followed by the class

name then just assign some values we

don't need background

color and a solid border again we used a

Shand for assigning the Border values

but something is still missing

here yeah the Border radius so let's

assign that as well we just have to

assign the values to the top element and

the rules will Cascade to all the

elements with the same tag or class name

that's why it's called cascading style

sheets to overwrite this we could

redeclare the values or add a class to

add

specificity but we are getting too

technical here and this is not the right

way to learn something new so let's get

back to the task at hand our heading

paragraph and the buttons are ready we

need to fix this image though the golden

rule is to set a width of 100% to all

your images so they occupy all the space

available and don't go out of

screen now our elements are ready but we

need to position them first we need to

divide these elements into two groups to

group elements we use a div tag every

single website is build of divs Imagine

them as boxes that contain HTML elements

together now to manage these boxes we

use an amazing and Powerful tool called

flexbox flexbox turns these boxes into a

dynamic and fluid container so these

boxes change their size and position on

different

screens I told you earlier that every

single website is build by divs well

they all use flexbox to manage those

divs so div and flexbox are a key part

of building

website we apply flexbox to the parent

element in the HTML tree a parent

element contains another elements within

it it is positioned higher in the

hierarchy just as a family tree now now

what is the parent element for our divs

it's the body tag so select the body in

the CSS and write display flex and we

are almost

there for oneon-one ratio we write Flex

one then Gap to create some space

between the boxes and align items to

align the items but our design is

covering the whole width of the screen

and that looks a bit cluttered let's set

a Max width to the website and set the

margin to Auto to keep things in the

center now let's see how this responds

to different screen

sizes well we don't want that so let's

set a minimum width to the boxes and

tell the boxes to wrap into the next row

on smaller screens

all right we have designed and

implemented a hero section and although

it's nothing fancy it's a start we

looked at variables Auto layout and

design system in figma HTML elements

Dives classes CSS variables properties

and flexbox in vs

code some people spent six months to get

to this point and some never made it so

far but when you break a big problem

into manageable chunks learning becomes

easier after solving enough design

problems through HTML and CSS you will

be faced to solve functionality problems

for that you will learn Java Script

after solving enough design and

functionality problems you will be ready

to solve real world problems and clients

or companies hire you to solve their

business problems and not to design or

write

code so don't focus on learning tools

instead focus on solving a specific

problem by using those tools forget

figma or vs code if you made a WordPress

website that actually helps a real

business you are already ahead of

someone who has watched hours of

tutorials but never built a single app

or

website so to wrap things up the easiest

way to learn a new skill is to solve a

problem by using that skill if you want

to learn video editing just edit a video

watch a couple of tutorials then proceed

with the video you will get stuck for

sure but you will find a solution and

move forward

before starting this channel I never

made a single video in my life I learned

WordPress in 2013 because my friend

needed a website I learned design

because my job required me to I learned

coding to improve my design portfolio

that was built on WordPress and every

time I learned a new skill I used this

exact method of learning learning by

doing the easiest and fastest way to

learn anything