Core Web Technologies
HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are the non-negotiable base of every web application, regardless of which framework sits on top of them. Semantic HTML5 (nav, main, article, section, header, footer) instead of generic divs gives your page a structure that browsers, search engines, and assistive technology can actually understand. CSS3 (box model, flexbox, grid, media queries) makes that structure responsive across screen sizes, and modern JavaScript (ES6+, DOM manipulation, fetch/async-await, JSON) is what turns a static page into an application that talks to an API.
Knowing this layer well matters even when you work in a framework every day: frameworks compile down to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and debugging, performance, and accessibility problems usually surface at this level first.
Starting Points
- Front-end fundamentals (knowledge)
- Frain, B. (2025). Responsive Web Design with HTML5 and CSS - Fifth Edition, O'Reilly.
- Wassell, S. (2024). Learn JavaScript: Write Modern Code with JavaScript ESNext, 2nd Edition, O'Reilly.
- Flanagan, D. (2020). JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (7th ed.). O'Reilly.
- Cruse, D., & Boudreau, D. (2024). Inclusive Design for Accessibility. Packt.
Key Points
- You apply semantic HTML5 to build well-structured, accessible pages.
- You use CSS3 to build responsive, maintainable interfaces (box model, flexbox, grid, media queries).
- You use JavaScript ES6+ (
let/const, arrow functions, template literals, destructuring) and DOM manipulation to build interactive behaviour. - You use the Fetch API and JSON to retrieve and handle data from an API, including basic error handling and common HTTP status codes (200, 301, 400, 401, 404, 500).
- You use browser storage (
localStorage,sessionStorage, cookies) to persist simple data across page loads, and know when to use which. - You apply basic web accessibility principles (WCAG) so your interfaces are usable by everyone.