The No-Nonsense Basic JavaScript Guide for the Novice Web Developer

So you're learning how to build websites?

You've learned your HTML, you've inducted yourselves to the ways of CSS. You know how to string your HTML codes and your CSS styling, but that's all. You know the web is capable of so much more than that.

Or maybe you keep hearing this thing called JavaScript whenever you google about how to do the things you want. Maybe you're tired of just copy-pasting those codes without knowing what the heck any of it does.

This guide is here to help you with that.

Who this guide is for and isn't for

• This guide is meant for novice web developers. You should have at least learned basic HTML and CSS. If you don't know what those are, you should learn those first, then come back!

• This guide isn't a full tutorial on how to use JavaScript. It doesn't teach you programming, at least not directly. It only teaches you the bit you need to start building websites with.

• This guide will be much easier if you already know how to program, but you can learn as you go. You can do it! :)

• This doesn't teach you everything about using JavaScript for the web. Oh no, that's one big mountain to get over. But by the end, you should have an idea of where you can go next.

• If your only knowledge of JavaScript is through jQuery or other libraries, this is a good intro to what goes on behind those libraries.

• This guide assumes that you use standard-compliant modern browsers (you most likely are). There's nothing cutting-edge here since it just teaches the basic, but things will fail spectacularly if you still use, say, Internet Explorer.