The web industry is always changing. Just when you get settled into a routine, the flow of technological innovations force you start a new one. Can you keep up? It never hurts to set aside some time for learning new skills and sharpening your current ones.
In this post, I’ll outline a few online resources that can help you continue your education in web design and development (or to get started, if you’re just joining us).
If you like hands-on learning, then you might want to give Code Academy a try. It’s free, and the courses consist of a series of interactive exercises that have you typing code in an in-browser console as you read through lessons. You earn badges as you complete courses. The courses offered that are most relevant to WordPress themes include PHP, HTML/CSS, and JavaScript.
Code School is another fun way to learn to code. It uses screencasts and in-browser coding exercises to provide an interactive experience. Like Code Academy, you earn badges and points as you complete courses. Code School does charge a fee, but some courses are free. There are several courses that are relevant to creating WordPress themes: HTML 5 and CSS3, and JavaScript (with a focus on jQuery). The “tryjQuery” course is free.
There are also free courses in Git and Chrome Dev Tools, which can be great tools to add to your development arsenal.
Lynda.com has been around for a long time, and it’s got a large library of courses that are relevant to web design and development. Since the courses are all video-based, you can learn at your own pace. There is a monthly fee for full access, but most of the courses let you view a few videos for free.
Skillshare offers relatively inexpensive courses in a variety of subjects. It’s community-based, with peers sharing their skills with other peers. The course selections change regularly, so it’s worth checking periodically for something that interests you. Please note that these courses are instructor-led and follow a specific timeline, with due-dates for projects and discussions.
If you’re up for some university-style learning, you might be interested in Coursera and Udacity. Both allow you to take college courses online for free. In general, these courses are broader in scope than Code Academy and Code School, but sometimes it’s nice to take a step back and enhance your current knowledge with a “big picture” view. Not to mention, to try something different!
Coursera has a number of upcoming courses in Information Technology and Design. Udacity’s course catalog includes a Computer Science section with classes that might interest you.
Like Skillshare, the courses on Coursera and Udacity are all instructor-led, with specific timelines and due dates.
CodePen is a community-based environment to learn and practice HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and other languages through a browser-based interface — a coding playground. Check out this cool animation my teammate Michael Fields created. CodePen even featured it recently!
Have you found other cool resources for learning all the things? Share them in the comments!
ThemeShaper 
these are great! thanks michelle!
Great article! I just started looking into taking classes online and this is a much better list of sites than I was able to find. I am especially excited about the Skillshare site since it has such a great selection of web design classes. Thanks for posting!