Complete CSS vs JavaScript for Everyone

Alright, we recently launched our second course on Piccalilli and it’s completely different to my course, Complete CSS. I just want to break down why I think that’s important, along with how you teach making a huge difference.

I like to say that when I’m teaching, it’s like when parents of young kids “hide” vegetables in food. You know how it is, kids don’t wanna eat a lot of vegetables because they don’t taste as good, so a well blended base sauce for their favourite bolognese with a few extras makes everyone happy.

I’m doing exactly that with Complete CSS. People think that to get better at CSS, you have to “master” the syntax and know all of the new features of the language. This helps, sure, but what makes you really good at writing good CSS in the real world is being able to effectively communicate with designers to simplify their initial concepts as a team.

I know this from the years I spent as a CSS consultant. So often, the work I did was all about fixing relationships in the teams I was working with and introducing planning and communication principles that would set them up for years. The result? Their CSS got better and better over time, which is fantastic. The overall design output was improved too, because of the principles of keeping things simple, while still having plenty of space to be creative too.

Moving along to how to be an effective JavaScript developer: it’s a different type of skill that you need to learn. JavaScript is a complicated and in a lot of ways, a messy language. We can’t change that either because rightly, JavaScript maintains its weaknesses because stuff written back in the 90s has to work right now. That’s the web, babey, and we love it for that.

With that in mind, to be a really effective JavaScript developer, regardless of your organisation’s choice of framework and flavour, you have to deeply understand why the language works like it does. In fact, that deep knowledge of the language — as we see it — will set you up for what is coming in our industry: a sizeable bubble burst. I wrote about that too.

So rather than hiding vegetables in your bolognese, Mat’s method of teaching is to lay everything out on the table for you instead. He’s showing you the weirdness, giving you the context for why that is, and outlining methods for you to navigate that weirdness in the real world.

The end goal is that when you come across issues in the future with your JavaScript code — which you will — that vast knowledge you’ve learned from JavaScript for Everyone will put you in a position of comfort. That comfortable position will ensure you can navigate problems in a much more pragmatic manner, rather than a panicked manner.

The thing is, JavaScript is not very exciting is it? I know a lot of front-end developers who would rather hide from it too, because learning it is such a chore. This is where Mat’s uniqueness comes in.

JavaScript is boring and it is dry, but Mat writes about it in a way that will have you grinning like a Cheshire Cat. He’s got a lot of personality and that really comes through in his writing. Don’t believe me? See for yourself.

I’m a designer by trade and my relationship with JavaScript has been “if I have to” for years. I read every single word of this course while I was editing it and honestly, my knowledge of JavaScript is unrecognisable. I’m so thankful to Mat for firstly, agreeing to publish with Piccalilli, but also, for finally delivering a resource that will help so many people finally get JavaScript.

Just a quick reminder too: JavaScript for Everyone is £189 until October 28 when it goes back to the full price of £249.