n the world of web development, those who become experts usually do so by learning from their predecessors. Reading and following the right web development blogs makes it much easier to get a solid education. That’s why in this post, we’ve compiled a list of the top web development blogs that will help you find your footing and acquire essential skills in modern web dev.
Although these blogs aren’t in any specific order, we’ve tried to indicate which topics each one focuses on. Pick your favorites based on the brief descriptions below, or take a look through them all.
1. Codrops features blogs with topics ranging from UI design and page animations to image formatting and general JavaScript practices. It also includes a handy CSS reference, a web development experiment playground, tutorials, blueprints to get started from and Collective – a digital design magazine that makes it easy to keep up with trends.
2. HTML5 Doctor covers many of the features and topics that you might have missed when moving from HTML to HTML5. It also has a helpful element index that’s worth investigating in and of itself.
3. CSS-Tricks goes beyond merely teaching you how to style pages. Its videos and blog articles address issues such as web performance, extensible component development and the intersection of CSS with other technologies, like HTML and JavaScript. Check out the Almanac for CSS property and selector-specific insights, or dive straight into the Snippets to grab some reusable code.
4. CSS Weekly is an aggregator that collects a ton of useful resources from around the web. Its archives are packed with ideas for making the most of CSS and HTML, but they also touch on other style frameworks, like SCSS, Sass and Less. You can subscribe to receive weekly email lists of the latest and greatest or submit your own links to give back to the community.
5. A List Apart focuses on UX and branding from business and design-oriented perspectives. Its blog articles will definitely come in handy as your projects scale, but they’re also great reading for those who simply want to understand the philosophies behind specific dev practices in the front end or server side.
6. Superhero.js features collected articles that concentrate on what makes JavaScript work and what doesn’t. It’s an effective resource regardless of whether you’re just getting started with the language or trying to further your understanding of issues like front-end security and upcoming ECMAScript standards.
7. Tutorialzine, as its name suggests, focuses on tutorials, but it also features spotlights on handy libraries and templates. Sort by popular general subjects, such as HTML5, CSS, jQuery, JavaScript or PHP, to jump to an area of interest. Or, search for specific topics such as using JavaScript’s native device battery API or mastering SQL queries.
8. WDRL is another great web development reading list that you can either sign up to and receive newsletters or read the archived posts. Topics include web design, security, web-based tools and workflows and more.
9. The CodePen Blog is focused on CodePen features, but since this is such an indispensable tool to so many web developers, it’s a great place to get inspired. If you frequently rely on Pens to test ideas, this blog is a must-read for its highlights of new functionalities.
10. CSS Author is a great place to pick up new tricks and daily inspirations. In addition to general CSS articles and technique roundups, it includes a number of PSD design tools and other freebies.
11. Creative Bloq may tout itself as an art and design blog, but it’s just as detailed as any other web developer blog. It’s awesome for discovering how grid systems, CSS animation, Big Data, etc all play roles in real-world web design. Be sure to check it out if your dev process needs a creative kick in the pants.
12. Design Shack is a good place to learn about design culture and practice in one go. When you’re not finding templates and time-saving Photoshop Actions, you’ll discover great font resources, typography trends and website builder tutorials.
13. Five a Day‘s aggregator addresses an extremely broad field of topics that some other web development blogs overlook or fail to cover in depth. Subjects like version control, crowdfunding, database selection and code editor choices are essential to efficient modern workflows, and this is a good place to start learning about them.
14. CSSWizardy is a good place to learn about scalable CSS practices and robust coding in general. It also addresses potentially complex project-oversight problems, like refactoring and typographical style management.
15. HTML5 Weekly‘s issues are available from their site or as subscription emails. These roundups are curated by a range of contributors, so they cover diverse DOM-oriented topics.
16. Smashing Magazine is an established resource for those who want to master the front end. You can search past issues and current blogs to learn about design, coding, graphics, UX, mobile development and CMS frameworks.
17. The Github Blog is useful even if you don’t use GitHub for version control. There’s a good chance that some aspect of your code comes from a GitHub repo, and the platform’s connection with devs of all stripes means its articles pretty much cover the gamut of useful tips and tricks.
18. Coding Horror, written by a co-founder of Stack Overflow and Discourse, speaks to the reality that you need to learn from mistakes as well as successes. Although it strays into territory that isn’t strictly web-dev-oriented, it does so in a way that’s bound to make you a better coder and simultaneously inject some humor into your routine.
19. DZone is widely known for its massive range of topics. Whether you want a primer on machine learning, benchmarking, functional programming, developing for the cloud or agile practices, there are articles from reputable contributors that can help you get learning.
20. Pttrns is a good resource for when you grow tired of reading and just want to get to the implementation stage. It features live examples of design patterns that make it easy to see how concepts work on different platforms. The blog’s unique design is no less inspiring than its content.
21. The UX Myths blog is perfect for making sure you don’t fall into common web development traps. Although it’s a short read overall, it covers a number of vital principles for creating apps and sites.
22. UXPin’s blog concentrates on usability testing, interaction design, documentation and other often forgotten topics. These articles will come in handy when you’re trying to refine your products for demanding clients.
23. The Ahrefs web developer blog is vital reading for those who want to marry their design and development philosophies with SEO marketing. In addition to opinion pieces and tutorials, it includes case studies that could help you make more forward-thinking choices as a dev.
24. Search Engine Roundtable focuses on creating SEO-ready apps and websites. Where many web development blogs stop at deployment, this one delves into the technologies and marketing optimizations you’ll need to understand as a site admin or webmaster.
25. CodeVisually is a directory that showcases libraries, APIs and similar solutions. Many of its resources are geared towards augmenting coding languages, such as JavaScript or PHP, but others apply to frameworks, CMS’s and even browser extensions.
26. Six Revisions features lots of current news from the dev world, but that doesn’t make it any less technically useful than other web development blogs. It includes tutorials, links to data-visualization tools, design resources and articles that cite real-world business experiments. Use it to find inspiration, learn how to pitch projects or simply keep up with new technologies.
27. Speckyboy Design Magazine is a design-oriented blog concerning CSS, JavaScript, UX design and other technologies. Its articles also address business relationships between designers and users. It offers insights into unique workflows that might aid your prototyping and deployment cycles.
28. Oneextrapixel is a Singapore-based resource for devs and designers alike. It sources its own articles that are written by web dev professionals with the credentials to prove their expertise, and it publishes tutorials, galleries and free resource collections.
29. Scotch.io is written by coders, so it naturally includes a lot of great articles about specific APIs, app workflows, industry conference news and frameworks. It also features a Bar Talk category filled with career rants that let you commiserate in a digital space and discover solutions to problems you didn’t know were commonplace.
30. The Twitter Engineering Blog is mostly Twitter news, but it contains a lot of good lessons about effective practices. It’s a smart resource to visit when you want to take your dev game to the next level.
31. Tuts+ has thousands of free tutorials on coding, design, 3-D and motion graphics, photography and business. It also contains a lot of good articles about WordPress, development on Unix-like systems and back-end languages like Python. Tuts+ tutorials are well-known among self-taught coders.
32. Web Design Weekly is available as an email newsletter or online article archive. Like other front-end web development blogs, it discusses functional CSS, JavaScript and HTML5, but it also includes features on using Google Analytics, React and similar frameworks.
33. Sidebar curates five daily design links that include essays, data visualizations, case studies and code resources. These range from implementable tools to mere curiosities, but they’re voluminous enough that you’ll generally find something useful.
34. JavaScript Weekly has been around for years, so it’s fairly well keyed in with the latest news. While this web developer blog features some tutorials, it also discusses high-level concepts, surveys and studies that are pretty helpful for applying those skills you’ve been accumulating.
35. Responsive Design Weekly is geared towards those trying to build web apps and sites that actually cater to modern mobile users. The blog curates content from around the web, but it also hosts periodic interviews with top designers, consultants and developers.
36. Sitepoint‘s straightforward tutorial layout makes it among the most-trafficked web development blogs on the internet. In addition to videos and written content on different aspects of development and design, it includes a pretty handy forum and premium offerings, such as courses and books.
37. Pixelhint features tutorials, templates and other resources that aid web UI creation. The content here is all free, and there are a number of great code snippets that can help with bootstrapping a project.
38. The official jQuery blog may not be a frequent read, but it’s the definitive source of news about one of the web’s most popular front-end tools.
39. Facebook’s React blog is important source material for anyone who creates apps with the framework.
40. JSter attempts to be a comprehensive collection of JavaScript libraries. It also includes news articles, tutorials and links to handy resources that might make it easier to keep up with compatibility issues and other common stumbling blocks.
41. David Walsh Blog posts articles about all kinds of front and back-end tech. While it’s not the most exhaustive resource out there, the issues it does address are covered competently, and its tales of professional life are sure to resonate with freelancers.
42. Echo JS focuses on JavaScript, HTML5 and other front-end topics. Its sparse, Reddit-like style is convenient if you’re trying to avoid distractions, and the upvote system makes it easy to stay current with what’s trending at any given moment.
43. Position Absolute‘s business-oriented focus is great for readers who have to manage other devs. You can also find some useful Javascript snippets spread throughout various posts. The founder specializes in product management and front-end design / development.
44. Cats Who Code provides articles that are useful to web developers, web designers, and webmasters alike. Everything from useful WordPress tricks, Javascript and CSS snippets, and backend web technologies are all discussed.
45. Ariya Hidayat, the author of this blog, maintains two well-known open source projects (PhantomJS and Esprima). His posts focus on web development topics such as APIs, image optimization, JavaScript, web frameworks, etc.
46. Igvita is the blog of Google’s web performance engineer, Ilya Grigorik. Articles heavily focus on tips and techniques regarding web performance, security, etc. Although articles aren’t published on a frequent basis, each one is very well detailed and easy to understand.
47. CodeCondo shares useful news, tutorials, tips, resources, and tools that are primarily focussed towards web design and development. Their goal is to simplify web development by providing comprehensive and high-quality posts.
