For beginners, CSS is a great programming language to learn because it is easy to grasp and there are a ton of resources and tutorials available showing how to use it.

The syntax and concepts of CSS make sense to even the not-so-tech-savvy. Plus, we see CSS every day on the websites we know and love, which makes it easier to understand the need for CSS and how and why CSS is used.

 In this post, we’ll cover what exactly CSS is, what CSS does, why CSS is important, and why you should learn CSS. This post is for you if you’re new to coding and web development or have already learned HTML and are ready for the next step.

What Is CSS?

First off, what does CSS stand for? CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is a style sheet language that adds styling and formatting to documents written in a markup language like HTML. Almost all web pages and user interfaces written with HTML use CSS.

Currently, in its third version (often referred to as CSS3), CSS adds presentation (e.g., layouts, colors, fonts) to a web page whereas HTML creates the page structure. Why is CSS important? Without it, websites would be bland, hard to navigate, and not welcoming to users.

What Can You Style With CSS?

CSS is the language for describing the presentation of Web pages. like:

colors

layout

fonts.

the size of text

the spacing between elements.

and much more!

It allows one to adapt the presentation to different types of devices, such as:

large screens

small screens

CSS is independent of HTML and can be used with any XML-based markup language. The separation of HTML from CSS makes it easier to maintain sites, share style sheets across pages, and tailor pages to different environments.

Who Needs to Learn CSS?

It might be more accurate to ask who doesn’t need to learn CSS. Given that CSS is one of the fundamental building blocks of the web, knowing it can provide tremendous professional value to anyone who works in tech, deals with websites, or dabbles in design.

Understanding CSS is crucial to creating, maintaining, and designing impactful websites. Fortunately, the technology is relatively easy to learn and produces immediate visual results for beginner coders. You’ll certainly gain a professional edge if you take the time to learn HTML and CSS!

Front End Developer

CSS is a required skill for front-end developers. These professionals are responsible for building every aspect of a website that a visitor might see — and as such, they need to be well-versed in fundamental web-building technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Unlike web designers, front-end developers aren’t concerned solely with how a website looks. They also need to ensure that it functions. Rather than a design-focused job, this is a coding-focused job.

Web Designer

A web designer’s focus is on appearance — in other words, what users see when interacting with a website. The visual appearance of web pages is one of the most important aspects of attracting customers and conveying information effectively.

As such, web designers must know HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to bring their designs to life. This is true even if they work with pre-templated design programs like WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace. While these tools can help a designer implement most of their vision, there’s nothing quite as handy as being able to customize your page design yourself.

Full-Stack Developer

A full-stack developer handles all aspects of web development, from front-end design concerns to back-end database management. These professionals need well-rounded skill sets and should have command over front-end mainstays such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and back-end languages and frameworks like Python, SQL, and Node.js.

Is CSS hard to learn?

By studying others’ code, anyone can learn the basics of CSS. The key, however, is not just to read it, but to also break it down until you understand it. Once you put the effort in to study CSS, you’ll soon realize that it’s not as intimidating as it may seem at first.

CSS is vast and there are diverse, interesting applications of it. It can be said that CSS is easy to learn, however, mastering it is a bit of a task. While making a simple website can be learned quickly, becoming fluent in CSS usually takes much longer.

Learning this styling language requires dedication and determination. Although learning any new language is a demanding experience, many CSS learners describe the process as one which gradually gets tougher. Some reasons why developers consider CSS as hard to learn are:

• Because of its high level of technicality, CSS isn’t the easiest language to understand.

• CSS has been developed as a full-fledged programming environment for web applications, and web applications also require a user interface, making it more complex.

• The paradigms associated with CSS are not considered very user-friendly.

How Long Does It Take to Learn CSS?

It depends on you! The amount of time it takes you to learn CSS will vary based on how much HTML knowledge you have, your learning method, and how often you study.

 Before learning CSS, we recommend that you spend a few weeks practicing HTML. It won’t take long to master, and you’ll arrive with a solid footing in the programming world. HTML can help you get a feel for basic syntax, which will come in handy when learning CSS.

Once you understand HTML and can build your own static websites, you’re ready to start learning CSS. Like the aforementioned language, learning the functional basics of CSS can take less than a month. However, CSS takes longer to master, and we recommend that you practice two to four hours per day.

Best Way to Learn CSS Online

Because CSS is such an important tool used in web development, there are thousands of resources out there that you can use.

The resources that you end up using will depend on your learning style. So, before you start looking for resources, ask yourself: How do you learn best? Do you prefer tutorials? Or are online courses more your speed?

You may even want to try out a few different formats to see what works best. Then, once you’ve found one, you can focus your attention on resources that use the learning format with which you are most comfortable.

For most beginners, interactive tutorials and courses are best, because they allow you to build something while learning. This is especially important in CSS because the language is all about visuals and styles.

Learn CSS Online with Tutorials

There are several publications out there that give excellent CSS tutorials. W3Schools and Mozilla Developer Network are useful as you learn the concepts of the programming languages. These resources provide standard tutorials online along with exercises of each of the concepts.

The previous resources are fit for when you want to study the concepts and understand why they are necessary for coding. Once you get that understanding, it’s time to put your mind to work to see how much you’ve learned. Many resources are available to help you while you’re on the go, like Grasshopper, SoloLearn, and Codecademy. They have great applications that you can download and use while you continue your studies.

Additionally, websites like freeCodeCamp, The Odin Project, and Khan Academy provide full free courses that focus on teaching CSS. Along with these lessons, are projects to help you learn while studying the concepts.

Following tutorials is a great way to learn CSS. You’ll learn development by doing CSS instead of just reading about it. Hands-on learning is crucial when it comes to front-end web development because of the degree of creativity involved.

A Roadmap  to learn CSS

To help give you a better idea about CSS and how hard it can be to learn, I've broken things down into three sections, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. Let's outline each

Beginner: As we've discussed, to reach a beginner level with CSS is both easy and won't take you much time. Here, you'll want to learn about working with different CSS style types, and the assortment of fundamental CSS properties, what they do, and when to use them.

You'll need to know about how CSS and HTML work together, and things like CSS specificity, and how cascading works. And one of the most important aspects to learn about CSS as a beginner is something called the CSS box model. These are the fundamental components of CSS.

Intermediate: Beyond the basics, to me, is where CSS gets fun. But this is also where confusion and frustration can set in. On this level, you can begin learning about more advanced CSS style types, and when to use the different types of CSS rules. Also, you'll naturally begin figuring out how to streamline your work and become more efficient with CSS.

But the big thing you'll learn on an intermediate level with CSS is building page layouts. Layouts in CSS can be handled in a number of ways, including CSS FlexBox, CSS grids, or something called media queries. Building layouts using CSS can be challenging because it's all about building responsive, mobile-friendly layouts. And with so many devices and screen sizes in use, this can get very frustrating.

However, if you're relatively new to web design and CSS, then learning how to build layouts will be a lot easier for you than it has been for those of us who've spent years using other methods to handle layouts and responsive design. In other words, you won't have to shift your thinking or unlearn a lot of what you've learned.

Advanced: On an advanced level, CSS can become even more challenging and confusing. It's here where you begin facing debugging issues, cross-browser compatibility problems, and other advanced aspects of CSS.

At this level, you can also begin exploring what are called CSS frameworks. A framework is essentially a library of pre-existing CSS building blocks that you can use to rapidly build modern layouts. The two most popular CSS frameworks are Bootstrap and Foundation.

Conclusion

Your path to learning CSS will be full of ups and downs. In the long run, knowing how to code in CSS can open you up to a wide range of opportunities.

Learning CSS could help you become a web designer or a web developer. This is great if you think a career move is on the cards for you in the future.

When you start learning CSS, you should focus on the fundamentals such as syntax, selectors, the box model, positioning, and other basic topics. Then, once you’re ready, you can advance on to explore more advanced styles that you can use to create even more intricate designs.

CSS is an immensely useful skill for you to learn. Although it may be difficult to get started, you’ll be able to master this skill like all the other developers who know CSS did. It’s just a matter of working hard and practicing.

Here are a few helpful posts you might want to read, too:

What is CSS, How Does It Work, and What Is It Used For?

Best Programming Languages To Learn For Beginners in 2021

FIND THE BEST TEXT EDITOR FOR PROGRAMMING AND WEB DEVELOPMENT

11 skills you need to become a front end developer in 2021

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