Web basics - prerequisites

What you need to know to start

We shall assume that you have some familiarity with HTML, CSS and JavaScript/TypeScript, but you should be able to follow along even if you’re coming from a different programming language.

You also need to have perseverance and a capacity for solving problems and seeking information independently.

If you need to brush up on your JavaScript, we recommend reading this introduction.

If you get confused by any of the terminology we use in this section, we are providing a checklist of additional resources. We are not suggesting that you read diligently through all the links here (in fact, please don't). But it is a useful point of reference where you can take time out to explore some specific areas; you can then come back and follow things more easily.

Additional resources

Web concepts

• HTML: tags, attributes
• CSS: selectors, layouts, variables
• Web Components, shadow DOM, templates and slots

JavaScript/TypeScript concepts

• Basics
• Asynchronous JavaScript / Promises
• Classes
• JSON
• Template literals
• Arrow functions
• TypeScript

Build and revision tools

• How to use npm and package.json
• TypeScript compiler/tsconfig
• .npmrc and getting set up
• Installing packages
• Starting up the app and writing npm commands
• Webpack
• Git

Microsoft FAST

• Building and using components
• Using CSS
• Design tokens
• How to import and use a design system

General Front-end concepts

• Routing
• Websockets
• Micro front-ends
• State management

IDE recommendations

You can use whichever IDE or editor you are comfortable with; we recommend IntelliJ Ultimate / WebStorm or VS Code.