So I’ve recently completed the Responsive Web Design Certification, which has already landed me a customer who wanted to build a website for their rebounding classes. So far the website is more of a portfolio just giving away a lot of information about rebounding and basic info about the instructor and their contact details. No issues here (yet).
I did however realize that she has items to sell also (socks, trampolines etc) and that to fully maximize her website it would be a good idea to include the sales of these items too. The problem is, I have no idea how I would add a plugin to a website I’m creating on Microsoft Notepad. It also came to me that if I want to have more clients in the future, it’s very likely that selling items via the website would be great value for money for the client (and of course, me)
So, my question is quite simple: What courses do you guys suggest I use to learn about how to include plugins (for delivery, payment gateways, booking appointments etc) or at the very least could be an asset to my HTML and CSS skills in order to build e-commerce websites for customers.
Please bear in mind I currently have a budget of $0 so buying software or using alternate websites that charge subscriptions (for now, at least) is not a viable option and the websites that I am building are currently being done on Notepad and being launched via Netlify.
First, congrats on getting hired!
With respect to learning how to make an e-commerce website, you will probably need to continue your learning with JavaScript (freecodecamp curriculum can help you get started there) but also you will need to understand databases, website security, user authentication and payment systems (like understanding how to use PayPal’s APIs for payments for eg). You definitely don’t want to create an insecure website that is easily hacked or that exposes customer data. So I think it will take some time to get there. You will also need to host your web application somewhere (Netifly will not work as it is only for static webpages). Something like Heroku may work initially for testing but there are limits of usage there (you would have to analyze how busy this site expects to be).
Another thought, what if you aimed at statically displaying the products being sold until you have a handle on the dynamic web development (and just held off on the online store till then, that way the customers are still being advertised to but they would have to physically visit to make a purchase at this time?)
Thanks!! now to get more clients and make this a full time thing
I am busy with the Javascript course at the moment but i cant really see any progress with this yet.It seems very copy/paste and I really don’t feel like I’m learning anything. Regardless, I’m pushing on.
What other courses would you recommend for the “databases, website security, user authentication and payment systems”? are there any I can jump into while doing Javascript?
Take a look at CS50W from edX.
There are different “stacks” that people learn when doing website apps. You can learn one type here at FCC and another type is offered at CS50W. There are also many online resources (have you looked through the FCC YouTube channel?)
It is probably better to focus on learning one stack well… (google “full stack development” though to get an idea of how many options there are)
