assignment design easy and simple

Free Cover Page templates

Create impressive cover pages for your assignments and projects online in just a click. choose from hundreds of free templates and customize them with edit.org..

Create impressive cover pages in a few minutes with Edit.org, and give your projects and assignments a professional and unique touch. A well-designed title page or project front page can positively impact your professor's opinion of your homework, which can improve your final grade!

Create a personalized report cover page

After writing the whole report, dissertation, or paper, which is the hardest part, you should now create a cover page that suits the rest of the project. Part of the grade for your work depends on the first impression of the teacher who corrects it.

We know not everyone is a professional designer, and that's why Edit.org wants to help you. Having a professional title page can give the impression you've put a great deal of time and effort into your assignment, as well as the impression you take the subject very seriously. Thanks to Edit.org, everyone can become a professional designer. This way, you'll only have to worry about doing a great job on your assignment.

On the editor, you will also find free resume templates  and other educational and professional designs.

Customize an essay cover page with Edit.org

• Go to formats on the home page and choose Cover pages.
• Choose the template that best suits the project.
• You can add your images or change the template background color.
• Add your report information and change the font type and colors if needed.
• Save and download it. The cover page is ready to make your work shine!

Free editable templates for title pages

As you can see, it's simple to create cover pages for schoolwork and it won’t take much time. We recommend using the same colors on the cover as the ones you used for your essay titles to create a cohesive design. It’s also crucial to add the name and logo of the institution for which you are doing the essay. A visually attractive project is likely to be graded very well, so taking care of the small details will make your work look professional.

On Edit.org, you can also reuse all your designs and adapt them to different projects. Thanks to the users' internal memory, you can access and edit old templates anytime and anywhere.

Take a look at other options we propose on the site. Edit.org helps design flyers, business cards, and other designs useful in the workplace. The platform was created so you don't need to have previous design knowledge to achieve a spectacular cover page! Start your cover page design now.

Create online Cover Pages for printing

You can enter our free graphic editor from your phone, tablet or computer. The process is 100% online, fun and intuitive. Just click on what you want to modify. Customize your cover page quickly and easily. You don't need any design skills. No Photoshop skills. Just choose a template from this article or from the final waterfall and customize it to your liking. Writing first and last names, numbers, additional information or texts will be as easy as writing in a Word document.

Free templates for assignment cover page design

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Creative Ways to Design Assignments for Student Success

There are many creative ways in which teachers can design assignments to support student success. We can do this while simultaneously not getting bogged down with the various obstructions that keep students from both completing and learning from the assignments. For me, assignments fall into two categories: those that are graded automatically, such as SmartBook® readings and quizzes in Connect®; and those that I need to grade by hand, such as writing assignments.  

For those of us teaching large, introductory classes, most of our assignments are graded automatically, which is great for our time management. But our students will ultimately deliver a plethora of colorful excuses as to why they were not completed and why extensions are warranted. How do we give them a little leeway to make the semester run more smoothly, so there are fewer worries about a reading that was missed or a quiz that went by too quickly? Here are a few tactics I use. 

Automatically graded assignments: 

Multiple assignment attempts  

• This eases the mental pressure of a timed assignment and covers computer mishaps or human error on the first attempt. 
• You can deduct points for every attempt taken if you are worried about students taking advantage. 

Automatically dropped assignments  

• Within a subset or set of assignments, automatically drop a few from grading. This can take care of all excuses for missing an assignment. 
• Additionally, you can give a little grade boost to those who complete all their assignments (over a certain grade). 

Due dates  

• Consider staggering due dates during the week instead of making them all due on Sunday night.  
• Set the due date for readings the night before you cover the material, so students are prepared.  

Requirements  

• If we want our students to read, then make a reading assignment a requirement of a quiz. 

The tactics above might be applied to written assignments, too. An easy way to bolster a student’s interest and investment in these longer assignments is to give them a choice. This could be in the topic, location of study, or presentation style. For example, if you want them to analyze the susceptibility of a beach to hurricane threat, why not let them choose the location? In this way, you will also be gaining a lot of new information for your own use. 

With a small amount of effort, we can design our classes, so students concentrate on learning the subject matter rather than the logistics of completing the assignments. 

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Free Front Page Design

Free Front Page Designs For Assignments And Projects [Download MS Word Templates]

A good front  page design  is important in a project because it makes a strong first impression. A well-designed cover page or front page can create a positive initial impression on the reader and set the tone for the rest of the project. It Conveys professionalism. A professional looking cover page demonstrates to the reader that the project has been completed with care and attention to detail.

The cover page should clearly communicate the title, author(s), and date of the project, as well as any other important information that the reader needs to know.

A well-designed cover page should reflect the content and tone of the project, helping to build a connection between the reader and the project’s contents.

In short, the cover page is a crucial component of a project and can have a significant impact on how the project is perceived and received by the reader.

Front Page Design Template Samples

Benefits of using a good front page design on your project

• Establish a visual identity: A consistent and recognizable design on the cover page can help to establish a visual identity for the project and make it easier for the reader to identify it in the future.
• Differentiate the project: A unique and eye-catching cover page design can help to distinguish the project from others and make it stand out.
• Create a sense of unity: A well-designed cover page can provide a sense of unity to the entire project and reinforce the idea that all of the elements of the project are part of a cohesive whole.
• Provide context: The cover page design can provide context and information about the purpose, audience, and goals of the project, helping the reader to better understand and engage with the content.
• Improving organization: A well-designed cover page can help to organize the contents of the project and make it easier for the reader to navigate.
• Facilitating access: A clear and well-designed cover page can make it easier for the reader to access the contents of the project, and quickly find the information they are looking for.
• Enhancing accessibility: For projects that are shared electronically, a well-designed cover page can enhance accessibility for users with disabilities, such as those using screen readers.

Overall, a good cover page design is not just a cosmetic detail, but an important aspect of the project that can influence the reader’s perception and understanding of the content.

A well-designed front page can set the tone for the entire project and make it stand out from the rest. In this blog, we’ll take a look at some sample front page designs, best practices and tips to help you create a stunning front page design for your next project.

Front Page Designs Of Assignment

Front page designs for assignments [free ms word template download].

Creative Front Page Design For Assignment [Free MS Word Template Download]

MORE ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATES

Tips for Stunning Front Page Design Of Assignment

While it’s important to keep the front page design simple, that doesn’t mean it can’t be creative. You can still add a touch of personality to your design while making sure it’s organized and professional.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Use a unique font or color scheme
• Incorporate illustrations or graphics related to your project topic
• Experiment with different layout options

Science Project Front Page Design [Free MS Word Template Download]

When it comes to designing the front page for a science project, the design should reflect the topic and make the project stand out. You can include images or graphics related to the topic, and use a font that is easy to read.

Front Page Design For Physics Project

Front Page Design For Chemistry Project

Front Page Design Tips For Chemistry Project

To design a cover page for a Chemistry project, you could try the following design concept:

• Use a light blue or green gradient to represent the chemical elements in a test tube.
• Use a bold sans-serif font, such as Arial or Verdana, to write the title of the project in white or yellow. Make the title the focal point of the page.
• Use a smaller sans-serif font, also in white or yellow, to write a brief description of the project, such as “An investigation into the properties of chemical reactions.”
• Use a smaller sans-serif font in black to write your name, class, and date of submission, positioned in the bottom right or left corner of the page.
• Add the logo of your school or university in the top right or left corner of the page.
• Include a relevant image or illustration of a chemical reaction, periodic table, or other scientific concept to reinforce the subject of Chemistry.
• Consider adding a simple white border around the entire page to give it structure and definition.
• This design concept incorporates elements of the subject of Chemistry, while also keeping it simple, clean, and professional.

Front Page Design For Biology Project

Front Page Design Tips For Biology Project

For a biology project cover page, you can consider incorporating the following elements:

• Title: A descriptive and concise title that accurately reflects the content of the project.
• Author(s): The name(s) of the person(s) who completed the project, usually in a prominent position on the page.
• Date: The date the project was completed, which is typically included in the header or footer of the page.
• School or organization: The name of the school, institution, or organization that the project was completed for, if applicable.
• Relevant images or graphics: Images or graphics related to the biology topic being studied, such as diagrams, charts, or photos of specimens.
• Project description: A brief summary or description of the project, including the purpose, methodology, and key findings.
• Aesthetics: A clean and professional design with a color palette that reflects the biology topic being studied. For example, green and blue might be appropriate for an aquatic biology project, while warm oranges and yellows might be appropriate for a botany project.

It’s important to note that the specific requirements for a biology project cover page can vary based on the guidelines provided by the teacher or institution. However, these elements can serve as a starting point for creating a visually appealing and effective design for a biology project cover page.

Border Front Page Design For Project [Free MS Word Template Download]

Adding a border to your front page design can help make it look more polished and professional. You can choose a border that reflects the topic of your project, or use a simple border in a neutral color.

Front Page Design For English Project [Free MS Word Template Download]

Front Page Design Tips For English Project

To design a cover page for an English project, you can consider the following steps:

• Choose a theme that aligns with the project topic and make it visually appealing.
• Add a title that clearly represents the project, it should be big and legible.
• Add your name, class, and date in a clear and concise manner.
• If required, include the name of your instructor and school/university.
• Add any relevant graphics, images, or logos that reinforce the theme of your project.
• Make sure to use a font that is easy to read and aesthetically pleasing.
• Consider adding a border or design element that ties everything together.

Note: The design should be professional and align with any guidelines provided by the instructor.

School Project Front Page Design

Floral Front Page Design For School Project

Whether or not it’s a good idea to use a floral front page design for a school project depends on the context of the project and the guidelines provided by the teacher or instructor. If the project is related to a subject such as art, design, or gardening, then a floral design may be appropriate. However, if the project is focused on a more technical or scientific subject, a more straightforward design may be more suitable. It’s important to consider the purpose and audience of the project and to ensure that the design effectively communicates the information you want to convey.

Cute Front Page Design For Project

Simple Front Page Designs For Project

Front Page Designs For Math Project

Front Page Designs For Music Project

Handmade Front Page Design For Project

Tips to make your handmade front page designs more appealing  .

A handmade cover page design can add a personal touch to your assignment and make it stand out. Here are some elements you could consider incorporating into your design:

• Hand-drawn illustrations or graphics: Use hand-drawn illustrations or graphics that are relevant to the subject matter of the assignment.
• Handwritten typography: Incorporate hand-written typography into your design to add a personal touch. Consider using a calligraphy pen or brush to create unique, hand-lettered text.
• Collage: Create a collage using different materials, such as paper, fabric, or photographs, to create a unique and visually interesting cover page design.
• Watercolor: Use watercolor to create a painted cover page design. Consider using colors that are consistent with the subject matter of the assignment.

By incorporating these elements, you can create a handmade cover page design that is both personal and professional. Keep in mind that a handmade design may take longer to create than a digital design, so be sure to allow enough time to complete it.

What are the best tools to create a beautiful Front Page Design for a project ?

There are many tools you can use to create a beautiful front page design for a project, including:

Here’s How You Can Create a Beautiful Front Page Design in MS Word:

• Choose a page size and orientation that suits your design. Go to Page Layout > Page Setup.
• Select a theme or color scheme. Go to Design > Colors.
• Add a header or footer for branding. Go to Insert > Header & Footer.
• Insert a title text box and customize its font, size, and color. Go to Insert > Text Box.
• Add an image to the background. Go to Insert > Picture.
• Add other design elements such as shapes, lines, or text boxes to create visual interest. Go to Insert > Shapes.
• Align and arrange elements as desired. Go to Home > Align.
• Apply styles to text, such as bold or italic, to make the page look more polished. Go to Home > Styles.
• Preview the page to check its appearance. Go to View > Print Layout.
• Save the document as a template to use as a starting point for future projects. Go to File > Save As > Word Template.

A good looking front page design for a school or assignment project or a science project is important because it reflects the attention and effort put into the project, and can impact the grade or evaluation received. A well-designed front page can also effectively convey the topic and purpose of the project, making it easier for the teacher or evaluator to understand and appreciate the content. A visually appealing and organized design can also make the project stand out, showing initiative and creativity, and can help the student effectively communicate their ideas and findings. In science projects, a clear and effective front page design can also help emphasize the significance and potential impact of the research. Ultimately, a good looking front page design can enhance the overall presentation and impact of the project.

What is the downloaded file format?

.doc (MS Word file extension)

How to edit the downloaded template?

Open it in MS Word and make changes according to your need.

What is the size of the template?

It is A4 size template.

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Designing Assignments for Learning

The rapid shift to remote teaching and learning meant that many instructors reimagined their assessment practices. Whether adapting existing assignments or creatively designing new opportunities for their students to learn, instructors focused on helping students make meaning and demonstrate their learning outside of the traditional, face-to-face classroom setting. This resource distills the elements of assignment design that are important to carry forward as we continue to seek better ways of assessing learning and build on our innovative assignment designs.

On this page:

Rethinking traditional tests, quizzes, and exams.

• Examples from the Columbia University Classroom
• Tips for Designing Assignments for Learning

Reflect On Your Assignment Design

Connect with the ctl.

• Resources and References

Cite this resource: Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (2021). Designing Assignments for Learning. Columbia University. Retrieved [today’s date] from https://ctl.columbia.edu/resources-and-technology/teaching-with-technology/teaching-online/designing-assignments/

Traditional assessments tend to reveal whether students can recognize, recall, or replicate what was learned out of context, and tend to focus on students providing correct responses (Wiggins, 1990). In contrast, authentic assignments, which are course assessments, engage students in higher order thinking, as they grapple with real or simulated challenges that help them prepare for their professional lives, and draw on the course knowledge learned and the skills acquired to create justifiable answers, performances or products (Wiggins, 1990). An authentic assessment provides opportunities for students to practice, consult resources, learn from feedback, and refine their performances and products accordingly (Wiggins 1990, 1998, 2014). 

Authentic assignments ask students to “do” the subject with an audience in mind and apply their learning in a new situation. Examples of authentic assignments include asking students to: 

• Write for a real audience (e.g., a memo, a policy brief, letter to the editor, a grant proposal, reports, building a website) and/or publication;
• Solve problem sets that have real world application; 
• Design projects that address a real world problem; 
• Engage in a community-partnered research project;
• Create an exhibit, performance, or conference presentation ;
• Compile and reflect on their work through a portfolio/e-portfolio.

Noteworthy elements of authentic designs are that instructors scaffold the assignment, and play an active role in preparing students for the tasks assigned, while students are intentionally asked to reflect on the process and product of their work thus building their metacognitive skills (Herrington and Oliver, 2000; Ashford-Rowe, Herrington and Brown, 2013; Frey, Schmitt, and Allen, 2012). 

It’s worth noting here that authentic assessments can initially be time consuming to design, implement, and grade. They are critiqued for being challenging to use across course contexts and for grading reliability issues (Maclellan, 2004). Despite these challenges, authentic assessments are recognized as beneficial to student learning (Svinicki, 2004) as they are learner-centered (Weimer, 2013), promote academic integrity (McLaughlin, L. and Ricevuto, 2021; Sotiriadou et al., 2019; Schroeder, 2021) and motivate students to learn (Ambrose et al., 2010). The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning is always available to consult with faculty who are considering authentic assessment designs and to discuss challenges and affordances.   

Examples from the Columbia University Classroom 

Columbia instructors have experimented with alternative ways of assessing student learning from oral exams to technology-enhanced assignments. Below are a few examples of authentic assignments in various teaching contexts across Columbia University. 

• E-portfolios: Statia Cook shares her experiences with an ePorfolio assignment in her co-taught Frontiers of Science course (a submission to the Voices of Hybrid and Online Teaching and Learning initiative); CUIMC use of ePortfolios ;
• Case studies: Columbia instructors have engaged their students in authentic ways through case studies drawing on the Case Consortium at Columbia University. Read and watch a faculty spotlight to learn how Professor Mary Ann Price uses the case method to place pre-med students in real-life scenarios;
• Simulations: students at CUIMC engage in simulations to develop their professional skills in The Mary & Michael Jaharis Simulation Center in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Helene Fuld Health Trust Simulation Center in the Columbia School of Nursing; 
• Experiential learning: instructors have drawn on New York City as a learning laboratory such as Barnard’s NYC as Lab webpage which highlights courses that engage students in NYC;
• Design projects that address real world problems: Yevgeniy Yesilevskiy on the Engineering design projects completed using lab kits during remote learning. Watch Dr. Yesilevskiy talk about his teaching and read the Columbia News article . 
• Writing assignments: Lia Marshall and her teaching associate Aparna Balasundaram reflect on their “non-disposable or renewable assignments” to prepare social work students for their professional lives as they write for a real audience; and Hannah Weaver spoke about a sandbox assignment used in her Core Literature Humanities course at the 2021 Celebration of Teaching and Learning Symposium . Watch Dr. Weaver share her experiences.  

​Tips for Designing Assignments for Learning

While designing an effective authentic assignment may seem like a daunting task, the following tips can be used as a starting point. See the Resources section for frameworks and tools that may be useful in this effort.  

Align the assignment with your course learning objectives 

Identify the kind of thinking that is important in your course, the knowledge students will apply, and the skills they will practice using through the assignment. What kind of thinking will students be asked to do for the assignment? What will students learn by completing this assignment? How will the assignment help students achieve the desired course learning outcomes? For more information on course learning objectives, see the CTL’s Course Design Essentials self-paced course and watch the video on Articulating Learning Objectives .  

Identify an authentic meaning-making task

For meaning-making to occur, students need to understand the relevance of the assignment to the course and beyond (Ambrose et al., 2010). To Bean (2011) a “meaning-making” or “meaning-constructing” task has two dimensions: 1) it presents students with an authentic disciplinary problem or asks students to formulate their own problems, both of which engage them in active critical thinking, and 2) the problem is placed in “a context that gives students a role or purpose, a targeted audience, and a genre.” (Bean, 2011: 97-98). 

An authentic task gives students a realistic challenge to grapple with, a role to take on that allows them to “rehearse for the complex ambiguities” of life, provides resources and supports to draw on, and requires students to justify their work and the process they used to inform their solution (Wiggins, 1990). Note that if students find an assignment interesting or relevant, they will see value in completing it. 

Consider the kind of activities in the real world that use the knowledge and skills that are the focus of your course. How is this knowledge and these skills applied to answer real-world questions to solve real-world problems? (Herrington et al., 2010: 22). What do professionals or academics in your discipline do on a regular basis? What does it mean to think like a biologist, statistician, historian, social scientist? How might your assignment ask students to draw on current events, issues, or problems that relate to the course and are of interest to them? How might your assignment tap into student motivation and engage them in the kinds of thinking they can apply to better understand the world around them? (Ambrose et al., 2010). 

Determine the evaluation criteria and create a rubric

To ensure equitable and consistent grading of assignments across students, make transparent the criteria you will use to evaluate student work. The criteria should focus on the knowledge and skills that are central to the assignment. Build on the criteria identified, create a rubric that makes explicit the expectations of deliverables and share this rubric with your students so they can use it as they work on the assignment. For more information on rubrics, see the CTL’s resource Incorporating Rubrics into Your Grading and Feedback Practices , and explore the Association of American Colleges & Universities VALUE Rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education). 

Build in metacognition

Ask students to reflect on what and how they learned from the assignment. Help students uncover personal relevance of the assignment, find intrinsic value in their work, and deepen their motivation by asking them to reflect on their process and their assignment deliverable. Sample prompts might include: what did you learn from this assignment? How might you draw on the knowledge and skills you used on this assignment in the future? See Ambrose et al., 2010 for more strategies that support motivation and the CTL’s resource on Metacognition ). 

Provide students with opportunities to practice

Design your assignment to be a learning experience and prepare students for success on the assignment. If students can reasonably expect to be successful on an assignment when they put in the required effort ,with the support and guidance of the instructor, they are more likely to engage in the behaviors necessary for learning (Ambrose et al., 2010). Ensure student success by actively teaching the knowledge and skills of the course (e.g., how to problem solve, how to write for a particular audience), modeling the desired thinking, and creating learning activities that build up to a graded assignment. Provide opportunities for students to practice using the knowledge and skills they will need for the assignment, whether through low-stakes in-class activities or homework activities that include opportunities to receive and incorporate formative feedback. For more information on providing feedback, see the CTL resource Feedback for Learning . 

Communicate about the assignment 

Share the purpose, task, audience, expectations, and criteria for the assignment. Students may have expectations about assessments and how they will be graded that is informed by their prior experiences completing high-stakes assessments, so be transparent. Tell your students why you are asking them to do this assignment, what skills they will be using, how it aligns with the course learning outcomes, and why it is relevant to their learning and their professional lives (i.e., how practitioners / professionals use the knowledge and skills in your course in real world contexts and for what purposes). Finally, verify that students understand what they need to do to complete the assignment. This can be done by asking students to respond to poll questions about different parts of the assignment, a “scavenger hunt” of the assignment instructions–giving students questions to answer about the assignment and having them work in small groups to answer the questions, or by having students share back what they think is expected of them.

Plan to iterate and to keep the focus on learning 

Draw on multiple sources of data to help make decisions about what changes are needed to the assignment, the assignment instructions, and/or rubric to ensure that it contributes to student learning. Explore assignment performance data. As Deandra Little reminds us: “a really good assignment, which is a really good assessment, also teaches you something or tells the instructor something. As much as it tells you what students are learning, it’s also telling you what they aren’t learning.” ( Teaching in Higher Ed podcast episode 337 ). Assignment bottlenecks–where students get stuck or struggle–can be good indicators that students need further support or opportunities to practice prior to completing an assignment. This awareness can inform teaching decisions. 

Triangulate the performance data by collecting student feedback, and noting your own reflections about what worked well and what did not. Revise the assignment instructions, rubric, and teaching practices accordingly. Consider how you might better align your assignment with your course objectives and/or provide more opportunities for students to practice using the knowledge and skills that they will rely on for the assignment. Additionally, keep in mind societal, disciplinary, and technological changes as you tweak your assignments for future use. 

Now is a great time to reflect on your practices and experiences with assignment design and think critically about your approach. Take a closer look at an existing assignment. Questions to consider include: What is this assignment meant to do? What purpose does it serve? Why do you ask students to do this assignment? How are they prepared to complete the assignment? Does the assignment assess the kind of learning that you really want? What would help students learn from this assignment? 

Using the tips in the previous section: How can the assignment be tweaked to be more authentic and meaningful to students? 

As you plan forward for post-pandemic teaching and reflect on your practices and reimagine your course design, you may find the following CTL resources helpful: Reflecting On Your Experiences with Remote Teaching , Transition to In-Person Teaching , and Course Design Support .

The Columbia Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is here to help!

For assistance with assignment design, rubric design, or any other teaching and learning need, please request a consultation by emailing [email protected] . 

Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework for assignments. The TILT Examples and Resources page ( https://tilthighered.com/tiltexamplesandresources ) includes example assignments from across disciplines, as well as a transparent assignment template and a checklist for designing transparent assignments . Each emphasizes the importance of articulating to students the purpose of the assignment or activity, the what and how of the task, and specifying the criteria that will be used to assess students. 

Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) offers VALUE ADD (Assignment Design and Diagnostic) tools ( https://www.aacu.org/value-add-tools ) to help with the creation of clear and effective assignments that align with the desired learning outcomes and associated VALUE rubrics (Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education). VALUE ADD encourages instructors to explicitly state assignment information such as the purpose of the assignment, what skills students will be using, how it aligns with course learning outcomes, the assignment type, the audience and context for the assignment, clear evaluation criteria, desired formatting, and expectations for completion whether individual or in a group.

Villarroel et al. (2017) propose a blueprint for building authentic assessments which includes four steps: 1) consider the workplace context, 2) design the authentic assessment; 3) learn and apply standards for judgement; and 4) give feedback. 

References 

Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., & DiPietro, M. (2010). Chapter 3: What Factors Motivate Students to Learn? In How Learning Works: Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching . Jossey-Bass. 

Ashford-Rowe, K., Herrington, J., and Brown, C. (2013). Establishing the critical elements that determine authentic assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 39(2), 205-222, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2013.819566 .  

Bean, J.C. (2011). Engaging Ideas: The Professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom . Second Edition. Jossey-Bass. 

Frey, B. B, Schmitt, V. L., and Allen, J. P. (2012). Defining Authentic Classroom Assessment. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation. 17(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.7275/sxbs-0829  

Herrington, J., Reeves, T. C., and Oliver, R. (2010). A Guide to Authentic e-Learning . Routledge. 

Herrington, J. and Oliver, R. (2000). An instructional design framework for authentic learning environments. Educational Technology Research and Development, 48(3), 23-48. 

Litchfield, B. C. and Dempsey, J. V. (2015). Authentic Assessment of Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. 142 (Summer 2015), 65-80. 

Maclellan, E. (2004). How convincing is alternative assessment for use in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 29(3), June 2004. DOI: 10.1080/0260293042000188267

McLaughlin, L. and Ricevuto, J. (2021). Assessments in a Virtual Environment: You Won’t Need that Lockdown Browser! Faculty Focus. June 2, 2021. 

Mueller, J. (2005). The Authentic Assessment Toolbox: Enhancing Student Learning through Online Faculty Development . MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching. 1(1). July 2005. Mueller’s Authentic Assessment Toolbox is available online. 

Schroeder, R. (2021). Vaccinate Against Cheating With Authentic Assessment . Inside Higher Ed. (February 26, 2021).  

Sotiriadou, P., Logan, D., Daly, A., and Guest, R. (2019). The role of authentic assessment to preserve academic integrity and promote skills development and employability. Studies in Higher Education. 45(111), 2132-2148. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2019.1582015    

Stachowiak, B. (Host). (November 25, 2020). Authentic Assignments with Deandra Little. (Episode 337). In Teaching in Higher Ed . https://teachinginhighered.com/podcast/authentic-assignments/  

Svinicki, M. D. (2004). Authentic Assessment: Testing in Reality. New Directions for Teaching and Learning. 100 (Winter 2004): 23-29. 

Villarroel, V., Bloxham, S, Bruna, D., Bruna, C., and Herrera-Seda, C. (2017). Authentic assessment: creating a blueprint for course design. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. 43(5), 840-854. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1412396    

Weimer, M. (2013). Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice . Second Edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 

Wiggins, G. (2014). Authenticity in assessment, (re-)defined and explained. Retrieved from https://grantwiggins.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/authenticity-in-assessment-re-defined-and-explained/

Wiggins, G. (1998). Teaching to the (Authentic) Test. Educational Leadership . April 1989. 41-47. 

Wiggins, Grant (1990). The Case for Authentic Assessment . Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation , 2(2). 

Wondering how AI tools might play a role in your course assignments?

See the CTL’s resource “Considerations for AI Tools in the Classroom.”

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The Cowbell

News and Resources from UWGB's Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning

Assignment Design

There’s a fine line between assignment design and assessment strategies . In short, designing good assignments is one means of assessing your students’ learning on a larger scale.

Assignments help measure student learning in your course. Effective assignment design in your course involves aligning your assignments with learning outcomes. When assignments and outcomes are aligned, good grades and good learning go hand in hand ( https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/designteach/design/assessments.html ).

Assessments fall into one of two categories, formative or summative .

Formative assessments are typically low-stakes and help students identify their strengths and weaknesses so that they can improve their learning. Routine formative assessments also help instructors identify the areas where students are struggling and adapt their teaching accordingly.

Summative assessments evaluate student learning (such as at the end of a unit of instruction). Summative assessments are generally higher stakes (like midterm exams and final projects).

Assignments are what students actually ‘do’ as part of those assessments.

Incorporating a mix of assignment activities in your course can help students practice and demonstrate their mastery of outcomes in multiple ways. Consider ways you can design your assignments so that they better mirror the application of knowledge in real-world scenarios. Assignments designed in this way are often referred to as Authentic Assessments ( Authentic-assessment.pdf (uwex.edu)). One type of highly authentic assessment is the long-term project which challenges students to solve a problem or complete a challenge requiring the application of course concepts ( Project_Based_Learning.pdf (uwex.edu) ).

More details and examples can be found in the tabbed content box below. Please also consider signing up for a CATL consultation with one of our instructional designers for some personalized assistance in developing your ideas for assignments and ensuring that they align with your course outcomes .

(Adapted from Carnegie Mellon's:  Design and Teach a Course )

Assessments should provide instructors and students with evidence of how well students have mastered the course outcomes.

There are two major reasons for aligning assessments with learning outcomes.

• Alignment increases the probability that we will provide students with the opportunities to learn and practice knowledge and skills that instructors will require students know in the objectives and in the assessments. (Teaching to the assessment is a  good  thing.)
• When instructors align assessments with outcomes, students are more likely to translate "good grades" into "good learning." Conversely, when instructors misalign assessments with objectives, students will focus on getting good grades on the assessments, rather than focusing on mastering the material that the instructor finds important.

Instructors may use different types of assessments to measure student proficiency in a learning objective. Moreover, instructors may use the same activity to measure different objectives. To ensure a more accurate assessment of student proficiency, many instructional designers recommend that you use different kinds of activities so that students have multiple ways to practice and demonstrate their knowledge and skills.

Formative assessment

The goal of formative assessment is to  monitor student learning  to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning. More specifically, formative assessments:

• help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work
• help faculty recognize where students are struggling and address problems immediately

Formative assessments are generally  low stakes , which means that they have low or no point value. Examples of formative assessments include asking students to:

• draw a concept map in class to represent their understanding of a topic
• submit one or two sentences identifying the main point of a lecture
• turn in a research proposal for early feedback

Summative assessment

The goal of summative assessment is to  evaluate student learning  at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it against some standard or benchmark.

Summative assessments are often  high stakes , which means that they have a high point value. Examples of summative assessments include:

• a midterm exam
• a final project
• a senior recital

Information from summative assessments can be used formatively when students or faculty use it to guide their efforts and activities in subsequent courses.

Formative Assessments:

• Reading quizzes
• Concept map
• Muddiest point
• Pro/con grid
• Focused paraphrasing
• Reflective journal
• Virtual lab/game
• Webconference
• Debate (synchronous or asynchronous)
• Participant research
• Peer review

Summative Assessments:

• Presentation
• Portfolio project

Carnegie Mellon University on Aligning Assessments with Objectives with examples.

Items to consider when weighing your assessment options:

If you are thinking about using discussions, be sure to think about the following:.

• What kind of questions/situations do you want the students to discuss? Is it complex enough to allow students to build knowledge beyond the textbook? Will the discussion help students meet your objectives (and develop an answer for your essential questions)?
• What are your expectations for discussions? Should students participate (post) a certain number of times, with a certain number of words, and reply to a certain number of people?
• What is your role in the discussion (traffic cop, the person who clarifies issues, will you respond to every post)?

If you are thinking about using quizzes, be sure to think about the following:

• What type of questions will help your students meet the objectives of the course? Are you going to grade essay questions or just let the computer grade multiple choice questions?
• What is the place for academic integrity? Are you going to randomize questions, randomize answers, restrict time, restrict the answers that students can see after completing the exam?
• How are you going to populate your quiz? Are you going to write the questions or use questions that come from a textbook publisher?

If you are thinking of using essays, be sure to think about the following:

• Will these essays/papers help students to meet the course objectives, which ones? Is the length of the essay appropriate?
• What do you think about plagiarism checkers such as TurnItIn?
• To what extent will you allow students to submit drafts, and will you provide feedback on drafts, or will you use a peer review system?

Other items to consider:

• Are you thinking about using an alternative assignment? If so, you may want to talk with an instructional technologist or designer.
• Consider the type of feedback you will provide for each assignment. What should students expect from you; how will you communicate those expectations; and how soon will you provide feedback (realistically)?

Further resources

Small teaching online.

This book (requires UWGB login) contains many tips that are easy to integrate into your distance education class. The chapter on “ surfacing backward design” contains many tips for assessment for online classes, many of which are adaptable to all distance modalities.

CATL Resources

• Collaborative Learning Assignments  (Toolbox article)
• Administering Tests and Quizzes (including alternatives) (Toolbox article)
• Writing Good Multiple Choice Questions ( TeAch Tuesday , YouTube)

Tip sheets from UW-System

UW-System put together some tip sheets for common sticking points in assessment for distance education.

• Writing effective multiple choice questions
• Authentic assessments
• Unproctored online assessments
• Project-based learning

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Assignment Design Checklist

Use this very simple checklist to assess your assignment design. 

• What is the assignment asking students to do?
• Does what the assignment asks match the author’s purposes (given the nature of the class, etc.)?
• Is there a discernible central question or task?
• Is the assignment clear? 
• Are there words or phrases that might be confusing or unclear to the intended audience?
• Is the assignment itself separate from thought questions or process suggestions?

Format and Organization:

• Look at the layout on the page. Is there a long narrative of unbroken text?
• A long series of questions?
• How is it organized?
• Do the layout and order help the audience understand the assignment?
• Can it be broken into steps or paragraphs?
• Are suggestions separated from the assignment itself?
• If the assignment is a major essay, are there any steps or process work assigned along the way to the final draft?

Adapted from Gail Offen-Brown, College Writing 300, UC Berkeley, Fall 2005

32 HTML And CSS Projects For Beginners (With Source Code)

updated Apr 17, 2024

If you want to feel confident in your front-end web developer skills, the easiest solution is to start building your own HTML and CSS projects from scratch.

As with any other skill, practicing on simple, realistic projects helps you build your skills and confidence step-by-step.

But if you are new to HTML and CSS, you may be wondering:

Where can I find ideas for beginner-level HTML and CSS projects?

Even if you are just starting out with HTML and CSS, there are some fun and easy projects you can create.

Whether you are new to learning web development or have some experience under your belt, this guide is the perfect place to start improving your skills.

In this article, I’ll walk you through 32 fun HTML and CSS coding projects that are easy to follow. We will start with beginner-level projects and then move on to more demanding ones.

If you want to become a professional front-end developer, the projects below will help you expand your portfolio.

When it’s time to apply for your first entry-level job, you can showcase your skills to potential employers with a portfolio packed with real-life project examples.

Let’s get started!

Please note: This post contains affiliate links to products I use and recommend. I may receive a small commission if you purchase through one of my links, at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!

What are HTML and CSS?

HTML and CSS are the most fundamental languages for front-end web development.

Learning them will allow you to:

• Build stunning websites
• Start a coding blog
• Make money freelancing

Let’s take a quick look at both of them next:

What is HTML?

HTML or HyperText Markup Language is the standard markup language for all web pages worldwide.

It’s not a “typical” programming language – like Python or Java – since it doesn’t contain any programming logic. HTML can’t perform data manipulations or calculations, for example.

Instead, HTML allows you to create and format the fundamental structure and content of a web page.

You will use HTML to create:

• Page layouts (header, body, footer, sidebar)
• Paragraphs and headings
• Input fields
• Checkboxes and radio buttons
• Embedded media

Thus, HTML only allows you to determine the structure of a web page and place individual content elements within it.

For more details, check out my post on what HTML is and how it works .

You can’t format the look and feel of your web page with HTML, though.

Your HTML web page will look dull and boring. Sort of like this:

The example above is the first web page every built for the WWW , by the way.

This is how websites used to look in the ’90s. But we’ve come a long way since then – luckily.

To make your HTML content visually appealing and professional-looking, you need another language: CSS. Let’s look at that next.

What is CSS?

CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language that allows you to adjust the design and feel of your HTML content.

Thus, you can turn your pure-HTML pages into stunning, modern websites with CSS. And it’s super easy to learn, too!

Here’s how it works:

CSS allows you to target individual HTML elements and apply different styling rules to them.

For example, here’s a CSS rule that targets H2 headings, their font-size property, and sets it to a value of 24px:

You can use CSS to adjust:

• Backgrounds
• Fonts and text styling
• Spacings (paddings, margins)
• CSS animations
• Responsiveness (media queries)

If you want to create stunning websites and become a front-end web developer, CSS is one of the first tools you must learn and master.

For more details, check out my post on what CSS is and how it works .

Why build HTML and CSS projects?

Practicing on realistic, hands-on projects is the best way to learn how to create something useful and meaningful with HTML and CSS.

The more projects you build, the more confident you will feel in your skills.

To build a web page from scratch , you need a basic understanding of how HTML works. You should be comfortable with writing the necessary HTML code to create a page without copying a boilerplate or following a tutorial.

Thus, if you want to become a front-end web developer , building HTML and CSS projects will teach you how to use these two languages in real life.

Therefore, practising your skills with the projects in this article will give you a competitive edge against anyone who’s simply following tutorials and copy-pasting other people’s code.

Finally, building HTML and CSS projects helps you build a professional portfolio of real-world projects.

When it’s time to start applying for your first job, you will have 10 to 20 cool projects to showcase your skills to potential employers. Not bad!

32 HTML and CSS projects: Table of contents

Here’s an overview of the HTML and CSS projects we’ll go through:

Beginner project: CSS radio buttons

Beginner project: css toggle buttons, beginner project: hamburger menu, beginner project: pure css sidebar toggle menu, beginner project: animated css menu, beginner project: custom checkboxes, beginner project: pure css select dropdown, beginner project: modal/popup without javascript, beginner project: animated gradient ghost button, beginner project: css image slider, basic html & css website layout, tribute page, survey page with html forms, sign-up page / log-in page, job application form page, landing page, product landing page, interactive navigation bar, responsive website header, restaurant menu, restaurant website, parallax website, custom 404 error page, personal portfolio website, blog post layout.

• Photography website

Music store website

Discussion forum website.

• Event or conference website

Technical documentation website

Online recipe book, website clone.

Share this post with others!

This quick project is a great example of what you can do with pure CSS to style radio buttons or checkboxes:

See the Pen CSS radio buttons by Angela Velasquez ( @AngelaVelasquez ) on CodePen .

☝️ back to top ☝️

This HTML and CSS project teaches you how to create custom CSS toggle buttons from scratch:

See the Pen Pure CSS Toggle Buttons | ON-OFF Switches by Himalaya Singh ( @himalayasingh ) on CodePen .

Every website needs a menu, right?

This hamburger menu is beautiful and clean, and you can build it with just HTML and CSS:

See the Pen Pure CSS Hamburger fold-out menu by Erik Terwan ( @erikterwan ) on CodePen .

Placing your website navigation inside a sidebar toggle is an easy way to clean up the overall look and feel of your design.

Here’s a modern-looking solution to a pure-CSS sidebar toggle menu:

See the Pen PURE CSS SIDEBAR TOGGLE MENU by Jelena Jovanovic ( @plavookac ) on CodePen .

If you want to build a more dynamic, interactive website navigation, try this animated CSS menu:

See the Pen Animate menu CSS by Joël Lesenne ( @joellesenne ) on CodePen .

Styling your checkboxes to match the overall design is an easy way to elevate the look and feel of your website.

Here’s an easy HTML and CSS practice project to achieve that:

See the Pen Pure CSS custom checkboxes by Glen Cheney ( @Vestride ) on CodePen .

Standard select dropdowns often look dull and boring. Here’s a quick CSS project to learn how to create beautiful select dropdowns easily:

See the Pen Pure CSS Select by Raúl Barrera ( @raubaca ) on CodePen .

Modals and popups often use JavaScript, but here’s a pure HTML and CSS solution to creating dynamic, interactive modals and popups:

See the Pen Pure css popup box by Prakash ( @imprakash ) on CodePen .

Ghost buttons can look great if they fit the overall look and feel of your website.

Here’s an easy project to practice creating stunning, dynamic ghost buttons for your next website project:

See the Pen Animated Gradient Ghost Button Concept by Arsen Zbidniakov ( @ARS ) on CodePen .

This image slider with navigation buttons and dots is a fantastic HTML and CSS project to practice your front-end web development skills:

See the Pen CSS image slider w/ next/prev btns & nav dots by Avi Kohn ( @AMKohn ) on CodePen .

Now, before you start building full-scale web pages with HTML and CSS, you want to set up your basic HTML and CSS website layout first.

The idea is to divide your page into logical HTML sections. That way, you can start filling those sections with the right elements and content faster.

For example, you can break up the body of your page into multiple parts:

• Header: <header>
• Navigation: <nav>
• Content: <article>
• Sidebar: <aside>
• Footer: <footer>

Depending on your project, you can fill the article area with a blog post, photos, or other content you need to present.

This layout project will serve as a starting point for all your future HTML and CSS projects, so don’t skip it.

Having a template like this will speed up your next projects, because you won’t have to start from scratch.

Here are two tutorials that will walk you through the steps of creating a basic website layout using HTML and CSS:

• https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_layout.asp
• https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_website_layout.asp

Building a tribute page is fantastic HTML and CSS practice for beginners.

What should your tribute page be about?

Anything you like!

Build a tribute page about something you love spending time with.

Here are a few examples:

• a person you like
• your favorite food
• a travel destination
• your home town

My first HTML-only tribute page was for beetroots. Yes, beetroots. I mean, why not?

HTML and CSS concepts you will practice:

• HTML page structure
• basic HTML elements: headings, paragraphs, lists
• embedding images with HTML
• CSS fundamentals: fonts and colors
• CSS paddings, margins, and borders

Here’s a helpful tutorial for building a HTML and CSS tribute page .

Whether you want to become a full-time web developer or a freelance web designer, you will use HTML forms in almost every project.

Forms allow you to build:

• Contact forms
• Login forms
• Sign up forms
• Survey forms

Building a survey page allows you to practice HTML input tags, form layouts, radio buttons, checkboxes, and more.

Pick any topic you like and come up with 10 pieces of information you want to collect from respondents.

Perhaps an employee evaluation form? Or a customer satisfaction form?

• form elements: input fields, dropdowns, radio buttons, labels
• styling for forms and buttons

Here’s an example survey form project for inspiration:

See the Pen Good Vibes Form by Laurence ( @laurencenairne ) on CodePen .

Let’s practice those HTML forms a bit more, shall we?

For this project, you will build a sign-up or log-in page with the necessary input fields for a username and a password.

Because we can create a user profile on almost every website, forms are absolutely essential for allowing people to set their usernames and passwords.

Your forms will collect inputs from users and a separate back-end program will know how to store and process that data.

Creating a clean and clear sign-up page can be surprisingly difficult. The more you learn about HTML and CSS, the more content you want to create to showcase your skills. But the thing is: a sign-up page needs to be as clean and easy-to-use as possible.

Thus, the biggest challenge with this project is to keep it simple, clear, and light.

Here’s an example project to get started with:

See the Pen Learn HTML Forms by Building a Registration Form by Noel ( @WaterNic10 ) on CodePen .

For more inspiration, check out these 50+ sign-up forms built with HTML and CSS .

Using a HTML form is the best way to collect information from job applicants.

You can also generate and format a job description at the top of the page.

Then, create a simple job application form below to collect at least 10 pieces of information.

Use these HTML elements, for example:

• Text fields
• Email fields
• Radio buttons

Here’s an example job application page you can build with HTML and CSS:

See the Pen Simple Job Application Form Example by Getform ( @getform ) on CodePen .

One of your first HTML and CSS projects should be a simple landing page.

Your landing page can focus on a local business, an event, or a product launch, for example.

Landing pages play an important role for new businesses, marketing campaigns, and product launches. As a front-end developer, you will be asked to create them for clients.

For this project, create a simple HTML file and style it with CSS. Be sure to include a headline, some text about the company or its services, and a call-to-action (CTA) button.

Make sure that your landing page is clean and clear and that it’s easy to read.

If you build a landing page for a new product, highlight the product’s key benefits and features.

To get started, follow this freeCodeCamp tutorial to build a simple landing page . You will need JavaScript for a few features. If you are not familiar with JavaScript, leave those features out for now and come back to them later.

For more inspiration, check out these HTML landing page templates .

A product landing page is a page that you build to promote a specific product or service.

For example, if you want to sell your ebook about how to use CSS to build an animated website, then you would create a product landing page for it.

Your product landing page can be very simple to start with. When your skills improve, add some complexity depending on what kind of information you need to present.

One of the most iconic product landing pages is the iPhone product page by Apple, for example:

Of course, the iPhone landing page is technically complex, so you won’t build it as your first project. But still, it’s a good place to find inspiration and new ideas.

The best way to design your first product landing page is to create a simple wireframe first. Sketch your page layout on paper before you start building it.

Wireframes help you maintain a clear overview of your HTML sections and elements.

To get started, browse through these product landing page examples for some inspiration .

Building an interactive navigation bar will teach you how to create an animated menu with dropdowns using HTML and CSS.

This is another great project for beginners, because it will teach you how to create menus using HTML and CSS. You’ll also learn how to style them with different colors, fonts, and effects.

You’ll also learn how to use anchors and pseudo-classes to create the menu navigation, as well as how to create the dropdown menus from scratch.

If you aren’t familiar with CSS media queries yet, building a responsive navigation bar is a smart way to learn and practice them.

CSS media queries allow you to create a responsive navigation menu that changes its size and layout depending on screen width.

To get started, check out this tutorial on how to build an interactive navigation bar with HTML and CSS .

One of the best ways to practice your HTML and CSS skills is to create custom website headers. This is a great project to add to your portfolio website, as it will show off your skills and help you attract new clients.

There are a number of different ways that you can create a stylish and responsive website header. One option is to use a premade CSS framework such as Bootstrap or Foundation. Alternatively, you can create your own custom styles by hand.

No matter which option you choose, be sure to make your header mobile-friendly by using media queries. This will ensure that your header looks great on all devices, regardless of their screen size or resolution.

To get started, check out this simple example for a responsive HTML and CSS header .

If you’re looking to get into web development, one of the best HTML and CSS projects you can build is a simple restaurant menu.

Align the different foods and drinks using a CSS layout grid.

Add prices, images, and other elements you need to give it a professional, clean look and feel.

Choose a suitable color palette, fonts, and stock photos.

You can also add photos or a gallery for individual dishes. If you want to add an image slider, you can create one with HTML and CSS, too.

Here’s an example of a very simple restaurant menu project:

See the Pen Simple CSS restaurant menu by Viszked Tamas Andras ( @ViszkY ) on CodePen .

Once you’ve built your restaurant menu with, it’s time to tackle a more complex HTML and CSS project.

Building a real-life restaurant website is a fun way to practice a ton of HTML and CSS topics.

Not only will you learn the basics of creating a beautiful, professional web page, but you also get a chance to practice responsive web design, too.

And if you’re looking to land your first front-end web developer job, having a well-designed business website in your portfolio will help you stand out from the crowd.

Make sure your website matches the restaurant’s menu and target clientele. A fine-dining place on Manhattan will have a different website than a simple (but delicious!) diner in rural Wisconsin.

Here are a few key details to include on your restaurant website:

• Clear navigation bar
• Restaurant details
• Menu for food and drinks
• Location and directions
• Contact details
• Upcoming events

To get started, check out this free tutorial on how to build a restaurant website with HTML and CSS .

To build a parallax website, you will include fixed background images that stay in place when you scroll down the page.

Although the parallax look isn’t as popular or modern as it was a few years back, web designers still use the effect a lot.

The easiest way to build a parallax HTML and CSS project is to start with a fixed background image for the entire page.

After that, you can experiment with parallax effects for individual sections.

Create 3-5 sections for your page, fill them with content, and set a fixed background image for 1-2 sections of your choice.

Word of warning: Don’t overdo it. Parallax effects can be distracting, so only use them as a subtle accent where suitable.

Here’s an example project with HTML and CSS source code:

See the Pen CSS-Only Parallax Effect by Yago Estévez ( @yagoestevez ) on CodePen .

404 error pages are usually boring and generic, right?

But when a visitor can’t find what they’re searching for, you don’t want them to leave your website.

Instead, you should build a custom 404 error page that’s helpful and valuable, and even fun and entertaining.

A great 404 page can make users smile and – more importantly – help them find what they are looking for. Your visitors will appreciate your effort, trust me.

For some inspiration, check out these custom 404 page examples .

Any web developer will tell you that having a strong portfolio is essential to landing your first job.

Your portfolio is a chance to show off your skills and demonstrate your expertise in front-end web development.

And while there are many ways to create a portfolio website, building one from scratch using HTML and CSS will give you tons of valuable practice.

Your first version can be a single-page portfolio. As your skills improve, continue adding new pages, content, and features. Make this your pet project!

Remember to let your personality shine through, too. It will help you stand out from the crowd of other developers who are vying for the same jobs.

Introduce yourself and share a few details about your experience and future plans.

Employers and clients want to see how you can help them solve problems. Thus, present your services and emphasize the solutions you can deliver with your skills.

Add your CV and share a link to your GitHub account to showcase your most relevant work samples.

Make sure to embed a few key projects directly on your portfolio website, too.

Finally, let your visitors know how to get in touch with you easily. If you want, you can add links to your social media accounts, too.

In this project, you’ll create a simple blog post page using HTML and CSS.

You’ll need to design the layout of the page, add a title, a featured image, and of course add some content to your dummy blog post.

You can also add a sidebar with a few helpful links and widgets, like:

• An author bio with a photo
• Links to social media profiles
• List of most recent blog posts
• List of blog post categories

Once your HTML structure and content are in place, it’s time to style everything with CSS.

Photography website with a gallery

If you’re a photographer or just enjoy taking pictures, then this project is for you.

Build a simple photo gallery website using HTML and CSS to practice your web design skills.

Start with the basic HTML structure of the page, and figure out a cool layout grid for the photos. You will need to embed the photos and style everything beautiful with CSS.

My tip: Use CSS Flexbox and media queries to create a responsive galleries that look great on all devices.

Here’s a full tutorial for building a gallery website with HTML and CSS:

If you love music, why not practice your HTML and CSS skills by building a music store web page?

Before you start, make a thorough plan about your website structure. What’s the purpose of your music store? What genres will you cover?

Pick a suitable color palette, choose your fonts, and any background images you want to use.

My tip: If you feature album cover images, keep your colors and fonts as clean and simple as possible. You don’t want to overpower the album covers with a busy web page with tons of different colors and mismatching fonts.

Create a user-friendly menu and navigation inside the header. Fill the footer with helpful links for your store, career page, contact details, and newsletter form, for example.

Building a music store website with HTML and CSS is a great opportunity to practice your skills while you are still learning.

Start with very basic features, and add new ones as your skills improve. For example, you can add media queries to make your website responsive.

A forum is a great way to create a community around a topic or interest, and it’s also a great way to practice your coding skills.

In this project, you’ll create a simple forum website using HTML and CSS.

You’ll need to design the layout of the site, add categories and forums, and set up some initial content.

Of course, you should start with creating the basic layout and structure with HTML first. You will need a navigation bar, at least one sidebar, and an area for the main content.

To make your discussion forum website more interesting, add new content and remember to interlink related threads to make the site feel more realistic.

Event or conference web page

Creating a web page for an event is a fun HTML and CSS project for beginners.

You can either pick a real event and build a better landing page than the real one, or come up with an imaginary conference, for example.

Make sure to include these elements:

• Register button
• Venue details
• Dates and schedule
• Speakers and key people
• Directions (how to get there)
• Accommodation details

Divide the landing page into sections, and create a header and a footer with menus and quick links.

Come up with a suitable color palette, pick your fonts, and keep your design clean and clear.

Every programming language, software, device and gadget has a technical documentation for helpful information and support.

Creating a technical documentation website with just HTML and CSS allows you to build a multi-page site with hierarchies, links, and breadcrumbs.

The main idea is to create a multi-page website where you have a sidebar menu on the left, and the content on the right.

The left-hand side contains a vertical menu with all the topics your documentation covers.

The right-hand side presents the description and all the details for each individual topic.

For simplicity, start with the homepage and 2–3 subpages first. Come up with a clean layout and make sure your links are working properly.

Then, start expanding the website with additional sub-pages, content, and elements.

• HTML hyperlinks and buttons

Creating an online recipe book as an HTML and CSS project requires a similar setup than the previous project example.

You will need to create a homepage that serves as a directory for all your recipes. Then, create a separate subpage for each recipe.

If you want to challenge yourself, add recipe categories and create separate directory pages for each of them.

• embedding recipe photos

One of the best ways to practice HTML and CSS is to clone an existing web page from scratch.

Use your browser’s inspecting tools to get an idea of how the page is built.

As with any HTML and CSS project, start by creating the basic page template with:

Then, divide your page into sections, rows, and columns.

Finally, fill your page with individual elements like headings, paragraphs, and images.

Once the HTML content is in place, use CSS to style your page.

Start with something simple, like the PayPal login page.

Then move on to more demanding cloning projects, such as a news website. Try the BBC homepage, for example.

Where to learn HTML and CSS?

There are no prerequisites required for you to learn HTML and CSS.

Both languages are easy to learn for beginners, and you can start building real-life projects almost right away.

Here are a few courses to check out if you want to learn HTML and CSS online at your own pace:

1: Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5 and CSS3

Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5 and CSS3 was my first online web development course focused 100% on HTML and CSS.

You don’t need any coding or web development experience for this course. But if you have watched some online tutorials but you’re not sure how to create a full-scale website by yourself, you are going to love it.

2: The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0

The Complete Web Developer Course 2.0 changed my life back when I started learning web development.

This course takes you from zero to knowing the basics of all fundamental, popular web development tools. You’ll learn:

• HTML and CSS
• JavaScript and jQuery
• and much more

3: Modern HTML & CSS From The Beginning (Including Sass)

I’m a big fan of Brad Traversy, and I really can’t recommend his Modern HTML & CSS From The Beginning course enough.

Even if you have never built a website with HTML and CSS before, this course will teach you all the basics you need to know.

4: The Complete 2023 Web Development Bootcamp

One of my most recent favorites, The Complete 2023 Web Development Bootcamp by Dr. Angela Yu is one of the best web development courses for beginners I’ve come across.

If you’re not quite sure what area or language to specialize in, this course is the perfect place to try a handful of tools and programming languages on a budget.

5: Learn HTML (Codecademy)

Learn HTML is a free beginner-level course that walks you through the fundamentals with interactive online lessons.

Codecademy also offers a plethora of other web development courses. Check out their full course catalog here .

6: Responsive Web Design (freeCodeCamp)

The Responsive Web Design certification on FreeCodeCamp is great for learning all the basics of web development from scratch for free.

You start with HTML and CSS to get the hang of front-end web dev fundamentals. Then, you start learning new tools and technologies to add to your toolkit, one by one.

Also, check out these roundups with helpful web development courses:

• 27 Best Web Development Courses (Free and Paid)
• 20+ Web Development Books for Beginners
• 120+ Free Places to Learn to Code (With No Experience)
• 100+ Web Development Tools and Resources

Final thoughts: HTML and CSS project ideas for beginners

There you go!

When it comes to learning HTML and CSS, practice really makes perfect. I hope you found a few inspirational ideas here to start building your next project right away.

Learning HTML and CSS may seem intimidating at first, but when you break it down into small, less-intimidating projects, it’s really not as hard as you might think.

HTML and CSS are easy to learn. You can use them to create really cool, fun projects – even if you are new to coding.

Try these beginner-level HTML and CSS project ideas to improve your front-end web development skills starting now. Do your best to build them without following tutorials.

Remember to add your projects to your portfolio website, too.

It’s possible to learn how to code on your own, and it’s possible to land your first developer job without any formal education or traditional CS degree.

It all boils down to knowing how to apply your skills by building an awesome portfolio of projects like the ones above.

So, which project will you build first? Let me know in the comments below!

Once you feel comfortable with HTML and CSS, it’s time to start learning and practising JavaScript .

To get started, check out my guide with 20+ fun JavaScript projects ideas for beginners . I’ll see you there!

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About mikke.

Hi, I’m Mikke! I’m a blogger, freelance web developer, and online business nerd. Join me here on MikkeGoes.com to learn how to code for free , build a professional portfolio website , launch a tech side hustle , and make money coding . When I’m not blogging, you will find me sipping strong coffee and biking around town in Berlin. Learn how I taught myself tech skills and became a web dev entrepreneur here . And come say hi on Twitter !

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HTML Projects for Beginners: 10 Easy Starter Ideas

Published: December 11, 2023

Are you eager to level up your HTML skills? Embarking on HTML projects for beginners is an excellent way to start. As someone who once stood where you are now, I can confidently say that the journey from HTML novice to proficiency is both thrilling and immensely rewarding. It's not just about learning a language; it’s about creating and bringing your ideas to life. 

In my early days of exploring web development, HTML was the cornerstone that laid the foundation for my career. Now, with several years of experience in web development and a passion for being a resource for beginners, I understand the importance of starting with practical, easy-to-follow projects.

In this blog, I'm excited to share with you a curated list of HTML projects that are perfect for beginners. These projects are designed not only to increase your understanding of HTML but also to spark your creativity and enthusiasm for web development.

Table of Contents

• Understanding the Basics
• Project 1: Personal Portfolio Page
• Project 2: Simple Blog Layout
• Project 3: Landing Page
• Project 4: eCommerce Page
• Project 5: Recipe Page
• Project 6: Technical Documentation 
• Project 7: Small Business Homepage 
• Project 8: Simple Survey Form
• Project 9: Event Invitation Page
• Project 10: Parallax Website

The Road Ahead in Web Development

Understanding the basics: what is html.

Before I dive into the exciting world of HTML projects, I want to share why grasping the basics of HTML is crucial. HTML , which stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the foundational building block of the web. It’s not a programming language, but a markup language that I use to define the structure and layout of a web page through various elements and tags.

To me, HTML is like creating a framework for web content, similar to how an architect designs a building's blueprint. You would use tags to mark up text, insert images, create links, and lay out web pages in a format that browsers can understand and display. These tags , the basic units of HTML, help differentiate between headings, paragraphs, lists, and other content types, giving the web its versatile and user-friendly nature.

Every web developer starts somewhere, and for many, including myself, that starting point is HTML. It's a language that empowers me to create, experiment, and develop various digital experiences . So, as we embark on these beginner projects, remember that you're not just learning a new skill. You are stepping into a world full of endless possibilities and opportunities.

10 HTML Projects for Beginners: Your Journey Starts Here

As a web developer passionate about teaching, I‘m thrilled to guide you through this series. This section is crafted to progressively enhance your skills, offering a blend of creativity and learning. I’ve seen firsthand how these projects can transform beginners into confident creators, and I‘m excited to see the unique and innovative web experiences you’ll bring to life. Let's embark on this adventure together, turning code into compelling digital stories!

Project 1: Creating a Personal Portfolio Page

One of the best ways to start your HTML journey is by creating a personal portfolio page. This project allows you to introduce yourself to the world of web development while learning the basics of HTML. It’s not just about coding; it’s about telling your story through the web.

The objective here is to craft a web page that effectively portrays your personal and professional persona. This includes detailing your biography, showcasing your skills, and possibly even including a portfolio of work or projects you've completed. This page will be a cornerstone in establishing your online presence and can evolve as you progress in your career.

See the Pen HTML Project 1 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Showcase and Evolve : I'm selecting projects that best represent my abilities, and I plan to continually update my portfolio as I develop new skills.
• Simplicity and Clarity : My focus is on creating a clear, user-friendly layout that makes navigating my story and achievements effortless for visitors.

Project 2: Building a Simple Blog Layout

After creating a personal portfolio, the next step in your HTML journey is to build a simple blog layout. This project will introduce you to more complex structures and how to organize content effectively on a webpage.

The goal of this project is to create a basic blog layout that includes a header, a main content area for blog posts, and a footer. This layout serves as the foundation for any blog, providing a clear structure for presenting articles or posts.

See the Pen HTML Project 2 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Consistency is Key : In designing the blog, I'm focusing on maintaining a consistent style throughout the page to ensure a cohesive look.
• Content First : My layout will prioritize readability and easy navigation, making the content the star of the show.

Project 3: Designing a Landing Page

For the third project, let's shift gears and focus on creating a landing page. A landing page is a pivotal element in web design, often serving as the first point of contact between a business or individual and their audience. This project will help you learn how to design an effective and visually appealing landing page.

The objective is to create a single-page layout that introduces a product, service, or individual, with a focus on encouraging visitor engagement, such as signing up for a newsletter, downloading a guide, or learning more about a service.

See the Pen HTML Project 3 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Clear Call to Action : I'm ensuring that my landing page has a clear and compelling call to action (CTA) that stands out and guides visitors towards the desired engagement.
• Visual Appeal and Simplicity : My focus is on combining visual appeal with simplicity, making sure the design is not only attractive but also easy to navigate and understand.

Project 4: Crafting an eCommerce Page

Creating an eCommerce page is an excellent project for web developers looking to dive into the world of online retail. This project focuses on designing a web page that showcases products, includes product descriptions, prices, and a shopping cart.

The aim is to build a user-friendly and visually appealing eCommerce page that displays products effectively, providing customers with essential information and a seamless shopping experience. The page should include product images, descriptions, prices, and add-to-cart buttons.

See the Pen HTML Project 4 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Clarity and Accessibility : In designing the eCommerce page, my priority is to ensure that information is clear and accessible, making the shopping process straightforward for customers.
• Engaging Product Presentation : I'll focus on presenting each product attractively, with high-quality images and concise, informative descriptions that entice and inform.

Project 5: Developing a Recipe Page

One of the best ways to enhance your HTML and CSS skills is by creating a recipe page. This project is not only about structuring content but also about making it visually appealing. A recipe page is a delightful way to combine your love for cooking with web development, allowing you to share your favorite recipes in a creative and engaging format.

The aim of this project is to design a web page that effectively displays a recipe, making it easy and enjoyable to read. This includes organizing the recipe into clear sections such as ingredients and instructions, and styling the page to make it visually appealing. The recipe page you create can serve as a template for future culinary postings or a personal collection of your favorite recipes.

See the Pen HTML Project 5 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Clarity and Simplicity : My focus is on presenting the recipe in an organized manner, ensuring that the ingredients and instructions are easy to distinguish and follow.
• Engaging Visuals : I plan to use appealing images and a thoughtful layout, making the page not just informative but also a delight to the eyes.

Project 6: Creating a Technical Documentation 

Implementing a responsive navigation menu is a crucial skill in web development, enhancing user experience on various devices. This project focuses on creating a navigation menu that adjusts to different screen sizes, ensuring your website is accessible and user-friendly across all devices.

The goal is to create a navigation menu that adapts to different screen sizes. This includes a traditional horizontal menu for larger screens and a collapsible " hamburger " menu for smaller screens. Understanding responsive design principles and how to apply them using HTML and CSS is key in this project.

See the Pen HTML Project 6 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Flexibility is Key : I'm focusing on building a navigation menu that's flexible and adapts smoothly across various devices.
• Simplicity in Design : Keeping the design simple and intuitive is crucial, especially for the mobile version, to ensure ease of navigation.

Project 7: Building a Small Business Homepage 

Creating a homepage for a small business is a fantastic project for applying web development skills in a real-world context. This project involves designing a welcoming and informative landing page for a small business, focusing on user engagement and business promotion.

The aim is to create a homepage that effectively represents a small business, providing key information such as services offered, business hours, location, and contact details. The design should be professional, inviting, and aligned with the business's branding.

See the Pen HTML Project 7 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Clarity and Accessibility : My priority is ensuring that key information is presented clearly and is easily accessible to visitors.
• Brand Consistency : I plan to incorporate design elements that are in line with the business's branding, creating a cohesive and professional online presence.

Project 8: Setting Up a Simple Survey Form

Creating a simple survey form is a valuable project for practicing form handling in HTML and CSS. It's a fundamental skill in web development, essential for gathering user feedback, conducting research, or learning more about your audience.

The objective of this project is to create a user-friendly survey form that collects various types of information from users. The form will include different types of input fields, such as text boxes, radio buttons, checkboxes, and a submit button. The focus is on creating a clear, accessible, and easy-to-use form layout.

See the Pen HTML Project 8 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Simplicity in Design : I'm aiming for a design that's straightforward and intuitive, ensuring that filling out the form is hassle-free for users.
• Responsive Layout : Ensuring the form is responsive and accessible on different devices is a key consideration in its design.

Project 9: Creating an Event Invitation Page

Designing an event invitation page is a fantastic way to combine creativity with technical skills. This project involves creating a web page that serves as an online invitation for an event, such as a conference, workshop, or party.

The aim is to create a visually appealing and informative event invitation page. This page should include details about the event like the date, time, venue, and a brief description. The focus is on using HTML and CSS to present this information in an engaging and organized manner.

See the Pen HTML Project 9 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Visual Impact : I'm aiming for a design that captures the essence of the event, making the page immediately engaging.
• Clear Information Hierarchy : Organizing the event details in a clear and logical manner is crucial for effective communication.

Project 10: Building a Parallax Website

Creating a parallax website involves implementing a visual effect where background images move slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth and immersion. It's a popular technique for modern, interactive web design.

The objective of this project is to create a website with a parallax scrolling effect. This will be achieved using HTML and CSS, specifically focusing on background image positioning and scroll behavior. The key is to create a visually engaging and dynamic user experience.

See the Pen HTML Project 10 by HubSpot ( @hubspot ) on CodePen .

• Balance in Motion : While implementing parallax effects, I'll ensure the motion is smooth and not overwhelming, to maintain a pleasant user experience.
• Optimized Performance : I'll be mindful of optimizing images and code to ensure the parallax effect doesn't hinder the site's performance.

As we reach the end of our journey through various web development projects, it's clear that the field of web development is constantly evolving, presenting both challenges and opportunities. From creating basic HTML pages to designing dynamic, interactive websites, the skills acquired are just the beginning of a much broader and exciting landscape.

Embracing New Technologies: The future of web development is tied to the ongoing advancements in technologies. Frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js are changing how we build interactive user interfaces. Meanwhile, advancements in CSS, like Flexbox and Grid, have revolutionized layout design, making it more efficient and responsive.

Focus on User Experience: As technology progresses, the emphasis on user experience (UX) will become even more crucial. The success of a website increasingly depends on how well it engages users, provides value, and creates meaningful interactions. Web developers must continuously learn about the latest UX trends and apply them to their work.

The Rise of Mobile-First Development: With the increasing use of smartphones for internet access, mobile-first design is no longer an option but a necessity. This approach involves designing websites for smaller screens first and then scaling up to larger screens, ensuring a seamless experience across all devices.

Web Accessibility and Inclusivity: Making the web accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities, is a growing focus. This includes following best practices and guidelines for web accessibility, ensuring that websites are usable by everyone, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.

Performance and Optimization: As users become more demanding about performance, optimizing websites for speed and efficiency will continue to be a priority. This includes minimizing load times, optimizing images and assets, and writing efficient code.

Emerging Trends: The integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning in web development is on the rise, offering new ways to personalize user experiences and automate tasks. Additionally, the development of Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) is blurring the lines between web and mobile apps, offering offline capabilities and improved performance.

Continuous Learning: The only constant in web development is change. Continuous learning and adaptation are key to staying relevant in this field. Whether it's learning new programming languages, frameworks, or design principles, the ability to evolve with the industry is critical for any web developer.

As you continue on your path in web development, remember that each project is a step towards mastering this ever-changing discipline. Embrace the challenges, stay curious, and keep building, for the road ahead in web development is as exciting as it is limitless.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Simple web design tips for beginners: A complete guide

Just getting started in web design? This guide will get you ready to tackle your first project as a beginner.

From 101 to advanced, learn how to build sites in Webflow with over 100 lessons — including the basics of HTML and CSS.

Web design is a crucial component of the web development process.

If you're interested in web design, we're guessing you have a creative streak. And how could you not be excited about jumping in and making your first website? Web design is about crafting a functional piece of art — but where do you start? If you're wondering what you need to know before you begin, this is a simple web design guide that will help you start.

Choose something basic for your first site design

This seems like a no brainer, right? But sometimes we can get overly ambitious and end up discouraged. For your first project, it’s a good idea to choose something simple and fun. An ecommerce site is more complicated and would be better to tackle once you have more experience. 

A blog is a great place to start. It will be a good design exercise and you’ll learn how a Content Management System (CMS) works, which will be important to know for future site designs. Best of all — you don’t have to start from scratch. There are plenty of blog templates that make it easy to put one together.

Templates are a valuable learning tool. Watching how HTML, CSS, and Javascript elements are styled and come together will give you deeper insight into what makes a design work. You can use templates as a foundation to make changes and customizations.

Maybe you don't want to start a blog — try pulling from your creative pursuits or hobbies. How about building a showcase for your photography skills or for your collection of short stories? Creating a design to feature a passion of yours makes for an enjoyable first project.

Find inspiration from other designers

You've no doubt come across websites that have wowed you with their stunning design.

Create an inspiration doc with links to sites you love, or bookmark them as you go. Pinterest is a great place to find great site design — you can find and pins illustrations, book covers, posters, blogs, and other types of design work to refer to. Designers use the term "mood board" for these collections. Mood boards are a quick reference resource if you find yourself stuck. Which you will.

Outside the discoveries you make on your own, there are some curated collections you should check out. 

• Awwwards always has new and fresh work and a variety of themed collections 
• Behance is a fantastic compilation of website design work, where the focus is on quality and creativity
• Dribbble focuses on individual designers, providing a forum to get feedback and communicate with others about their work

And of course, head over to Made in Webflow to see the variety of ways people are using our design platform. There’s so much cool stuff to check out and so many templates available to clone as your very own.

Look outside the web for sources of inspiration

Web design is informed by a visual language that can be found anywhere, like the cover of a graphic novel or the digital kiosk at your bank. Develop an eye for recognizing good design and start analyzing why something works or doesn’t work, whatever the medium.

Pay attention to typography 

We often read without even being aware of typefaces. Pay attention to the effect type has on as you consume content. Is that font on the menu readable? What makes that hand-lettered sign for the local business work so well? Letters are everywhere. Make note of both good and bad uses of typography. 

Typewolf is an excellent resource to keep tabs on popular fonts. It has plenty of lists to explore, a featured site of the day, and lookbooks that have spectacular font combinations. It’s helpful to see actual examples of typography being used, and websites like Typewolf are a great place to see their practical applications. Getting familiar with different fonts will help you pick the right type for your first site design.

Let the fine arts influence you 

Oh, did we mention there’s an entire history of art to draw from? So many movements and artists still shape the work of creatives today — especially web designers. Take a stroll through our Web design and art history piece to discover many monumental artistic achievements. Not only is filled with valuable information, it’s an excellent example of how content and artistry can come together to tell a story.

Research different types of design

There are so many disciplines of design to be familiar with. A knowledge of product design, illustration, and even branding can further develop your creative senses.

For inspiration that goes beyond web design, Abduzeedo offers brilliant examples. Whether it’s poster art, luggage, or furniture, you’ll see fantastic examples of design done right. Be open to different types of design and actively seek out inspiration . The more knowledge you have, the easier it will be to design your first website . Education informs intuition.

Have content ready before you start 

Putting content first means having content ready to work with before you start designing your first website.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. You can always edit and optimize for Google SEO (search engine optimization) later. But having at least a rough draft of what will go live will help make sure the design is laid out to accommodate it. Designing with real content gives you a better representation of how the website will look and function. It also gives you the opportunity to make changes earlier in the design process.

For blogs, you’ll need to have a post ready to test in the CMS. Having a couple posts written before you launch will save scrambling to write something after the fact. 

Keep your design simple and intuitive

Whether it's writing, navigation, or CTAs, no one wants to struggle with your design.

Your design approach should be rooted in simplicity and order. Logic should guide someone through the site with ease. And since we’re talking about those people who will interact with what you’ve created, this is a good place to introduce UX.

Understand user experience (UX) basics

A website is more than just floating text in space. The color scheme, content, typography, layout, and imagery all come together to serve your audience and stir emotion. Someone wandering through the digital space you’ve created should have a clear path free from obstacles.

UX focuses on understanding your audience. What are they looking for — and how will your design make finding it easy? UX is about getting into the heads of your audience and seeing your design through their eyes.

When building your first website, keep these guiding UX principles in mind:

• Make things simple and intuitive
• Communicate concepts in a logical succession
• Meet your audience’s needs and resist the temptation to showboat your skills at the expense of usability

Learning about your audience will help you craft a design that’s tailored to their wants and needs. Check out our Beginner’s guide to user research for more insights on how to do this.

Understand user interface (UI) basics

If you’re new to web design, you might be confused by the difference between UI and UX . Most of us were. Know this — they’re two distinct concepts.

Where UX is concerned with the overall feel of a design, UI is about the specifics. If you were in an elevator, UI would be the size and arrangement of the floor buttons, while UX would encompass the colors, textures, and other interior design choices of the elevator space. UI is about giving someone the tools they need to experience your website free from complications. 

When constructing your first website, keep these UI principles in mind:

• Functionality of interactive elements should be obvious
• Uniformity must guide usability — actions should follow logical patterns
• Design choices should be made with a clear purpose

Take a look at 10 essential UI design tips for a deeper dive into UI.

Introducing The Freelancer’s Journey: a free course that teaches you how to succeed as a freelance web designer — from getting clients to launching their websites.

Use the principles of design for web starters

Effective design is guided by certain rules and it’s important to understand essential web design skills before you start. There are standard practices that will simplify the process and make for a more refined final product. 

If you want to design and build websites, understanding good layout is key. We suggest keeping things minimal and working with only a few elements to focus on the perfect placement.

When you first start designing, think grids. Grids align elements, like div blocks and images on a web page, in a way that creates order. 

The structure of a layout should follow a visual hierarchy. What are the important ideas you want people to see and in what order? Visual hierarchy needs to adhere to the common patterns people use when reading. There are two paths people’s eyes generally follow on the web: the F-pattern and the Z-pattern. Being familiar with how these patterns work will help you organize your own content. 

The F-pattern is more common for designs with dense blocks of content. People’s eyes will scan down the left side of a layout until things catch their attention and then read from left to right. Imagine looking through the menu at a restaurant — you may skip over the bold names of dishes aligned on the left until you come to something that grabs you, which will prompt you to read the supporting details explaining that specific dish.

Most people will read through something like a blog post in this F-pattern. With left-aligned text and bulleted sentences, Nelson Abalos takes advantage of this design technique, making his posts easy to navigate and follow.

The Z-pattern is associated with less text-heavy design. Many landing pages conform to this pattern. All the major elements on the Conservation Guide site adhere to the Z-pattern. If you’re a beginner web designer, this is a simple layout trick to help usability.

You have the colors of the rainbow and beyond available to you. And we all know that "with great power comes great responsibility." The power of the color picker can be wielded for good or evil.

Here are a couple straightforward approaches in choosing a color scheme for your first website.

Use a single color as the base, vary the amount of saturation, include lights and darks, and play with various hues for a uniform color scheme. Regardless of your niche, a monochrome site is a smart design choice. And remember, whatever color you choose for the text, make sure you’re thoughtful about readability .

In this example from Unique , each section is delineated by a monochromatic color scheme. You don’t have to get this fancy in your beginner designs, but it’s nice to see their use of different monochromatic color variations. Notice how each section is made of colors related to the featured bags? This is a nice design trick that makes for a harmonious color scheme.

Complementary

Take colors that are opposite on the color wheel and combine them. Easy enough, right?

Use complementary colors with care. In this design below from the Ignisis website, the designer used blue and orange in different combinations along with whitespace and greys for a layout that never tires the eyes. The contrast feels crisp and refreshing.

Typography is two-dimensional architecture, based on experience and imagination, and guided by rules and readability.

-Hermann Zapf

So what are the rules that you, the neophyte designer, need to know?

Typography informs tone

Think of a wedding invitation or a funeral announcement. Both are profound life events — one a joyful celebration and the other typically more somber. Where an ornate flowery typeface works well for a wedding, it’s not well-suited for a funeral. 

When designing your first website, keep tone in mind. If you’re going for a lighthearted vibe, like a food blog, weaving in playful fonts makes sense. But if you’re crafting a website for a law firm, stick to more professional typefaces .

Serifs versus non-serifs

A common mistake of new designers is to mix up serif and non-serif fonts. You can tell them apart because the ends of serif letters have an extra line or stroke added vertically or horizontally. 

Check out the differences between PT Serif and PT Sans (without the serif).

Here’s PT Serif:

And here’s PT Sans:

Serifs are an artifact from the time of printing presses when most of the words we read were printed with ink on paper. Serifs anchored words onto the page and made them easier to read. In the earlier days of the web, serifs were shunned by web designers because lower screen resolutions diluted them. Now that screens are better optimized for typography with serifs, they’ve made a comeback.

Those small lines make a huge difference. You’ll notice the above PT Serif typeface feels more formal and the sans-serif version seems lighter and looser. 

Since serif fonts are more complicated, they’re best used in moderation. Headers are an ideal place for serif fonts, and larger blocks of content benefit from a more simplified font without serifs.

Ornamentation versus practicality

The loops and whorls of a flourished font will add personality and elegance to a design, but don’t overuse frilly fonts. A website is about communicating to an audience through content. As Hermann Zapf said, readability is one of a font’s most important characteristics. 

Typography technicalities

There’s a lot to learn with typography. As you progress as a designer, you’ll need to know how to use line height, kerning, and different weights in your typography. But don’t get too caught up in tweaking all the intricacies for your first site. Focus on making sure everything is readable — you can experiment fine-tuning the details later. 

Start designing 

Tutorials and research are invaluable to your learning, but you’ll eventually just need to dig in and get designing. Even if you create something no one will ever see, it's still an exercise problem solving and applying what you've learned. Don't worry if it's not amazing. But be proud of crossing that threshold from aspiring designer to actually being one — you’re on your way! 

Get feedback 

You finished your first design — congratulations! You worked hard and you’re ready to show it to the world. But before you hit publish, get some outside perspective on what you made.

Getting constructive criticism can be uncomfortable. Creating something, whether it’s an essay, a painting, or a website is an act of vulnerability. The things you put into the world are an extension of who you are and what you’re capable of. To be told what you made could be better or is wrong might feel like a personal attack.

In web design, feedback is a normal and necessary part of the process. Learn how to set your ego aside and separate the feedback from your self-worth. As you gain experience, you’ll be able to identify and implement practical, useful feedback and let go of the rest. You’ll find that more experienced designers know what it’s like to be a beginner — they’re excited to see less-experienced designers succeed.

If you’re designing with Webflow, share your work in the Webflow Showcase or request help in the Webflow design forum . As you progress, you’ll want to submit to places like Dribbble and Behance to get more eyes on your work. Not only will you get constructive criticism, you’ll get feedback on what you’re doing well — which always feels great.

Webflow makes web design for beginners accessible

Gone are the days of having to learn complex front-end code to build a website. In the past, you had to depend on a developer to bring your designs to life. Today, you can design, build, and launch complex websites in just a few hours using Webflow . 

Knowing a few key concepts, and being able to know the difference between good and bad design will give you the confidence and skills to craft your first website. Webflow frees you up from having to code, opens up your creative bandwidth, and let’s you start designing immediately. 

Build completely custom, production-ready websites — or ultra-high-fidelity prototypes — without writing a line of code. Only with Webflow.

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