Top Web Design Courses to Improve Your Design Skills

As a web designer, you can use courses to enhance your skills and learn new technologies and tricks of the trade. This can help you stay on top of the latest developments, trends, and software tools in the field. Whether you’re new to web design or are an experienced professional, furthering your education is a savvy move that can enhance your career prospects.

Thanks to the rise in online learning, you’ll find many easy-to-access courses available. From blogs to YouTube videos, online certificate courses, and more, various available educational options cover a range of topics from coding to color theory. Plus, there are paid and free courses available—and many tutorials can be done step by step at your own pace.

Thanks to the diversity of options, you can get the knowledge you need in a style (and at a price point) that works for you. But what exactly should you be learning as a web designer, and which course is right for you? This article can help you figure it out. Read on to discover:

• Best web design courses

• Udemy: Web Design for Beginners: Real World Coding in HTML & CSS‍
• Treehouse: Web Design Track‍
• LinkedIn Learning: HTML Essential Training‍
• Webflow University: Ultimate Web Design Course‍
• Future Learn: Introduction to Web Development‍
• Udacity: Front-End Development Nanodegree‍
• EdX: W3Cx Front-End Developer Professional Certificate‍
• Skillcrush: Front-End Development Course‍
• Envato Tuts+: Responsive Web Design Revisited‍
• Future Learn: User Experience (UX) Design and Research‍
• Paul Boag: Encouraging Clicks Without Shady Tricks Masterclass
• Codecademy: Learn Color Design‍

• Tools and skills for web designers’ success
  

Best web design courses

Now that you have a better idea of which skills a web design professional should possess, you can identify potential gaps in your skill set. Whether you’re interested in perfecting your Python programming or want to learn more about UX research and interface design, there’s probably a class that covers it.

Here are some online web design courses worth considering:

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Udemy: Web Design for Beginners: Real World Coding in HTML & CSS

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This course is a great starting point for beginners, requiring no prerequisite knowledge or pricey software. It’s also useful for experienced developers who want to sharpen their skills. Users will learn to create any website layout, master animations and effects using CSS3, and comprehend the basics of responsive, mobile-friendly design.

‍Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• HTML5 essentials
• CSS essentials
• Text basics
• Adding media to a webpage
• Forms
• Tables
  

Length

The course includes 11 hours of video material and 51 downloadable resources, which you can review at your own pace.

Price

The course costs $13.99. It’s normally $109.99 without the 87% discount.

Level of difficulty

This course is great for beginners.

Treehouse: Web Design Track

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This Treehouse learning track teaches web design programming languages like HTML and CSS. It also covers graphic components like color theory, typography, and branding. Animation is another useful skill you’ll learn, giving you an added asset to make even more engaging websites that stand out from the crowd.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• Introduction to HTML and CSS
• HTML basics
• Web design process
• CSS basics
• Typography for designers
• Mobile-first CSS layout
• Prototyping in the browser

Length

The entire course covers 40 hours.

Price

You can start with a free trial. A basic monthly subscription costs $25, while the Courses Plus plan costs $49 a month.

Level of difficulty

This course is appropriate for beginners. However, it’s also a good fit for web designers who want to improve their overall design skills thanks to in-depth topics like typography.

LinkedIn Learning: HTML Essential Training

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This course focuses exclusively on HTML, which is essentially the basis for most of what you find on the internet. It goes beyond the technical aspects and takes a human-first approach, explaining how you can craft excellent HTML that’s also user-friendly. Since the course is offered via LinkedIn, you can earn a digital certificate to display directly on your profile.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• HTML formatting
• Linking and navigation
• Images and graphics
• Media
• Forms and interactive elements
• Structuring tabular data

Length

This compact course is only two hours and 45 minutes.

Price

This course is free.

Level of difficulty

This course is ideal for beginners who want to get a good grasp of HTML.

Webflow University: Ultimate Web Design Course

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This free course is surprisingly comprehensive, covering everything from web design basics to more advanced technical topics. In addition to HTML and CSS, you’ll learn about technical elements like divs, flexboxes, grids, containers, and more. Design elements like typography, styling, and layout are also included.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured lessons include:

• Intro to HTML and CSS
• 3D styles
• Effects
• Styling topography
• Layout basics
• Buttons and links

Length

The course includes over 100 videos, covering more than five hours of material.

Price

This course is free.

Level of difficulty

This course is good for beginners who want a crash course in web design. While it provides a good overview, it doesn’t give in-depth details.

Future Learn: Introduction to Web Development

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This is another comprehensive starter course. It covers essentials like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. It also includes design components like layout. By the end of the course, you’ll be able to make your own website and an interactive quiz landing page.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• HTML tags and attributes
• Styling webpages using CSS
• JavaScript to make interactive webpages
• Box model and responsive design
• Document Object Model (DOM)
• Validation

Length

The entire course takes three weeks, covering two weekly hours of study.

Price

You can join the course for free and get basic access for five weeks. With the upgraded version, you’ll get a printed and digital certificate upon completion. You can also opt for an annual access plan of $279.99, which provides access to additional courses.

Level of difficulty

This course is ideal for beginners or any web developer looking to refresh their skills.

Udacity: Front-End Development Nanodegree

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This course focuses on front-end development—what the web user sees when they visit the page. It provides all the tools you need to create visually appealing websites, from HTML and CSS to modern web APIs. The course also helps you become a more efficient web designer by teaching you how to automate repetitive tasks with workflow tools.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured courses include:

• CSS
• Website layout
• JavaScript and DOM
• Build tools, webpack, and service worker
• Web APIs and asynchronous applications

Length

The course includes over 100 hours of learning materials, including videos, experiments, and reviews. You can complete it in four months if you work five to 10 hours per week.

Price

A four-month access pass costs $1,356. You can also pay for access on a monthly basis at $399 per month.

Level of difficulty

Intermediate. You should have at least a basic level of web design expertise before enrolling. Knowledge of core HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is needed.

EdX: W3Cx Front-End Developer Professional Certificate

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A joint effort established by MIT and Harvard, edX has a reputation for high-quality education. This course provides students with the knowledge they need to master foundational programming languages, including JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5. By the end, you’ll be able to design a website according to the latest best practices.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• CSS basics
• HTML5 and CSS fundamentals
• HTML5 coding essentials and functionality
• HTML5 apps and games
• JavaScript introduction

Length

The program consists of five core modules, which can be completed over a period of seven months.

Price

This course costs $895.50. The discount price is a marketing tactic.

Level of difficulty

Intermediate. You should have at least a basic understanding of web design and programming languages before diving in.

Skillcrush: Front-End Development Course

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This front-end development course covers everything you need to work as a web designer—from HTML and CSS to working with Git and GitHub (a version control tool). You’ll do hands-on projects like coding your own website to get practical experience. At the end of the course, you’ll have a full portfolio and the opportunity to network and connect with classmates via Slack.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• HTML and CSS coding
• Responsive websites for usability
• Git and GitHub
• JavaScript fundamentals
• Adobe Photoshop
• Domains and hosting

Length

The course takes three months to complete, on average.‍

Price

You can make three monthly payments of $199 or a one-time payment of $549 to save.

Level of difficulty

Beginner. You don’t need any previous tech experience to succeed in this course.

Envato Tuts+: Responsive Web Design Revisited

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This responsive web design course focuses on providing updates on the latest trends in responsive web design. The course then gives you the opportunity to put what you’ve learned to the test by designing your own responsive website. The curriculum stands out for its human-first approach. Instead of focusing solely on technical skills, it emphasizes the user experience.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• Content-first methodology
• Style tiles
• Code shell building
• Unstyled content with CSS
• Code autoprefixing
• Picture elements
• Style tiles with Adobe Photoshop

Length

The entire course covers 14 lessons and runs 2.3 hours.

Price

You can access the first two courses for free. You must then subscribe with Envato Elements for $16.50 per month.

Level of difficulty

Intermediate to advanced learners. You should already know basic programming languages and have some experience in responsive web design.

Future Learn: User Experience (UX) Design and Research

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This online program is run by the University of Michigan. It helps web designers hone their skills in user-centered design and can pave the path toward a career in UX design or research. You’ll learn UX sketching, prototyping, and design evaluation. At the end, you’ll complete a capstone project to show what you’ve learned.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• Introduction to user experience principles and processes
• Understanding user needs
• Evaluating designs with users
• UX design, from concept to prototype

Length

The course runs for 29 weeks. Note that it’s not pre-recorded, so you have to enroll and jump in at the appropriate start date.

Price

You can start learning for free and then pay $370 for a course upgrade. This allows you to take the final assessment and get a certificate of achievement.

Level of difficulty

Intermediate to advanced. You should already have a solid grasp of basic web design languages and principles.

Paul Boag: Encouraging Clicks Without Shady Tricks Masterclass

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The goal of any website is to get the visitor to take a certain action. This course is all about encouraging those coveted clicks that increase conversion rates. For web designers who want to take a holistic approach to their work and not get caught up in coding, this is valuable knowledge.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• How to encourage user action
• Ensure you measure the right metrics
• Boost conversion with quality traffic
• Discover and solve user problems
• Create compelling calls to action (CTAs)
• Boost online sales (e.g., for e-commerce sites)

Length

The course includes 30 video lessons, covering four and a half hours of material.

Price

The course costs $65.

Level of difficulty

Beginner. You don’t need coding knowledge, as this course focuses more on the psychology of web design.

Codecademy: Learn Color Design

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This is another course devoted to the non-technical aspects of web design—in this case, color design. You’ll practice using CSS while learning basic color design rules, including colors that promote UI interactions, brand colors, color psychology, and visual accessibility.

Best featured lessons and topics

Featured topics include:

• Color theory
• Color for UI
• Color wheel
• Tints and shades
• Monochromatic designs
• Buttons
• Forms
• Accent colors

Length

This course takes three hours to complete.

Price

Codecademy’s basic courses are free.

Level of difficulty

Intermediate. You should have basic knowledge of CSS before you start this course.

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Tools and skills for web designers’ success

Web designers are responsible for planning, creating, and coding webpages. The job requires a mix of technical skills like programming and non-technical skills like visual design fundamentals. When deciding which web development courses to pursue, focus on those that teach skills relevant to the job. Here’s a quick rundown of the essential abilities of web designers.

Understanding color theory

Colors can help improve the user experience in website design. The right choice of colors makes it easier for users to find the information they need on the screen and engage accordingly—for example, by clicking on a call-to-action (CTA) button. A well-chosen color palette can also reflect a website’s brand and create a cohesive appearance overall.

Dominating HTML and CSS

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are two major web programming languages. They’re used to control how words and images are displayed on the screen. Along with JavaScript, these two tools are predominant in web development. You can’t be a great web designer without mastering them.

Handling illustration and photo-editing software

Modern websites are largely image-driven, relying on a balance of text and visuals to present a cohesive brand and engaging user experience. Web designers can benefit from a knowledge of graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. These tools can be used to create and edit photos, graphics, 3D artwork, and more.

Interaction design tools

Responsive web design relies on interactive tools to create engagement. One interactive design tool worth learning is Invision Studio, an animation and prototyping tool that allows you to create vector-based page designs. Adobe XD is another handy tool that focuses on creating vector-based user experiences.

Knowledge of UX/UI

User experience or UX design is all about how a person experiences a website. By learning about UX, you can improve a site’s flow, eliminate bottlenecks, and create a positive human-first experience. User interface or UI design focuses on the website’s appearance. With good UI design, you ensure that the website is attractive, intuitive, and elicits a positive response from users.

Mastering marketing research

An understanding of market research can help web designers focus their attention on customers and what they want. You can use market research to pinpoint what your target audience expects from a website, how you can increase the likelihood they’ll engage, and what types of CTAs might sway them. Thus, market research can help guide decision-making in web design.

Principles of graphic design

Graphic designers create visually compelling content to effectively communicate messages. Web designers can use graphic design principles like typography and fonts, layout, and visual hierarchy to improve their work. For example, white space is important in graphic design—it ensures people aren’t visually overwhelmed. This holds true in the web design process, too.

Get started with the top web designer courses

As you can see, there’s no shortage of options for web design classes—and this is just the tip of the iceberg. When selecting the right course for you, consider which skills you want to learn or fine-tune. Addressing any gaps in your resume in terms of technical abilities is a top priority.

Expanding and enhancing your web design skills will allow you to improve your craft and gain confidence. Make sure to add any new skills or web design certifications to your Upwork profile. This can help you stand out from other freelancers, elevating your profile and giving you more work opportunities.

Find work as an independent web designer on Upwork now.

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