Web Apps

A project-based workshop about building dynamic web apps from start-to-finish.

Learn how to create interactive UI, write your own APIs, handle user authentication, add offline support, and more.

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How It Works

• 100+ Lessons
• 18 Projects
• 24/7 Peer Chat
• 6 Week Program

Web Apps is a project-based workshop that will teach you how to build dynamic web applications from start-to-finish.

1. Every other day, you get a project to work on, 1-3 short lessons that provide some background, and a template to help you get started.
2. On the in-between days, I share my approach to the project and some of the common challenges and "gotchas" that students often run into.

If you get stuck, there’s a 24/7 private Discord community exclusively for students, and video office hours every month.

Tired of tutorials? Want to really dig in and work with other developers on how to become a vanilla JS badass? I can't tell you how much I've learned from Chris Ferdinandi and his Vanilla JS Academy.- Ben Rudolph

What You’ll Learn

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to write your own APIs, build dynamic UIs, and create simple web apps from scratch.

🧠 Multiple formats for different learning styles. Lessons include both written text and streaming HD videos (with captions). Watch or read on any device.

Best investment and course I have taken. If you want a bite sized course that will hold you accountable take this course. I have reduced the amount I Google and use Stackexchange by 50% and actually feel like I understand what I am coding.- Walter Jenkins

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Build a web app from scratch!

For this workshop, you’ll build a travel app for pirates from scratch.

Over the course of several weeks, you’ll build the app interface and add dynamic user functionality. Then, you’ll create a dashboard you can use to manage and update app content, secured behind a login screen.

Making myself a little web tool and using a whole range of stuff that Chris Ferdinandi’s Vanilla JS Academy taught me.

I struggled with JavaScript for a decade so I really would recommend it for anyone who needs a big friendly confidence-booster.- Laura Kalbag

Don't go it alone! Get lots of support.

Office Hours include live automated audio transcription for people who are hearing impaired, don't speak English as their native language, or simply prefer to read.

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The Program Schedule

Here’s exactly what you’ll learn in the Web Apps workshop.

Module 0. Getting Setup

• Developer tools, the console, and debugging
• Tools of the trade: recommended browsers and text editors
• Tips for working on projects

Module 1. State-Based UI

• What is state-based UI?
• Client-side routing
• SPAs vs. MPAs
• ES Modules
• How to structure complex apps

Module 2. DOM Diffing

• What is DOM diffing?
• The DOMParser() API
• Data reactivity
• JavaScript Proxies
• Reactive components

Module 3. Token-Based Authentication

• What is token-based authentication?
• How to send login credentials to an API
• Creating custom APIs

Module 4. Service Workers

• An intro to Service Workers
• Caching for better performance
• Offline web apps and different offline strategies
• Updating and maintaining service workers

Across all of the sections, you’ll also learn about web performance, debugging, and web accessibility.

In terms of knowledge gained per effort expended, this course is hands down the best I've ever tried. More than just the content, it is the growing confidence that maybe even I can actually do this. I feel like I am beginning to know what I don't know. That is huge. Well done.- Stewart Davis

Lifetime Access 🦄

You get lifetime access to all of the workshop lessons, projects, and community. This includes free updates as I continue to make the workshop even better.

Need a refresher on something you learned? Jump back in to the specific module, or go through whole the program again. You can work at your own pace, or join an upcoming session if you want that community feeling.

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Get confident building interactive web apps

Over the last decade, I’ve helped thousands of developers demystify JavaScript and build tons of cool stuff. I can help you...

• Learn modern best practices and code patterns.
• Spend less time Googling and more time working on cool stuff.
• Get the skills and confidence to really understand JavaScript.
• Follow a structured learning path to grow your skills more quickly.
• Work on real projects and build your portfolio.

Imagine being able to build your own full-stack web apps that work on any device.

Your 100% Money-Back Guarantee 💰

Don’t put off learning how to build web apps from scratch! If you're not 100% satisfied with this workshop, let me know and I'll give you a full refund.

Hi, I'm Chris Ferdinandi. 👋

I help people learn front-end web development, and I believe there’s a simpler, more resilient way to make things for the web.

I’ve advised and written code for organizations like NASA, Apple, Harvard Business School, Chobani, and Adidas. My developer tips newsletter is read by over 14k developers each weekday.

I want to help you master web development, without all of the painful false starts and roadblocks I encountered when I was learning.

I was confident that I'd get something valuable from the Academy. The only only hesitation I felt was from knowing how many false starts I had with JS in the past and questioning my own commitment.

With Academy, something finally clicked in regards to both my ability to understand and write JavaScript.

I now feel pretty confident in reading other's scripts and figuring out what's going on. That's in large part due to your clear bite-sized lessons and the active discussions in Slack that quickly surfaced questions and issues that I was also experiencing. Seeing how the same problem was solved by so many others was also helpful in letting go of the pressure to get things right and shift my focus on getting things to work and adjusting later as needed.

I really liked how the lessons were broken up into quickly consumable chunks. I loved having a clean, unopinionated project file to start from that I could wreak design havoc on. :)

The Slack community was priceless.

I've taken other online classes that include a slack community and never found them to be quite as welcoming and my involvement felt much more transactional. In this community, I enjoyed seeing everyone's dedication and investment in each other. It was welcoming, inclusive, helpful, and encouraging. That made a huge difference.- Leticia O'Neill

This program is super hands-on. I always wanted to learn how to make my own libraries, or to know how jQuery library works. Async, Promises and Fetch was another huge one for me, that I used in my projects right away.

It gave me a lot of confidence as a developer, I wish I had a training like this when I started. It got me much closer to my goal of becoming a senior front-end dev.

The material covered in the Academy translates right away into my day-to-day tasks at work, which is amazing. I loved that we could share our solutions in a very supportive group, and that you were there in that group all the time. That's rare with other teachers. Having the official solution the next day was fantastic.

It's an amazing product for all the reasons listed above. I recommend it to everyone.- Maria Blair

My biggest concerns before joining Academy were cost and my experience with other online classes. Most other classes are follow-the-tutorial type and you build a project but don't really understand what you built. Had I understood that your course emphasizes fundamental knowledge of why things work, I probably would have joined a year earlier.- Stewart Davis

I can honestly say I am not sure how I ever thought I could learn JS WITHOUT the Vanilla JS Academy. And trust me I have tried other courses.- Izzi Koning

I was desperately looking for a person or guided tutorial to help me understand the foundation of pure (vanilla) JavaScript. Though I have good work experience in various programming languages including JavaScript, I felt I was missing something.

I found and bought Chris's books and have gone through most of them. But I was still looking forward to to talking to someone, so I joined the Academy :-) and I'm happy that I did.- Kumar Sucom

I am thoroughly looking forward to every morning because of the Academy!- Kieran Barker

I thank you from the bottom of my heart. If it had not been for you, I would not be able to learn JavaScript.- Patricia Parker

I had a great time learning through your Academy. The community is great and it is phenomenal the way you run it. I appreciate the kindness and welcoming feeling I get in a community and the Vanilla JS Academy community is just that.

I had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it, whether it was the Slack channel, office hours, or just going through and learning. Thank you, it was money well spent.- Todd Libby

Having your interaction is priceless. Such added value.- Elliott Porter

Your course provided the impetus to knuckle down and challenge myself. You got me writing code (not merely reading about it or watching videos).

Having a caring, well-spoken guide such as yourself made it fun to work through the projects. Having that in a group all tackling the same projects added that dynamic aspect that also got me moving.

Some specific things I liked: The fabulously well-crafted projects/challenges. The clarity of your teaching (videos, in-code comments, etc.). The supportive Slack channels. The feeling that no question is a dumb question -- and the thrill of having a dialogue going permitting sharing tidbits with others.

No Lynda.com tutorial or other tutorial provides that environment.- Ron Amick

Honestly, the projects so far plus seeing your examples have helped me learn so much faster.- Craig Haggart

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Frequently Asked Questions

Clarity. Brevity. Unpretentious explanation. Care for best practices. Obvious attentiveness. Available to help "unstuck" students. You actually rock, Chris.- Kabolobari Benakole

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