Learning ReactJS for Designers

JavaScript is simple, or at least it used to be. If you’ve done any programming, and you know how to use Google then you can program in JavaScript. Of course, to make it more powerful we have to complicate things.

We make extensions to JavaScript, like ES6, that then need to be ‘transpiled’ to turn them back into regular JavaScript that the browser can understand.

And we build libraries like React and Vue that make it ‘simpler’ to build complex applications. But they’re complicated to learn. They make working with JavaScript very different, you need to think about things in a different way.

For designers like myself this is a lot of new concepts to learn, the vast array of options can be overwhelming so you can do what I do and ignore it. I work for myself, on my own projects, so I don’t really need to learn it.

But then WordPress is moving heavily towards React, so maybe I should?

I keep saying I will learn React but I haven’t had a need so I haven’t done anything about it. With Gutenberg getting ever nearer I feel I should actually start learning, and so I’ve been collecting tutorials for learning React. Obviously I haven’t been following them, but I will do one day!

Time to start?

Time to start?

Free Javascript Tutorials

Before learning React we should probably get the fundamentals right – so here’s some awesome javascript tutorials to get you started!

  • Javascript Fundamentals to Learn Before React – a comprehensive tutorial covering all the basics. Nice as a refresher before digging in to React itself.
  • Eloquent Javascript – a digital book about the fundamentals of Javascript and writing nice code.
  • You Don’t Know JS – a collection of ebooks teaching Javascript. There’s an awful lot here, but they are split up into different subjects so you can choose where you want to focus.

Free React Tutorials

  • React for Beginners – Wes Bos classic course (I’ve now done this one)
  • WordPress (Gutenberg) Block Development with React – Zac Gordons WordPress specific course. I’ve seen Zac talk at WordCamp London and he knows his stuff! (I’ve done this one as well)
  • Mastering React – the complete paid version of the Learn React Crash Course. This link currently offers 80% off the price, no idea how long the offer will last though.

If you know of any good, preferably free, resources then please do let me on Twitter.

Let me know what you think on Mastodon, or BlueSky (or Twitter X if you must).

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