Video courses
Long-form video is the fastest way to get the shape of a subject, and the slowest way to look something up. This page points at free full-length courses by topic, each paired with the written guide that covers the same ground in a form you can scan.
HTML and CSS
Long-form courses that build real pages from scratch. Pair with the HTML basics and CSS layout guides.
Read alongside: HTML basics
JavaScript
Full-length JavaScript courses, from syntax through the DOM and async code.
Read alongside: JavaScript fundamentals
Python
Complete Python courses covering syntax, data structures, files and small projects.
Read alongside: Python basics
Git and GitHub
Version control walkthroughs, including branching and pull request workflows.
Read alongside: Git and GitHub
React and Next.js
Framework courses for when the JavaScript underneath is already comfortable.
Read alongside: Choosing a tech stack
APIs and back end
Building and consuming HTTP APIs, authentication and databases.
Read alongside: APIs explained
Web performance
Measuring and fixing slow pages, with real profiling sessions.
Read alongside: Web performance
AI-assisted development
Working with AI tools in a real editor, including where they go wrong.
Read alongside: AI coding assistants
Why links rather than embeds
Videos are linked rather than embedded for two reasons. Embeds load third-party scripts and cookies before you have decided you want them, which slows the page and expands what is tracked. And video URLs rot — channels delete and re-upload, and an embedded dead video is worse than a search that always works. Links open on YouTube, where the creator gets the view and the credit.
All videos found through these links are published by their own creators on YouTube and are subject to YouTube's terms. Code.House is not affiliated with any of the channels and earns nothing from your watching them.
How to learn from video without wasting the time
- Watch once at speed, then build. Passive watching feels productive and retains almost nothing. The retention comes from typing it yourself afterwards, from memory, and getting stuck.
- Pause and predict. Before the instructor writes the next line, guess what it will be. Being wrong is the useful part.
- Change the project. Build the course project with a different subject than the one demonstrated. It forces you to understand rather than transcribe.
- Check the date. A three-year-old framework course will teach patterns that have since been replaced. Language fundamentals age far better than framework specifics.
- Stop when it stops teaching. Finishing a ten-hour course is not an achievement in itself. Leave when you can build the thing.
Prefer reading?
All ten written guides cover the same ground, and the roadmap puts them in order.