The web is the most visible layer of computing, and building for it well means understanding the whole journey - from a browser request to a database query and back. I teach the full stack: HTML, CSS, JavaScript on the front end and PHP with MySQL behind it.
Students build real, responsive, standards-compliant applications throughout - not toy examples - so by the end they can take a design brief and ship a working product.
Topics I cover
Front-end structure and style
Semantic HTML and modern CSS - flexbox, grid, and responsive layouts that work on any screen. We treat accessibility and web standards as requirements, not afterthoughts.
JavaScript and interactivity
The DOM, events, fetch and asynchronous code. Students move from small interactive widgets to single-page behaviours, learning to debug in the browser’s developer tools as they go.
Server-side development with PHP
Handling requests, sessions, and forms; connecting to MySQL safely with prepared statements; and structuring back-end code so it can grow.
Deployment and professional practice
Validation, performance basics, browser testing, and getting a site onto a live server - the last mile that turns coursework into a portfolio piece.
Explore: what happens when you visit a web page
A single page load touches every part of the stack. Click or tap each stage to explore it.
How I teach it
We build up one project across the term: static pages first, then styling and responsive behaviour, then JavaScript interactivity, and finally a PHP and MySQL back end. Each layer is added to something students already understand.
Along the way students use the same tools professionals do - browser dev tools, validators, Git - and learn to test on more than one browser and screen size before calling anything finished.
Test yourself
Three quick questions - click an answer to check it instantly.
1. Which technology is responsible for the structure and meaning of a web page?
2. Where does PHP code execute?
3. What does responsive design mean?
Where this leads
Full-stack skills open doors to front-end, back-end, and junior full-stack roles, and they underpin freelance work too. This area also connects directly to my database and security teaching - a web developer who understands SQL injection and query design is worth far more than one who doesn’t.
