Are you looking to become a web developer or take your web dev career to the next level? One of the best ways to expand your skills while also building out your portfolio for prospective employers is to build web development projects.
And with an average salary of over $85k and ample opportunities for growth and advancement, web development continues to be a highly rewarding and popular field for creatives and coders alike.
In this article, we'll explore some of the best web development projects in 2023, including a wide range of tech stacks like HTML/CSS/JS, ASP.NET, Django, MEAN, MERN, and much more.
So whether you're a beginner looking for project-based learning or an experienced developer wanting to expand their skills and enhance their portfolio, fire up your favorite web development IDE, and let’s get started with some web dev projects!
Why Build Web Development Projects?
Web development is a constantly evolving field, and staying ahead of the curve can be challenging. Project-based learning is one of the best ways to keep learning engaging.
By looking for and building real-world web development project ideas, you can develop new skills, gain experience, and create a portfolio of work to showcase to potential employers.
Let’s take a look at the primary benefits of building web development projects.
- Project-based learning: You're not just learning theory; you're applying knowledge in a practical context to develop a deeper understanding.
- Build your portfolio: You can demonstrate your versatility and adaptability.
- Career opportunities: Building your skills and creating a portfolio of work will put you in a better position to land your dream job.
- Problem-solving: Web development projects are inherently challenging, and building them will enhance your problem-solving skills.
- Creative expression: You can use your imagination and creativity to build projects that are unique and visually appealing.
If you’re a web dev beginner, a pro tip for you is that it’s really important to work on multiple web development projects. This is ideal for gaining experience with different technologies, languages, and web development frameworks.
This can also help you develop a broad set of skills to apply in various contexts, whether e-commerce, social media, education, healthcare, finance, and more.
Best Web Development Project Ideas for Beginners
1. Landing Page
This is a tried and tested idea for beginner web development projects which you can use to develop your understanding of concepts like layout and design, as well as how to use different HTML and CSS elements to build the page's structure. This includes elements like headings, paragraphs, images, and forms.
You'll also get to use your knowledge of responsive design to ensure your landing page displays correctly across different devices and screen sizes.
Overall, this is a great project to get hands-on experience with HTML and CSS, allowing you to apply your knowledge in a practical setting and solidify your understanding of web development concepts.
This project also gives you the opportunity to try different hosting resources. You could try Cloudways for managed cloud hosting on a site built for high-volume traffic, for example, or stick with a free hosting platform for a smaller project.
Prerequisites:
- Basic understanding of web development concepts
- Familiarity with HTML tags and CSS selectors
- Knowledge of responsive design techniques
Stack Required:
- HTML
- CSS
2. Personal Portfolio Website
This beginner-level project will help you develop your skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript as you'll design and code a personal portfolio website.
This project will also require you to create a responsive design that not only works flawlessly across different devices but also optimizes it for fast loading and SEO.
By tackling this project, you'll gain hands-on experience using HTML to structure the content, CSS to style it, and JavaScript to add interactivity. Making this ideal for building real-world websites that can help jumpstart your web development career.
Our research also uncovered several types of web-building software with discounts at AppSumo. These resources often take the coding out of the process though, so use them only once you’re comfortable with your skills.
Prerequisites:
- Basic understanding of web development concepts
- Familiarity with HTML tags and CSS selectors
- Knowledge of layout and typography design
- Understanding of JavaScript functions and event handling
Stack Required:
- HTML
- CSS
- SCSS
- JavaScript
3. To-do List App
This project is an excellent way to enhance your web development skills with Ruby on Rails, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as you’ll be creating a functional web application that enables users to create, manage, and track their to-do lists. It’s also of the best web development projects for students to stretch their current skill set.
Expect to be implementing CRUD functionalities, RESTful routing, and database queries in Ruby on Rails, as well as working with HTML forms, CSS styling, and JavaScript functions, and event handling.
Throughout this project, you’ll also utilize your technical skills in creating Ruby scripts and implementing an MVC architecture, alongside gaining experience in front-end development by creating responsive and visually appealing interfaces with HTML and CSS.
By completing this project, you'll have the opportunity to hone your web development skills and gain practical experience in building a full-stack web application.
Prerequisites:
- Basic understanding of web development concepts
- Familiarity with HTML forms and CSS styling
- Knowledge of JavaScript functions and event handling
- Knowledge of Ruby on Rails
- Understanding of database relationships and migrations
Stack Required:
- Ruby on Rails
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
4. Cinema Website
This project is a great opportunity for beginners to strengthen their skills by working on a real-world web application with ASP.NET and Bootstrap, which are two powerhouses in the field of web development.
This project is a great way to challenge yourself, as you’ll need a basic grasp of web development concepts, familiarity with HTML and CSS, and of course, knowledge of C#, object-oriented programming (OOP), and ASP.NET. It also helps to have an understanding of JavaScript functions and event handling.
By the end of this project, you will have built a fully-functional cinema web app that includes ticket booking functions, movie information display, and user authentication. All of which are great analogs to real-world applications and the skills you’ll need as a web developer.
Prerequisites:
- Basic understanding of web development concepts
- Familiarity with HTML tags and CSS selectors
- Knowledge of C# programming and object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts
- Knowledge of ASP.NET
- Understanding of JavaScript functions and event handling
Stack Required:
- ASP.NET
- C#
- HTML
- JavaScript
- CSS
5. URL Shortener
This beginner-friendly web development project will help you develop your skills in PHP, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML as you build a web application that shortens URLs and tracks the number of clicks on each shortened link. You can even run this open-source project on your own server, providing full control over data and statistics.
By working on this project, you'll gain practical experience in web development alongside database management as you’ll need to implement SQL data storage and retrieval. Overall, this project is an excellent opportunity to apply common technologies to build a real-world web application that would look great in your portfolio.
Prerequisites:
- Basic understanding of web development concepts
- Familiarity with HTML tags and CSS selectors
- Knowledge of PHP programming and object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts
- Understanding of JavaScript functions and event handling
- Understanding of database systems and SQL
Stack Required:
- PHP
- JavaScript
- CSS
- HTML
The Best Intermediate Web Development Projects
6. Job Board
This intermediate-level web development project is great for improving your skills in CSS, HTML, JavaScript, and the Laravel PHP framework. By building a job board web application, you’ll allow employers to post job listings and job seekers to search and apply for jobs.
You’ll also get to experiment with commonly used web application features like user authentication, data search and filtering, job application tracking, and email notifications. This is also a great way to improve your understanding of database management and SQL.
By the end of this project, you’ll have gained practical exposure to web development with Laravel and various front-end technologies.
Prerequisites:
- Strong understanding of web development concepts
- Proficiency in HTML and CSS, including responsive design and CSS grid/flexbox
- Familiarity with JavaScript, including DOM manipulation and AJAX
- Experience with PHP and the Laravel framework
- Understanding of SQL and database systems
Stack Required:
- CSS
- HTML
- JavaScript
- Less
- Blade
- Laravel PHP framework
7. Quiz App
This MEAN stack app is an intermediate-level project that’s excellent for improving your full-stack development skills by integrating MongoDB, Express, Angular, and NodeJS.
Expect to challenge yourself with this project, as you’ll be creating a RESTful API for a quiz application. This will require you to build the front end using Angular, combining TypeScript, HTML, and CSS to develop a dynamic web app for users to take quizzes and view their results.
You’ll also need to work with NoSQL and integrate each of the MEAN stack components to create a seamless full-stack application. By the end of this project, you’ll have solid experience using these technologies to create a fully functional application.
Prerequisites:
- Experience with the MEAN stack
- NodeJS installed on your machine
- MongoDB installed and running on the default port (27017)
- Express, Mongoose, Body Parser, and CORS packages installed
- Angular 4 and Angular CLI installed
Stack Required:
- [MEAN Stack]
- MongoDB
- Express
- Angular
- NodeJS
- TypeScript
- HTML
- JavaScript
- CSS
8. Weather Forecasting App
This intermediate project is a great way to level up your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript skills to create a fully functional weather app that allows users to search for weather conditions and forecast information in any location around the world.
To do this, you’ll be integrating with a weather API like OpenWeatherMap and then polling this service to fetch and display data within your app. API integration is a foundational skill for web dev pros, making this project a great way for you to hone these skills.
You can also get to grips with Bootstrap to style a responsive app front-end that looks great on any device.
Prerequisites:
- Good understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Familiarity with NPM and Webpack
- Basic knowledge of API integration
- Familiarity with Bootstrap is a plus, but not required.
Stack Required:
- JavaScript
- CSS
- HTML
- A weather API such as OpenWeatherMap
The Best Advanced Web Development Projects
9. Content Management System
If you’ve ever thought about building your own version of WordPress, this advanced web development project creates a fully functional Content Management System (CMS) for managing website content via Django, Python, JavaScript, HTML, SCSS, and Shell scripting.
This is a great way to gain experience building a web app that allows web admins to create, edit, and publish content in a structured manner. You’ll also include support for hierarchical pages, multi-language and multi-site capabilities, draft/publish workflows, version control, and a customizable navigation system.
If you’re already familiar with Python, this is an excellent way to branch out into web development, as you’ll use Django to create the content management logic. You’ll also need to use JavaScript for the frontend interactivity, HTML/CSS for the overall structure and styling, and Shell scripting for any automation.
Our experience shows that you’ll need a foundation in Python to succeed with this project. For novices, we recommend enrollment in Python with Dr. Johns for an introduction to the fundamentals of the language.
Prerequisites:
- Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- Proficiency in Python programming language
- Familiarity with the Django web framework
- Knowledge of Shell scripting
- Understanding of version control systems such as Git
- Familiarity with database concepts and design
- Basic knowledge of web development principles and architecture.
Stack Required:
- Django
- Python
- JavaScript
- HTML
- SCSS
- Shell
10. Slack Clone
This Slack clone project is an exciting way for more experienced web developers to get to grips with building a real-time messaging app with a modern web stack.
Expect to test your TypeScript skills, use Next.js for server-side rendering and SEO, implement Firebase for real-time database and authentication, create and style components with Material UI, manage app state with MobX, and use Git with Shell commands to manage version control and deployment.
As you’d expect with the real Slack app, you’ll need to implement user authentication and authorization to ensure secure communication between users. You’ll also add the ability to create and manage channels.
When it comes to UX, you’ll include infinity scrolling to provide users with a seamless way to view messages, and you’ll also optimize the app for search engines using SEO best practices.
By the end of this project, you’ll have an excellent understanding of what goes into creating something like Slack, along with a portfolio-worthy project. Win-win!
Prerequisites:
- Proficient in JavaScript
- Familiarity with React.js and CSS
- Understanding of TypeScript syntax
- Knowledge of Git and Shell commands
Stack Required:
- TypeScript
- Next.js
- Firebase
- CSS
- Shell
- MobX
- Material UI
11. Facebook Clone
This Facebook clone project is a great way to learn the ins and outs of building a social media platform like truly global Facebook. What’s more, you’ll be doing this with the MERN (MongoDB, Express, React, Node) stack, which is one of the most prevalent in modern web development.
As an advanced web development project, you’ll also be able to enhance your skills in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as gain hands-on experience with MongoDB for NoSQL and implementing authentication and authorization with Node.js and Express.js.
By the end of this web development project, you'll have experience working with third-party UI libraries like Chakra UI, you’ll know how to develop real-time search functionality for user profiles using debounce, and you’ll know how to handle sign-up and login validations.
If you’re interested in full-stack web development, this is a great project to level up your skills while also adding something solid to your portfolio.
Prerequisites:
- A solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Experience with building web applications using the MERN stack.
- Familiarity with Chakra UI or similar UI libraries.
- Understanding of database design and usage with MongoDB.
- Experience with authentication and authorization using Node.js and Express.js.
Stack Required:
- [MERN Stack]
- MongoDB
- Express.js
- React
- Node.js
- Chakra UI
- CSS
- Javascript
Wrapping Up
One of the best ways to improve your web development skills and marketability to employers is to work on web development projects. These allow you to develop your problem-solving skills, express your creativity, and build your portfolio.
In this article, we've covered a range of web development projects with a wide variety of tech stacks for modern web development, so if you’re looking for project ideas for web development, we’ve got you covered.
Whether you want to practice building simple front-end projects with HTML and CSS, enhance your ASP.NET or Django skills, or maybe even try your hand at full-stack web development with the MEAN and MERN stacks, there’s something for you on our list.
Remember, the key to web development success is continuously learning, practicing, and building. So, what are you waiting for? Get started on your next web development project today!
Want to expand your web dev skills? Check out
The Best Web Development Courses
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What Are 3 Types of Web Development?
Web development can be categorized into three main types: front-end development, which involves creating the user interface of a website or web application; back-end development, which involves creating the server-side components of a website or web application; and full-stack development, which encompasses both front-end and back-end development.
2. How Do I Find Web Developer Projects?
There are several ways to find projects for web developers, depending on your experience level and goals. One common approach is to create a portfolio website or online presence to showcase your skills and attract potential clients or employers. You can also search for web developer jobs or freelance projects on job boards, social media, or online marketplaces.
3. How Much Does a Web Developer Charge Per Project?
The cost of a web development project can vary widely depending on factors such as the project's complexity, the scope of work involved, and the developer's experience level. However, wIth an average annual salary of $85K, you can use this as a starting point to reverse-engineer a project rate, depending on the time you think it will take you.
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