Firstlight

Learn to build websites and AI apps.

Learn to build for the web — from your very first tag to your first app.

Guided courses for complete beginners. Read short lessons, try the code in your browser, and hand in a small project each week. Your instructor reviews your work and gives you feedback.

Sign up for free Log in
1

Read and try

Short, friendly lessons with code you can run in one click.

2

Build and submit

Every week ends with a small project. Upload files or share a link.

3

Get feedback

Your instructor reviews your work and approves it or suggests changes.

Our courses

Web development

Go from a blank page to a working website. You learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript, one small step at a time.

  1. Week 0
    Welcome & learning how to learn Get to know how Firstlight works, set up your tools, and learn the habits that will help you get unstuck.
  2. Week 1
    How the web works Discover what really happens when you visit a website, and build your very first web page in HTML.
  3. Week 2
    HTML in depth Write meaningful, accessible HTML with semantic structure, tables and forms, and learn to check your work like a professional.
  4. Week 3
    Styling with CSS Learn how CSS turns plain HTML into a page that looks the way you want, from colours and fonts to spacing.
  5. Week 4
    Layout & responsive design Arrange boxes on the page with Flexbox and Grid, and make your sites look good on phones and big screens alike.
  6. Week 5
    Git, GitHub & publishing your site Use the terminal and Git to save your work safely, share it on GitHub, and publish your website for the world to see.
  7. Week 6
    JavaScript first steps Write your first lines of JavaScript, learn how the computer stores and changes values, and practise reading code like a computer does.
  8. Week 7
    Functions, decisions and debugging Package your code into reusable functions, teach your programs to make decisions, and learn calm, practical ways to find and fix bugs.
  9. Week 8
    Arrays, loops and objects Store lists and records of information, repeat work automatically with loops, and answer real questions about a small data set.
  10. Week 9
    Problem solving & testing Learn to break big problems into small steps, plan with pseudocode, and prove your code works with tests.
  11. Week 10
    Making pages interactive (the DOM) Use JavaScript to read and change your web page, react to clicks and typing, and build a small interactive app.
  12. Week 11
    Talking to the internet - JSON, fetch & APIs Learn how your web page can ask other services for live data, like weather, jokes or dog photos, and show it to your users.
  13. Week 12
    Final project & showcase Plan, build, ship and present a project of your own that brings together everything you have learned.

Build with AI

Learn how AI really works, in plain words, and build your own AI-powered product from scratch.

  1. Week 0
    Meet the machine Find out what AI really is, how a language model produces its words, and what it is good and bad at, by testing one yourself.
  2. Week 1
    How AI reads Learn the three numbers behind every AI product: tokens, the context window and temperature, and use them to estimate what BakeBuddy will cost.
  3. Week 2
    Talking to AI Learn to write clear prompts, improve them step by step, and give BakeBuddy a personality with a system prompt.
  4. Week 3
    Your first API call Learn what an API is, keep your secret key safe, and write a small Node script that talks to an AI model and prints its reply.
  5. Week 4
    Build a chatbot Give BakeBuddy a memory, protect your key with a small Express server, and build a chat page that people can really use.
  6. Week 5
    Give the AI your knowledge Learn why an AI does not know your business, and how to let it look up your own information before it answers.
  7. Week 6
    Tools and agents Let your AI ask your code for help, such as checking what is in stock, and learn how to keep a looping agent under control.
  8. Week 7
    Safe, cheap and good Protect your AI from tricks, keep the bill small, and prove it still works every time you change it.
  9. Week 8
    Ship your product Plan your own AI product, put it on the internet with GitHub and Vercel, and show it to the world.