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CSS

Creating a curriculum that spans from junior to expert senior level developers requires careful consideration of the depth and breadth of CSS knowledge. This curriculum is designed to guide a developer from understanding the basics to mastering advanced techniques and optimization strategies. Each section builds upon the previous ones, ensuring a solid foundation is established before moving on to more complex topics.

This curriculum covers a wide range of topics necessary for a developer to progress from a junior level to an expert senior level in CSS. Each topic should be accompanied by practical exercises, projects, and real-world examples to solidify understanding and skills.

Beginner (Junior Developer)​

  1. CSS Basics

    • Syntax and Selectors
    • The Box Model (margin, border, padding, width, and height)
    • Colors (RGB, HEX, HSL)
    • Text Properties (font-size, font-family, text-align, line-height)
    • Backgrounds (color, images, gradients)

  2. Layouts

    • Display (block, inline, inline-block)
    • Positioning (static, relative, absolute, fixed, sticky)
    • Flexbox
    • Grid Basics

  3. Responsive Design

    • Media Queries
    • Mobile-First Design
    • Viewport Units (vw, vh, vmin, vmax)

  4. CSS Best Practices

    • Naming Conventions (BEM, SMACSS)
    • Organizing CSS Files
    • Browser Compatibility
    • Performance Basics (minification, critical CSS)

Intermediate (Mid-Level Developer)​

  1. Advanced Layouts

    • Advanced Flexbox Techniques
    • Advanced Grid Layouts
    • Multi-Column Layouts
    • Responsive Images and Aspect Ratios

  2. Animations and Transitions

    • CSS Transitions
    • CSS Animations
    • Keyframes

  3. Preprocessors

    • SASS/SCSS Basics (variables, nesting, mixins, functions)
    • Less Basics

  4. CSS Methodologies

    • OOCSS (Object-Oriented CSS)
    • Atomic CSS
    • CSS-in-JS Basics (styled-components, emotion)

  5. Accessibility

    • Color Contrast
    • Focus Management
    • ARIA Roles and Properties

Advanced (Senior Developer)​

  1. Performance Optimization

    • Critical Rendering Path
    • CSS Containment
    • Will-change Property
    • CSS and GPU Acceleration

  2. Advanced Responsive Design

    • Art Direction with Picture and Source Elements
    • Responsive Typography
    • Media Queries Level 4

  3. Cutting-Edge CSS

    • CSS Houdini
    • Variable Fonts
    • CSS Grid Level 2 and Subgrid

  4. Tooling and Workflow

    • Build Tools (Webpack, Gulp for CSS)
    • CSS Linting (Stylelint)
    • Continuous Integration and Deployment for CSS

  5. CSS Architecture

    • Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS (SMACSS)
    • ITCSS (Inverted Triangle CSS)
    • BEMIT

  6. Advanced Preprocessors and CSS-in-JS

    • Advanced SASS/SCSS (loops, conditionals, advanced functions)
    • CSS Modules
    • Theming with CSS Variables and CSS-in-JS

  7. Future of CSS

    • CSS Specification Process (W3C, WHATWG)
    • Contributing to CSS Standards
    • Staying Updated with CSS Evolution

Expert (Expert Senior Developer)​

  1. Leadership and Mentorship

    • Code Reviews and Feedback for CSS
    • CSS Best Practices Workshops
    • Leading Front-End Architecture Decisions

  2. Research and Development

    • Experimenting with New Features and Proposals
    • Performance Testing and Analysis
    • Building Libraries and Frameworks

  3. Advocacy and Community Involvement

    • Writing CSS Articles, Tutorials, and Guides
    • Speaking at Conferences and Meetups
    • Contributing to Open Source Projects
tip

As you learn and grow in your CSS journey, remember to build small projects at each step to apply what you've learned. This practical experience is invaluable and will deepen your understanding of CSS's capabilities and limitations.