I think there's an inherent tension in frontend web programming, particularly when you're the sole operator in charge of UX, visual design and implementation.

I think there's an inherent tension in frontend web programming, particularly when you're the sole operator in charge of UX, visual design and implementation. The part of you responsible for the UX and visual design wants to design nuanced flows and pretty pages. The part of you responsible for implementing wants designs that will be pragmatic (or easy) to implement. My own personal exploration of this stuff began in late 2009, when I got into web programming again after a nearly 10-year hiatus. What has helped me is to study design and implementation separately. The more knowledge I have of the modern frontend ecosystem, the more I expand the realm of "things that are pragmatic to implement". And the more knowledge I have of how design works, the more flexibility I develop in terms of "acceptable UX and visual design". Put another way: if you know what is easy to implement, you can combine that with a study of design to combine those building blocks into something that looks good and works well. Design resources: The Non-Designer's Design Book by Robin Williams -- An excellent book that lays out clearly and concisely principles that will make your designs work. Perfect for the analytically-minded. Thinking With Type by Ellen Lupton -- The web is still largely a written medium. Getting the typography right is a huge win. And this book is great. Implementation resources: * Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML by Freeman et. al. * CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards_ by Budd et. al. Helpful: * CSS frameworks like Blueprint, Bootstrap, Compass * Using grids * SCSS/CASS/LESS Also, Smashing Magazine (web) is very good. To build implementation skills, it is helpful to take a screenshot of a site that you like and then implement it. To build design skills, it is helpful to sketch layouts that you find aesthetic and then build them out using lorem ipsum text. You'll get there. It gets easier. And as someone told me when I complained about the breadth of stuff one needs to know: web development isn't going away anytime soon, you have plenty of time.