If you’re interested in becoming a web developer, JavaScript is one of the best coding languages you can learn—but getting familiar with JavaScript basics means using those skills to build JavaScript projects. Need a little help coaxing inspiration to strike? We’ve put together a list of 20+ JavaScript project ideas you can start working on RIGHT NOW (whether you’re looking for JavaScript projects for beginners or JavaScript projects for intermediate coders and beyond).
Go ahead, scroll through the list, and—when you find a JavaScript project that piques your interest and matches your skill level—follow the project link. Each of these open source JavaScript projects have their JavaScript projects source code listed on their home page for you to use as a guide.
JavaScript Projects for Beginners
These JavaScript project ideas for beginners are samples of things you can code with basic JavaScript skills (along with some HTML and CSS). By looking at the source code for each of these simple JavaScript projects you’ll start to understand how you can build a new version of the same idea, or build on the original open source code to add your own twists and tweaks.
- BUILD A JAVASCRIPT CLOCK
If you’re on a website or using web applications with a self-updating time feature (you know, a clock), there’s a very good chance it’s powered by JavaScript code. This means JavaScript clocks don’t just make for good JavaScript projects, a JavaScript clock lets you get hands-on with the kind of actual work you’ll be doing as a JavaScript developer.
To give you an idea of where to start with this JavaScript project idea, look no further than the Lolcats Clock—a project that’s a staple of the Skillcrush JavaScript course.
JavaScript code makes it possible to coordinate the lolcat images with set times picked by the user or by pushing the “Party Time!” button. I can haz time? Yes you can.
Link to the JavaScript project source code here
- BUILD A JAVASCRIPT TIP CALCULATOR
Whenever I go out to eat and I’m having a hard time calculating the right tip, I’ll fumble with my phone and search for a “tip calculator” on Google. I couldn’t tell you the name or the url of the one I usually end up using, but it’s a simple JavaScript app. So go ahead and take a swing at making your own tip calculator. This calculator on CodePen by Carolyn Hemmings is a perfect JavaScript sample project that shows the kind of fun JavaScript projects you can build with JavaScript and a little bit of HTML and CSS.
Link to the JavaScript project source code here
- BUILD A JAVASCRIPT ANIMATED NAVIGATION TOGGLE
When you build website menus using only HTML and CSS, you’re limited to creating links that move the user from one static page to another—it’s JavaScript that allows for drop down, collapsible, and otherwise animated navigation features when you’re doing web development. Animated navigation toggles are another ubiquitous part of the internet landscape that you’ll be able to crank out for clients and potential employers once you get the hang of the JavaScript programming language. This JavaScript project sample by A. James Liptak shows the kind of dynamic navigation features you’ll have access to once you’ve added JavaScript to your toolkit.
Link to the JavasScript project source code here
- BUILD A JAVASCRIPT MAP
If you’ve ever used Google Maps to zoom in on a location and change your view mode, you were using features that were built with JavaScript. JavaScript’s ability to create dynamic objects makes it a natural fit for creative interactive maps on websites or in a web app. While you don’t need to aim for recreating Google Maps on your first time out, experimenting with simple JavaScript projects like Sara B’s interactive Codepen map (built using the JavaScript framework jQuery—a collection of JavaScript libraries with pre-written, reusable code) is a solid way to familiarize yourself with JavaScript’s map-making capabilities.
Link to the JavaScript project source code
- BUILD A JAVASCRIPT GAME
HTML and CSS are important building blocks in web development, but JavaScript is the programming language that moves websites from function to fun. So it’s no surprise that games are on the list of fun JavaScript projects that let you practice your skills without falling asleep at the keyboard. Martin’s Codepen maze is a perfect example of games as simple JavaScript projects.