What should I learn to go from JavaScript basics to a working website?

A front-end site can be very simple: a server provides HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, and the visitor’s browser downloads and interprets them. You don’t necessarily need a back end. Add one only when the site needs to receive or store data, such as through forms or JavaScript requests to an API. A back end can process those requests, interact with a database, and send results back to the browser.

The simplest way to learn is to build a small project immediately instead of trying to study every topic first. Make a personal page, add an image and a button, then use JavaScript to change something on the page. Add features one at a time and test as you go. Any gaps in your knowledge will become much easier to identify when you have a real project in front of you.

A good progression is to build increasingly capable programs: start with displaying text, then make a calculator, handle user input, evaluate expressions, and eventually build a small interactive site. A structured beginner curriculum such as The Odin Project can also help organize HTML, CSS, JavaScript, tools, and deployment into a coherent path.

Start with the three core front-end technologies: HTML for the page structure, CSS for layout and appearance, and JavaScript for behavior and interactivity. Learn how the DOM represents the page, then practice events and event listeners so buttons and other inputs can trigger changes. You can stay with plain JavaScript at first; frameworks such as React or Angular make more sense after you understand the basics.