HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR CODING FILES LIKE A PRO (BEGINNER FOLDER STRUCTURE)

Table of Contents
• Why You Need a Clean Coding Folder Structure
• Basic Folders Every Beginner Project Should Have
• Arranging Your Files the Simple Way
• Common Mistakes Beginners Make (And How to Avoid Them)
• Tips to Stay Organized as You Keep Coding

Some beginners that are coming new in to coding normally arrange their files in an unprofessional way, but it is always recommended for everyone to arrange and format their codes and files in a clean and very structured way. I will be teaching you how you can arrange your files like a pro, even If you are a newbie or normally get issue arrange your files, that will stop today and you will be doing it the right way because I really got your back and I will be teach you everything.

WHY YOU NEED A CLEAN CODING FOLDER STRUCTURE

Some of you will be asking yourself “why do I even need a clean folder structure?” but you will be getting many answers of why you will need a clean folder structure. Now as someone building things with codes and different folders you will need to make it a clean folder structure because; (1) When your files are organized in a clean folder structure, all your things will be very easy for you and you can also find whatever that you are looking for in your files faster. (2) Fix errors fast, as you were working and maybe later made mistake on your work, you can easily locate the mistake and correct it, also even if you left the work for weeks or months, you will still be able to understand everything. (3) Helps you to think clearly, as your project is arranged in a clean folder structure, you will be able to think clearly on your next action in the project, and also if someone else comes to your project to check out things like your friend, team member or employer, they can be able to understand how your project is arranged. (4) If your project is clean, it will help to also save your time when you want to do other works on the project. (5) Clean folder structure will make you to look like a professional even if you are a still a beginner.

BASIC FOLDERS EVERY BEGINNER PROJECT SHOULD HAVE

Every project that you are working on need a simple structure so that your files should not be messy. Even as a beginner, you do not need anything to be complicated that is the reason that you will be using little folders to keep everything in the correct place. These should be how you should arrange your project folders; (1) SRC: all the files of your main code should be placed here. (2) ASSETS: your icons, images, fonts any other extra files that your project uses should be on the assets folder. (3) STYLES: you will put your styling files (Bootstrap, Tailwind, CSS & others) in the styles folder, especially if you are working on website or application. (4) DOCS: maybe on your project that you are working on, you have notes or files, you will place it on the folder.
With the simple structure that I just listed, it will help you to keep your project clean and organized. Which will now make your project very easy to maintain even as you keep growing it. So, if even as a beginner that have never structured project before, you can start today or in your next project and give it a try so as to come and thank me later.

ARRANGING YOUR FILES THE SIMPLE WAY

So, arranging your files doesn’t need to be complicated, because we have talked about the folders that you can create to structure your files. Maybe you later have something new like image, icons or document, what you will do is to just ask yourself that “where does this belong?”, and then you will now go ahead to add it in the required folder. And if you then continue like that, it will help your project to be neat, easy to navigate and also no stress when your projects now grow bigger.

COMMON MISTAKES BEGINNERS MAKE (AND HOW TO AVOID THEM)

There are some mistakes that beginners make and I will be showing you the mistake and also how to avoid them, although many beginners create good projects but they sometimes struggle with their folders looking messy. One of the most common mistakes is that they put all their file in one place, which will make them to look for things later. For you to avoid this mistake, what you have to do is to keep your folders simple. Even if your project is a little bit organized from the beginning, it will save and deliver you from stress as your project grows.

TIPS TO STAY ORGANIZED AS YOU KEEP CODING

To stay organized is not a big deal but a habit that you need. These are some of the little tips that I will mentioning for you to follow even as a beginner; (1) Saving files in correct folder, immediate you create a new file, make sure to save it on the right folder immediately you are done creating the file. (2) when saving or naming your file, make sure to always use a name that is clear to save it, so that you can easily understand your files even months or years later. (3) Clean your projects like once in a while, like try to move files to the correct folders and also deleting files that is not used in the project. (4) you can always create a new folder when your project grows and becomes bigger, as to be able to keep your things tidy and clean. (5) Make sure to always follow the same structure for every new projects so as to make your workflow stress-free.