Treehouse, an online education platform that teaches anyone how to code, today launched a completely revamped beginner course that teaches students how to create their own website from scratch. Central to the new “How to Make a Website” class is Treehouse’s new innovative code-editing environment called Workspaces. The integrated editor makes it simple for students to follow along with class instructors and save their work to the cloud. The new course and in-browser editor are available to all Treehouse students at http://teamtreehouse.com/workspaces.

“We believe coding is a basic skill that anyone can learn and master, no matter what your background or education,” said Ryan Carson, Co-founder and CEO of Treehouse. “Our new course and Workspaces tool makes learning to code even easier, while helping students catalog and showcase their accomplishments. It’s part of our mission to give people the tools they need to achieve their dreams.”

The Workspaces editor allows students on any OS to begin coding without having to download or install any third-party software. Users are guided through an easy-to-follow training course that includes 10 hours of video tutorials, quizzes and code challenges. Students who complete the course will have learned how to create their own portfolio website to showcase their future work. Workspaces makes the entire learning experience a breeze with the following key features:
• Simplicity – The tool eliminates confusion when multiple text editors are shown in course materials. Now, instructors and students use the same text editor, making the class more accessible to basic coders.
• Freedom – Workspaces was created so students can easily build and save a project, then “fork” the source code into entirely new projects. Forking allows students to try out new ideas while also leaving their original project intact. Similar to a native text editor, students can use the tool to code alongside a project or develop something completely different from scratch.
• Power – Unlike other online coding environments that lack many of the features of native text editor applications, Workspaces provides the functionality developers and designers have come to expect from a full-featured code editor like auto-complete, quick-open and the ability to drop files right onto the workspace to upload them.

To date, more than 50,000 students have taken Treehouse’s first-generation website-building course.

The newly revamped online course and Workspaces tool is currently available to all Treehouse students. To learn more about “How to Make a Website” or to start a free trial, visit www.teamtreehouse.com.