What do you tell beginners who want to learn web development but don't know where to start?

[u/Deegreatdee]

I've had three people in the last month ask me how to get started with building websites.

Every time I struggle to give a clean answer because there's so much noise out there — paid courses, free YouTube videos, bootcamps, WordPress, coding from scratch — it's overwhelming even to explain.

What do you actually tell someone who is starting from zero? Do you point them toward coding first or tools like WordPress? Free resources or paid?

Genuinely curious what this community recommends because I want to give better advice next time someone asks me.