Version Control with Git: Essential Workflows for Web Developers

If you're not using version control, you're essentially flying blind. Git has become the industry standard, and mastering a few key workflows will transform how you build and collaborate on websites. Start with the basics: init creates a repository, add stages changes, commit saves them with a message, and push sends them to a remote like GitHub. But the real power comes from branching. The feature branch workflow is where you create a new branch for each feature or bug fix, keeping your main branch clean and deployable at all times. When you're ready to merge, pull requests aren't just for code review—they're documentation of why changes were made. Learn to write meaningful commit messages using the conventional commits format (feat, fix, docs, style) to make your project history searchable. Merge conflicts will happen; learn to resolve them calmly using merge tools or manual editing. Beyond the basics, understand the difference between merge and rebase—rebase keeps history linear, while merge preserves the exact timeline. Git isn't just about backup; it's about having the confidence to experiment, knowing you can always revert to a working state. Take an hour to practice these workflows, and you'll never look back.