Reference

Resources

A small, hand-picked library to go deeper, week by week. Every link is free where it says "Free," opens in a new tab, and was checked and working when this page was built. No filler, just the few sources worth your time.

How to use this page. You do not need to read everything. Each week, skim its section and pick the one resource that fits where you are stuck. The Foundations below are the exception: they are worth doing once, early, because they pay off in every week.

Foundations · do these once, early

General AI fluency & prompting

The habits and language that make AI a real partner instead of a vending machine. This is the ground the whole internship stands on. You will use Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini during the program, so there is a prompting guide for each below.

The framework

Anthropic Academy

AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations ↗

The 4D framework your whole program is built on: Delegation, Description, Discernment, Diligence. Beginner level, about three hours. The single best place to start.

Free course~3 hours

Claude Help Center

What are Projects? ↗

How Projects, custom instructions, and knowledge bases work, including what the free tier covers. Read before you set up your build Project in Week 1.

Prompting, by the tool you use

Claude · Anthropic

Interactive Prompt Tutorial ↗

Nine hands-on chapters that take you from a basic prompt to advanced moves. You learn by changing prompts and watching the answer change.

Claude · Anthropic

Prompt engineering, the reference ↗

The current, no-nonsense techniques for prompts that work. Skim it once, then keep it open as a cheat sheet while you build.

ChatGPT · OpenAI

OpenAI Academy ↗

OpenAI's free learning hub. Short, self-paced courses on AI basics, ChatGPT, and writing clear prompts, with certificates.

ChatGPT · OpenAI

Prompt engineering guide ↗

OpenAI's own six strategies for getting better answers, with clear before-and-after examples. The ChatGPT counterpart to the Claude docs.

Gemini · Google

Prompting guide for Workspace ↗

A practical, role-by-role prompt guide built around real work scenarios. The friendliest Gemini starting point.

Gemini · Google

Prompt design strategies ↗

Google's deeper reference: clear instructions, response formatting, and using examples well. Go here when you want the why behind the tips.

Week 1 · Decide What You're Proving

Positioning, audience & proof

Nielsen Norman Group

5 Steps to Creating a Portfolio ↗

Why a portfolio needs one clear claim and one clear audience, from the people who define usability. Reads across every track, not just design.

Week 2 · Frame Your Work

Case studies & writing in your voice

Nielsen Norman Group

Creating a Case Study ↗

The anatomy of a real case study: the problem, your role, what you did, and the result. Maps straight onto the three beats in Week 2.

Writing Well Handbook ↗

A 300-hour guide to clear, human writing. Use it to turn messy notes into copy that sounds like you, not a generic AI bio.

Week 3 · Map It & Give It a Face

Content mapping, visual identity, type & color

Wathan & Schoger

Refactoring UI ↗

Design tactics for people who are not designers: spacing, hierarchy, color, type. The fastest way to make a site look intentional.

Book + free tips

Matthew Butterick

Practical Typography ↗

A free web book that quietly fixes most beginner type mistakes: line length, size, spacing, and which fonts to actually use.

Google Fonts ↗

Free, fast-loading fonts with ready-made pairings. Where the whole site picks its type.

Coolors ↗

Generate and lock a small palette in seconds, then copy the hex codes straight into your build.

Contrast Checker ↗

Paste two colors and confirm your text is actually readable before you commit. One check that prevents a common review note.

Week 4 · Pick the Stack

How the web works & where to host

Getting started with the web ↗

What a website actually is and the few pieces it takes. Read this before you choose anything, so the options make sense.

GitHub Pages ↗

Free hosting straight from a repo. The simplest "plain code, live on a URL" path, and your repo doubles as proof you can ship.

Netlify Docs ↗

Free hosting with drag-and-drop deploys, built-in forms, and easy custom domains. A friendly default for this build.

Cloudflare Pages ↗

Free static hosting on a fast global network, with unlimited bandwidth. A solid alternative if your traffic grows.

Carrd ↗

If code is not your path: a genuinely good no-code builder for a sharp one-page site. The free tier covers most portfolios.

No-codeFree tier

Week 5 · Ship the Ugly Version

Build it & deploy it

Responsive Web Design ↗

A free, project-based certification in HTML and CSS. Building real pages is the best way to understand what the AI writes for you.

Google · web.dev

Learn HTML ↗

The reference for the building blocks: structure, links, images, forms. Keep it open while you assemble your sections.

To publish what you build, use a host from Week 4 above: GitHub Pages or Netlify both go live in minutes.

Week 6 · Explain Your Build

Understand what you shipped

Google · web.dev

Learn CSS ↗

An evergreen course and reference. Come here when you need to really understand the box model, flexbox, or grid in your own build.

Pair with the Week 5 courses above, and remember the rule: never ship what you cannot explain. Have AI tutor you, then write it in your own words.

Week 7 · Make It Real

Mobile, accessibility, speed & feedback

Google · web.dev

Learn Responsive Design ↗

Make your site work on a phone first: flexible layouts, media queries, and text that stays legible at any width.

Intro to Web Accessibility ↗

The four principles (perceivable, operable, understandable, robust) in plain words. The basics that make your site usable by everyone.

Google · web.dev

Learn Accessibility ↗

A deeper, evergreen course: semantic HTML, when to reach for ARIA, and how to test with a keyboard and a screen reader.

Nielsen Norman Group

10 Usability Heuristics ↗

The classic checklist for spotting what confuses people. Run your own site against it before your first review.

PageSpeed Insights ↗

Paste your live URL for a real report on speed, accessibility, and SEO, with concrete fixes ranked by impact.

Week 8 · Wire One Real Thing

Forms without a backend

HTML contact forms, no backend ↗

Add a working contact form to a static site with no server: point your form at an endpoint and the messages reach your inbox.

No backendFree tier

Google · web.dev

Learn Forms ↗

How to build forms that are clear, accessible, and hard to submit wrong. Pairs with making yours fail gracefully.

Week 9 · Launch & Keep Building

Findability, domain & analytics

Google Search Central

SEO Starter Guide ↗

The official basics so your site can be found: titles, descriptions, and how search reads a page. Written for beginners.

The Open Graph protocol ↗

The exact meta tags that control how your link looks when pasted into a chat or post, straight from the source.

Custom domains & HTTPS ↗

Point your own domain at your site and turn on HTTPS, step by step. The move from a long URL to yourname.com.

Web Analytics ↗

Free, privacy-friendly visitor stats with no cookie banner. See that real people are landing, without spying on them.

Plausible Analytics ↗

A lovely, lightweight, privacy-first analytics tool if you want to go further. Paid after a trial, or free if you self-host.

Paid / trialOpen source

Week 10 · Send the Link

The launch link & the story

Social preview tester ↗

Paste your link and preview the share card for every platform at once, so your launch link looks intentional.

Show Your Work! ↗

The mindset behind the build-in-public story: share the work and the process, become findable, and let the right people discover you.

Found a broken link or a resource worth adding? Tell Leo at leo@flyrank.com. This list is meant to stay small and current, not exhaustive.

Week 1 · Decide What You're Proving