How to Make an Analog Clock Using HTML CSS and JavaScript : Complete Beginner’s Guide

Reading Time: 2 mins

Introduction

You want to create an impressive analog clock for your website, but every tutorial you find either skips crucial details or uses overly complex code that’s impossible to follow.

Without proper guidance, you might spend hours struggling with CSS transforms, JavaScript timing functions, and responsive design issues. Many beginners give up because existing tutorials assume prior knowledge or don’t explain the “why” behind each step.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through creating a beautiful, fully-functional analog clock using pure HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You’ll understand every line of code, learn professional techniques, and have a working project you can proudly showcase.

Creating an analog clock using HTML CSS and JavaScript is one of the most rewarding projects for web development beginners. Not only does it teach you essential concepts like CSS transforms, JavaScript timing, and DOM manipulation, but it also results in a visually stunning piece that demonstrates your coding skills.

In my experience teaching over 1,000 students at ItsMyBot, this project perfectly combines visual appeal with educational value. You’ll learn how to create analog clock using HTML CSS JS while building a solid foundation in front-end development.

What You’ll Need to Get Started

Before diving into our analog clock tutorial for beginners, let’s ensure you have everything ready:

Essential Tools

  • A text editor (VS Code recommended)
  • A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, or Safari)
  • Basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript

Pro Tip: If you’re new to web development, check out our guide on where to learn coding for beginners to build your foundation first.

Understanding the Clock Structure

Our analog clock project web development consists of three main components:

Visual Elements

  1. Clock Face: The circular background with hour markers
  2. Clock Hands: Hour, minute, and second hands that move
  3. Center Dot: The pivot point where hands connect
  4. Hour Numbers: 12, 3, 6, and 9 position markers

Technical Components

  1. HTML Structure: Semantic markup for all clock elements
  2. CSS Styling: Visual appearance and positioning
  3. JavaScript Logic: Time calculation and hand movement

This pure HTML CSS analog clock design approach ensures maximum compatibility and performance across all devices and browsers.

Step 1: Creating the HTML Foundation

Let’s start building our responsive analog clock using CSS and JS with a clean HTML structure:

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