What other programs have you tried? I've found it really hard to stay committed to any one "learn to code" site…

I've actually been whizzing through Codecademy. It has an easier interface and it has the program built into the browser. I think Treehouse might be better if you're interested in the more theoretical aspect of coding.

One of the important things here is having a clear goal in mind - what do you want to build? How does this or that lesson help you get there? Codecademy now has a 'Projects' track (codecademy.com) that shows you various things you can build with Javascript.

The tough part is, though, that beginners often don't know what they need to learn in order to accomplish what they have in mind. It seems like there's an opportunity here to make some sort of beginner's guide that breaks down the requirements for various projects that newbies might want to tackle into small, tangible skills. Then someone could go to one or more of these learn-to-code sites and pick out the necessary lessons. How does that sound?