I'm looking to become a better chess player. I play online and sometimes with my friends offline as well. I've also started to study openings.
It is very difficult to get the right direction of study. What way should I move to progress in my play? What is the "path" of learning chess?
Avoid the trap of studying openings, they don't improve your game. Say, at most 10% of your training time before you start making IM norms. They can be addictive and maybe even improve your results in the short term, but in the long term they just don't improve your chess playing.
The basis of improvement: playing serious, slow games (say at least half an hour on the clock) against decent opponents, afterwards if possible exchange thoughts about the game with your opponent (go through the game again). Then, before you forget them, write down as much as you remember about your thoughts during the game. Why did you play moves, but also why didn't you play others. Which moves of him surprised you. Then, go over the game again and check your thoughts. Was the line you were afraid of when you didn't play that move really so dangerous? That attack looked good, wasn't there a way to win? And so on. Find your mistakes, and don't make them again.
Play through well-annotated grandmaster games.
Learn how to win endings where you're material up, or draw them even when you're material down.
Train tactics on Chesstempo.com.
Play real tournaments over the board.
Once you're of sufficient strength (1600-1700ish over the board), start working through Yusupov's orange books. They have hard exercises covering a wide range of subjects you need to get good at. But that's probably for later.
I am a beginner just like you, so I will give advice from my perspective on some of the things that have helped me.
MatoJelic especially makes great videos and annotates them very well.Dan Heisman. If you happen to have a subscription to ICC, you can watch his Improve Your Chess videos.There are many aspects to becoming a strong player.
One of the very best books to read is called "Think like a grandmaster" . You can find it at Amazon. It helps you how to think. Chess is about analysis, and this analysis is done in the mind. Hence if you know how to organize this thought process, you'll become more efficient and actually can analyze more positions in the same amount of time.
Another thing to do, is to get good book with good analysis. Like Fischer's my best 60 chess games, or Alekhine my best games, I mean a book that is annotated by the same strong player, and this way, you can see the thought they had when making moves.
And most importantly, play with players who are stronger than you. Losing teaches you a lot. Make sure you go over each game you played afterwords and try to learn why you lost, or even if you won, see if you might have missed better moves.
Getting good at chess is not easy (I mean to go over 2400 level or so), it is just hard work. Need to study a lot, read a lot, and practice a lot, and have some natural talent for the game. But make sure you are having fun doing it, else it is not worth it.
Update
Just noticed that an important information is missing in this question. What is the level of the player here?
Advice to someone at 1500 wanting to improve to 1800 will be different from someone 1800 wanting to improve to 2200 level, and that will be different from someone at 2200 wanting to improve to 2400 and so on. For example, someone at 2200 level who wants to get to 2400 level, they have to spend more time on studying openings, more end game positions, play more games in stronger level international tournaments but may be spend less time on tactics since this is something they should have good handle on at this level. While someone still at 1500 level, the situation is different.
So hard to give one generic advice without knowing what level the player is at now.
Go to your local USCF club. Join and play. This will get you a rating and introduce you to other players. Once your strength is known perhaps you can get a instructor. Your instructor will be able to spot your weaknesses and help you overcome them far quicker than you can do this yourself.
edit - As per the comment below, $40 to join the USCF, less if you ask them for options. Beginner's gear is $50 (example, ymmv, no affiliation, etc etc) and will likely be completely adequate for years. Then there are state memberships, etc. It's a racket to be sure but in the scheme of things... chess is a cheap hobby.
Studying should be combined with over the board competitions. Compete over the board on a regular basis, at least one tournament with normal time controls (90 min / 40 moves + 30 min / rest of the game with 30 seconds increment per move) every three months. Compete and evaluate your games after the tournament is completed. Begin by studying endgames (king vs king, king+knight vs king+knight, king+rook vs king+rook, king+queen vs king+queen). Practice combinations, e.g. typical mating combinations like Bxh7 followed by Ng5 and Qh5. Read books on positional play (e.g. My System by Nimzowitsch). When studying openings, try to learn one system at the time, and mimic a grandmaster that you admire. Accumulate ideas in that particular opening system and apply them in your games. Yet, studying has to go hand in hand with regular competitions over the board. Learn and apply, that is the rule of thumb.
