What advice would you seasoned pro's give to a young budding web designer? Anything I should be concentrating on in particular? Any resources that you would recommend? I have been doing some reading and messing around with standards compliant XHTML and CSS. My knowledge is extremely basic right now but I am working on that. Is this the right place to start? Thank you in advance. I would really appreciate your input.
Thanks for the reply. I was however thinking more along the lines of helping me to get a solid understanding of web design and development. I want to nail this.
I would start with using HTML and CSS, if you find a free layout on the Internet that you are allowed to edit use that. From this you can learn the main structure of how to use HTML and CSS. I would then suggest buying a HTML and CSS book which will also give you full knowledge on using HTML. If you are talented with drawing designs on paper, using Photoshop to make layouts would probably be the best for you. However if you are unfamiliar with how websites should work, buying that HTML guide I said would give you knowledge of that also. Its easy to learn by editing free layouts, very easy. Espeacilly if the creator gives help on editing it.
If you are learning now, I would highly recommend learning how to do the CSS (tableless) formatting of websites. It is the hot thing these days and although I think tables are fine in most cases, if you learn to do it the "new" way then you will be much more valuable to several people.
Hi mtb The best advice I can give you is to start building a website. Don't worry about standards like xhtml, css, tableless, ... when you're just starting out, that stuff will come later. Learning HTML should be your starting point. Get yourself a Wysiwyg (What You See Is What You Get) editor and start building a website. Look at the HTML code that your editor is generating, this will get you familiar with the code all you'll learn by doing. From there you'll automatically roll into the more advanced stuff, like using CSS etc. As long as you're having fun it's all good. Good luck
w3schools is the best site to start learning HTML. It's a great idea when wanting to start off. Also, just start off doing random free jobs until you have enough content to build a portfolio. Then you can start charging.
I asked a similar question the other day...Formal schooling or online tutorials. It was pretty much ignored. Guess it was kind of an obnoxious question to ask since most everyone here is self-taught. Still, is it a complete waste of your time and money to go to school and getting a diploma in "web dev/design"? Is it sort of an oxymoron to say you have a degree in "web development"
Well, not really. I think it'd be worth going to for a little while so you can learn basic html/css. Once you know that, everything else comes with time.
My suggestion is to spend a few hours snooping around this forum, some hours gathering info from the GAWDS organization, and then listen to Frank and find a niche that turns you on. In fact I saw an article about this on this website content blog. Take the time to really get to know your stuff, otherwise you'll bounce around and get frustrated. Good luck!
http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/ is also a nice resource. PDInfo: problem is you don't know in advance how good a web design course is. Most probably give the basics of how html/css works. That's all web and nothing about design. Imo a good theoretical design background is more useful. If you want to become really good: read books or follow courses about industrial design, desktop publishing, marketing, .. In each of them you'll learn things that will improve your skills as a desgner. Being able to code them in html/css is only the final step: making a good layout, so it's attractive and easy to use and leads visitors to the goals you want is the most difficult part.
I'm going to recommend a couple books to you that you'lll want to read. You don't have to read them in order, but it helps if you do. Most of them (if not all) should be available at your local library, so you don't have to spend a dime. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird [sitepoint.com] Designing With Web Standards, 2nd Edition by Jeffrey Zeldman [zeldman.com] Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug [sensible.com] Web Copy That Sells: The Revolutionary Formula for Creating Killer Copy Every Time by Maria Veloso [amazon.com] Build Your Own Web Site the Right Way Using HTML & CSS by Ian Lloyd [sitepoint.com] Learning JavaScript by Shelly Powers [oreilly.com]