Im pretty new to web design and web development and would like to know how most of the people have learnt web design? Also do you just handcode and use notepad?or do you use photoshop and then slice it and code it in dreamweaver? Did you buy books? Did you take a course? Did you do tutorials on the internet? Or any other way? please respond and tell me how the best way i can get started with this as i am interested in this, give as much information as you can thanks
Personally, I handcode everything. Dreamweaver (Frontpage, etc.) can be helpful at first but tends just to get limiting after a while. Notepad works; I use Textwrangler (Mac) because it has syntax highlighting. Comes in handy if you miss a quotation mark or semi-colon. I mostly just Google'd everything I needed and hung out at web forums. When it comes to the "lay person," those usually do just fine. If you're looking for a good HTML tutorial and reference, check out http://www.echoecho.com/html.htm and take it as you need it. The best thing to do is just come up with ideas of things you want to program and then try to figure out how. That's pretty much how I learned HTML and PHP.
Just get a free web hosting, then just start from scratch, hand code a few simple pages using Notepad for eg. Then use some of the free programs available on the Internet. Do as you learn. I find that for such skills like web design and programming, nothing beats hands on.
I code everything by hand. The best way to learn is to find some online tutorials, buy a couple O'Reilley books, and then practice, practice, practice. The best way to learn is to think of something you want to do, then do it. If you don't know how, do some research. But as with everything else, the best way to learn is by doing.
Practice is the only way to learn. Everyone that says that they code by hand will be experienced. The best way to start is the easiest method that you can find. Once you are practiced in this method, move onto something more challenging. Then progress from there. A good way to get started is to learn the basics of html with a beginners book and notepad. Then start to download Free HTML templates (onces built with tables first, then move onto CSS designs), and modify them to understand how they have been put together. I've been doing it for about 7 years, and I still learn things everyday as a professional web designer.
I learned by trial and error. I guess it really depends on where you are on the learning curve now. If you have some knowledge now you just need to build off of it by trial and error. It would probably be best to learn HTML and CSS together because you really can't get good at one without the other. It may be tougher this way ut you will have a more complete understanding of web design and what can actually be done. WYSIWYG's like Dreamweaver are nice because you design in design mode and it actually produces the code for you. You can actually see both at the same time witch will answer alot of questions. If you have any questions let me know! IMHO
There is a nice for Dummies book in Web Design that includes 9 books in one. Its a little out dated but gets you an overall view of everything http://www.amazon.com/Creating-Pages-All-Reference-Dummies/dp/0764543458/ref=pd_bbs_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1215712857&sr=8-10
Start from scratch, with dreamweaver if you can. Look for good video tutorials on the web and try and base your first site on something you enjoy, thats the only way you will say interested, when things start going wrong.
Keep trying something new. Try online tutorials. Here is one http://referencedesigner.com/tutorials/html/html_1.php
use photoshop slice and use dreamweaver. no need to buy books. their are many online tutorials. if you have fashion in designing and you are creative you can easily learn it.
I pretty much did (and still do) the same thing as Submerged. You can find great things by just searching for exactly what you're looking for on Google. Now I mostly do everything on my own, but it's still helpful. Also, if you search for "html tutorials" and things like that, you will find some good sites to learn from. I never really bought any books, there's so much info on the web to learn from that's completely free. Good luck, it's a fun hobby that often turns into a career like it has for a lot of us. You'll love it.
there are literally millions of tutorials if you search for html or web design tutorials, i think those are good, you can learn as you go. I started with online tutorials first as well
You read tutorials, books, and all of that like people have mentioned. After you're done with all of that you try taking on some freelance projects, which is when the real learning begins ... because after all, you learn by doing (active learning) more than you do by reading/studying (passive learning).