Ive been getting back into web design in hopes that from a year or two from now ill have enough niche sites that will earn me enough where i wont have to work anymore, but ive been thinking about taking some online web design courses. Should i take these courses or just stick with self teaching like ive been doing? I mean does anyone know if the online courses are creditable- like educationdirect or similar ones???
Go on lynda.com, they have a variety of video tutorials regarding most aspects of web design, I have reccommended them to a good amount of people, and all have enjoyed the videos. As you have some knowledge on web design, I would reccommend learning CSS and just refreshing your knowledge. Ash
I know enough to build nice looking sites and to implement adsense code nicely- but i was just wondering if taking one of these online courses would be a good idea or not- have any of you taken one of these courses? At education direct you can get a webpage designer diploma in 6 months at around $800. I know i might not learn a whole lot but i would have a diploma that could land me a job if i dont end up making enough with adsense. I dunno- just an idea bacanze- thanks for the links- good video tut's are hard to find!
This web design section is quite active, and usually has a great amount of replies, apart from DP, I can only think of one other good web design forum Ash
this looks like a good fit for me also - I bought her books a while back but would prefer to watch videos -
Feel free to pm me if interested in the video tutorials, as I could reccommend many to suit your requirements or skill level. Ash
Hi, You have the biggest school in the universe called the internet. No one can teach better than this school. Answers to every question that you will ever have are already answered for you free of charge, and only a simple search away. Enjoy, Mike
yes- i agree with that completely- this worlds just sad because if you dont have a degree in something you can never get a job in that field, for example i took computer graphics when i was a teen but dropped out, I continued for years learning from online tutorials and help design graphics for a couple palm pilot games and some early xbox games- but i cant even get a graphics job at my local newspaper office because i dont have a degree- so anyway im pretty confident that by next year at this time ill have quite a few sites up and hopefully making decent adsense money- but if i had a degree in web design i could always fall back to getting an actuall job. Any suggestions?
Hi, I stand by what I said. I am a self taught Network Systems Administrator with certificates from CompTIA, A+ Network+ MCSE, which I went and took and passed with no schooling whatsoever. To get a job at Circuit City you now need an A+ Certificate, but I have ran my own business since 1995. As far as Graphics Design, well ya you need a degree from a college. You are mixing apples and oranges. There are people who get degrees, then work for someone and there are people who are self taught and hire people to work for them. You sound like #2. Don't get me wrong college is great if you want to work for someone else, but that isn't what I wanted to do with my life. Ultimately the decision is yours. If you have to support a family and need money now, then you must work. If you can go a couple of months without paying bills then try to earn money for yourself by yourself like I do. Mike
Self learning is better I say unless the online courses are free. Finding things out your own way leads to finding even more other things out your own way. It's always the best way.
Don't know if anybody has tried the Head First HTML and CSS book. I've read Head First Java and it revolutionizes the way that technology is taught.
Step #1: Go to w3schools.com. Step #2: Learn HTML basics Step #3: Practice simple tags that you have learned there. Step #4: Get skilled with Adobe Photoshop. There are millions of good sites with Photoshop tutorials. i.e Pixel2life.com or Good-tutorials.com Step #5: Practice making layouts. Step #6: Go to w3schools.com and learn basic CSS. Step #7: Look for CSS tutorials. Step #8: Practice CSS. Step #9: Go to w3schools.com and learn basic PHP. Step #10: Learn PHP from different tutorials. Also a lot of PHP examples can be found on different forums such as this one. Don't forget that we are here for you. If you need any help regarding CSS or PHP you can PM me and I will be glad to help you out.
Something a bit more technical... try the MIT open courseware (google '6.171 Software Engineering for Web Applications, Fall 2003') and also Philip Greenspun's online book 'Software Engineering for Internet Applications'. These should help!
First off- thank you everyone for your advice and support!!!! You are right- Id rather make my own work,decisions and money- right now im a welder and hate it- but i have 4 kids- I just pray i can find the time i need to keep my web design going. Finding this forum and getting to speak with you guys has helped me huge!
Not a bad little course outline youve compiled there! LOL anyway- yeah i stumbled onto w3schools a week or two ago and it looks like a nice site- The tutorials are free but then you can pay like 70 bucks and take the test to get a certificate- i might do that. but anyway i learned basic html several years ago but will need to brush up on it. I have 10+ yrs exp. with photoshop so im good there - but anyway- yeah, i will probablly start with basic html and go from there like you said- I just feel down because it seems like ive been working on my first site forever and have not even gotten very far- but I assume it will get quicker with time and as i learn more.