Advice for starting (nearly) at the bottom

grizzly

I'd like to learn complete proficiency in web design. I have designed sites before using HTML and others just using Image ready, very simple sites but they did the job at the time. My background is print design.

I am wondering where do I start? How much do people use Dreamweaver as a starting point for every job?

If I start learning from books like this or this I imagine they would be a good basis but would I be able to readily apply that knowledge to starting a job in Dreamweaver? What other apps do people use, do many build everything from scratch using just code?

Some other questions;

• I understand PHP and MySQL are very important for creation of larger, dynamic websites. Where would the best place to start with these? How much is necessary to learn for getting smaller site running?

• Where are all these standards heading in the future? As thing change so rapidly are any on the way out, soon to be replaced with a new standard?

Thanks

Evil Phil

For php a good place to start is http://www.w3schools.com/php/

If you're on windows the you can download wamp which pretty much has a one-click install and you can run your php scripts on that.

S.M.B.

Sitepoint have a sale on (5 pdfs for the price of 1 with proceeds going to help those who suffered from the fires in australia) and i'd highly recommend their books.

Build Your Own Web Site The Right Way Using HTML & CSS
HTML Utopia: Designing Without Tables Using CSS
The Ultimate CSS Reference
Build Your Own Database Driven Website Using PHP & MySQL
The Principles of Beautiful Web Design

All for $29.95 (no hard copy though) would be a cracking deal.

Sitepoint Book Matrix

heggie

first things first, decide what you want to do, web design or web development. As you are a print designer I assume it's front end design you want to do? learn a small bit about php, but leave most of it to developers, focus on your web design skills, and front end coding if that's what you want to do.

LowOdour

S.M.B is pointing you in the right direction. Any dummy can use Dreamweaver (no offence) to drag and drop tables, images, divs etc. Until you understand the actual html of these things, you will eventually end up with very inefficent sites. Dreamweaver tends to add alot more code than is needed.

Im an asp.net developer but have been dabbling in php/mysql and used this page to look at various ide's
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/opensource/library/os-php-ide/index.html

grizzly

Thanks for all the replies!

S.M.B. wrote: »

Sitepoint have a sale on (5 pdfs for the price of 1 with proceeds going to help those who suffered from the fires in australia) and i'd highly recommend their books.

Dang, I just missed it.

heggie wrote: »

first things first, decide what you want to do, web design or web development. As you are a print designer I assume it's front end design you want to do?

I want to do front end. But if I'm doing freelance work or work with smaller companies, I'd imagine they would need one person to do it all. Is this peoples experience?

heggie

yes, but don't try and learn two peoples job and do each portion badly, specialise then team up with a freelance developer to offer a full service.

Adam

grizzly wrote: »

Thanks for all the replies!



Dang, I just missed it.



I want to do front end. But if I'm doing freelance work or work with smaller companies, I'd imagine they would need one person to do it all. Is this peoples experience?

yes, you will often get clients like that if you're working the smaller side of things. they'll want some sort of contact form, or maybe a basic application form, or the ability to add a few pictures or manage the content on certain pages. the kind of stuff that at that level would take maybe a couple of hours extra to implement but wouldn't be worth 50 notes to an actual developer.

p

Grizzly - I've been a professional web designer for a good few years now and I'd echo a lot of the advice given here, particularly by SMB.

The key stuff you need to know is XHTML & CSS. That is your bread and butter as a web designer. Learn that and learn it well. The 'Heads First XHTML & CSS' book is a really great book and gives you an excellent foundation. Longterm you may end up in a situation where you're not doing any HTML but you need to understand the principles and probably build a few dosen sites that way to get to that point.

I use Dreamweaver all the time, but I'd suggest not using when learning because it's a bit fiddly and can cause bad habits when used incorrectly. If you're on a mac i'd recomend getting CSSEdit, and if you're on a PC then something like Top Style, or Style Master would do. Something that lets you edit the code directly.

You don't need to know PHP or MySQL. At some stage it would be good to work in a company with developers so you can gain awareness of the field, and it's a good idea to team up with some developers who can work with and advise you on these things. Don't try to do everything, because it makes little sense. Focus on your core skills, visual design & communication.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly as someone coming from print, you need to learn about interaction. With print, you need to know about legibility and font sizes and cuts & folds, but it's a relatively static medium, but just view it. Learning about how people interact with the web, conceptually, psychologically and even physically is critical. You need to learn about things like eye-paths, affordance, usability, interaction, user psychology, scanning patterns, conversion rates and stuff like that. Here's a few good links, but you should treat this as a starting point.

Articles:
http://www.andyrutledge.com/ (all his articles on design are fantastic)
http://www.lukew.com/resources/articles.asp
http://thinkvitamin.com/features/design/turning-visitors-into-users/

Books:
http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Me-Think-Usability/dp/0321344758/ref=cm_lm_byauthor_prod_1_1
http://www.designinginteractions.com/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0764536745/ref=ase_lukewinterfac-20/
http://www.amazon.com/Elements-User-Experience-User-Centered-Design/dp/0735712026/ref=cm_lmf_tit_4


It's a lot of fun though. I really like web design. It's a great mix between traditional design, technology & psychology. You get to br creative & scientific at the same time.