Advice needed about where to start.

[Iotrez]

Hi all.

I would like to learn and become good at web design, however at the moment I know very little about it.

I read somewhere that you don't need to know html script to be a web designer, but that you can just use software such as dreamweaver. Is this correct.

What is the basic software that I need to learn to be able to put a website together?

Also, does anyone know any good tutorials that contain all the necessary information about the process from start to finish?

Thanks alot.

 

[James-A]

I read somewhere that you don't need to know html script to be a web designer, but that you can just use software such as dreamweaver. Is this correct.

Yes, the software had predefine HTML tags.

Also, does anyone know any good tutorials that contain all the necessary information about the process from start to finish?

These are few Web Design tutorials site.

http://www.w3schools.com/
http://www.how-to-build-websites.com/
http://www.entheosweb.com/website_design/default.asp

 

[LeetPCUser]

I would recommend starting with a program like Macromedia Dreamweaver. The problem is that you can't be a "good designer" with that program. That program enables the basics and even has problems with that sometimes.

I would say to start by making basic pages in Dreamweaver and then analyzing the code. Play around with it. That is the way I started to learn HTML. From that point you can branch out to XHTML, CSS, PHP, and MySQL.

Hope This Helps,

 

[JYM]

This is my VERY unprofessional website which I made about two years ago and haven't really felt like redesigning. Anyway, i wrote a tutorial about how to slice with Photoshop and generate the HTML code. Take a look: http://jimmylin.be/tut-slicing.html

You should begin by downloading some templates and opening it with a program such as Microsoft Frontpage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. The two are WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) editors, so you do not necessarily have to know any bit of coding to make your website.

 

[likemike]

Hi Iotrez: There's something about the way you posted your question- - maybe the politeness which makes me respond. As you can see from my signature we have several websites. We've been at it for years.

Dreamweaver is the state of the art today, and that's right you do not need to know programming language or html to work with it. Macromedia, which is the company where you can downlaod Dreamweaver for a free trial version-- do a search to find the url-- offers a tutorial with Dreamweaver. I'd urge you to get started with it. Learn all you cann there -- the applications as well as you can -- and then go from there.
Good luck to you and feel free to PM me here if you like. I check this site from time to time.

 

[Skeeds]

Welcome to the forum.

I have limited experience with a WYSIWYG program named GoLive from Adobe. Although you do not need to know HTML code to operate these WYSIWYG type programs, you can't help but picking up some of the basic HTML code. It's not as hard for us as it was for the pioneers who really had to know their code!

Running the Dreamweaver or Front Page software will crack the ice for you and you'll be surprised how much you learn by trial and error alone. Good Luck.

John

 

[TeviH]

I can't believe so many people are saying you don't need to know code!! :o

To be honest, one reason why I'm switching fields (to 3d animation) is because I got sick of code! In order to be competitive I kept having to learn more and more code from xhtml, css to php.

Yes, one can build a site without knowing code, but he asked if he can be a web designer without knowing code. If he wants to run a business or design sites for other people at a profit, he darn well better learn code!! At the very least html and basic css with an ability to implement javascripts. That stuff is basic, and I think it's the bare minimum.

This is a fairly good site to get you started with HTML. Don't worry, HTML is not difficult to pick up.
http://pagetutor.com/

Here's another good site for tutorials and explanations, to get you started with css: http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/css/

Dreamweaver is good, but if you want to have freedom in your design, you gotta learn to code. HTML is easy, and basic CSS is also not too difficult. CSS, though, has almost limitless possibilities...

Good luck!!

 

[Iotrez]

Thanks alot for the replies.

So are there professional web designers out there who only use software like Dreamweaver to create their sites?

I'm sure I'll be able to pick up basic html script, but i'm just worried that if I try and learn alot of code I'll just get bogged down in it and end up giving up. I'm not trying to do this full time, but just in my spare time.

I'm definitely more artistic than technical so I thought that using Dreamweaver might feel alot more intuitive thatn using code.

 

[engineer]

I too disagree that you don't need to learn HTML.
Dreamweaver generates pretty good HTML these days but it's still far from perfect. And if you use a WYSIWYG editor and make alot of changes to the page while designing (i.e. I want to make the whole sentence bold, no only part of it, no on third though, most of it, and then I want this to be red, no brown, no blue, actually I'd rather make it all italics) you'll get absolutely absurd html generation. It's better than it used to be, and Dreamweaver is probably one of the better ones but I find that when testing sites on different browsers etc. you really see the result of the spaghetti tags these programs can produce.

This isn't to say you need to learn HTML perfectly or even ever be able to meet XHTML STRICT standards but it's HIGHLY recommended.

After designing any page, beit an Ebay listing template or a page that contains server-side & local scripting elements I'll (nearly) always go through the markup manually, fixing and esp. eliminating the extra tags some of the editors produce.

Make the site in Dreamweaver, go to the code, play with it, see what changes do what and you'll be a pro in no time....

Ben

 

[LeetPCUser]

To be honest, DW is not what professional designers use. Check out any great sites and look at the code. You can easily tell if it is Dreamweaver because the code looks horrible.

Start out with DW. If you end up liking it enough and you get really good at DW then start to learn how to code. By that point you won't get bogged down because you'll be wanting to pursue it!

 

[TeviH]

All pros use DW. However, all pros edit the code by hand. Even if I'm writing out all the code by hand I use DW - it breaks things into colors which can be a major help in case u miss a quotation mark or semicolon....

Maybe you meant pros don't design in the wysiwyg editor. I use it, often even, but I start out the base structure by hand.

 

[leviathon]

I agree. Sometimes I try to make my coding look "professional" (as in neatly arranged and easy to read) by hand-editing it. While I know DW doesn't convert the codings and may screw up your already-arranged code arrangements, I think you should only arrange the codings where you are sure you won't be doing any major adjustments to them. These places consists of the footer, top half of the code, and leave out the contents.

For me, I arrange the parts of the codes where I won't need to ever edit, then save them into a .php individual file. Then, using the <?include PHPTag I "bring" it into my contents page.

 

[timallard]

I have been working on an article the past few days about where ot begin, hope it helps. where to begin

 

[StudioWorks]

Read every tutorial that you can find on the net. and there are some good books for sale on amazon and sitepoint.com

SW

 

[Jonny]

I posted this in another thread but felt it was best if I posted it here as well:

Welcome to an over saturated Industry.
By no means am I trying to scare you away to reduce the competition, I just feel its important that you know what you're getting yourself into. As a lover of all things to do with Computers I think it is great that more and more of the younger generation are trying to catch up with the well established coders, designers and entrepreneurs.

To start off, I suggest you put all of your ideas to one side, write them down research them and then put them on hold. It is no good stepping into an Industry without learning the basics.

The best place to start is with the coding, I find that when I jumped straight into designing you finish a project and then realise "uh oh, what now?". By learning to code before you learn to design you can complete your websites straight after the design stage without needing to go off and learn to code and getting frustrated.

You most definately need to learn HTML, it is the "mother tongue" of the internet. CSS is an up-and-coming new language and it is amazing. Having said that, without knowledge of HTML behind you you could well struggle.
After you have studied HTML then take up CSS, and if it interests you PHP.
I also came from a VB, C++ and Prolog programming background, and I found that PHP caught my attention straight away. PHP is a very powerful programming language for website scripts which will add that extra "something" to your website no matter what it is.

Whatever you do, don't just simply learn how to use Dreamweaver and certainly not Frontpage, you WILL need to know HTML in the future if you want to be successful, as well as other languages such as CSS.

Designing a website can sometimes be hard, but trust me you don't have to be creative (well to a certain point). Start yourself off with some basic theory lessons, if possible take them up at College. For example learn how colours work together, learn how to atract a users attention with well written content and learn the basics of typography. After that it is all up to you what you learn to design with. My preferred piece of software is Adobe Photoshop CS but I also use Adobe Illustrator and Fireworks. However, this software is not free, and please do not try and find it illegally because if they ever discontinue the product due to illegal downloads outweighing purchases, we will all know who to blame.

Flash is great, but should be minimised on websites. Take into account that not all of your visitors will have a connection as fast as yours and they most probably won't wait around and watch it load.

Content writing is possibly the hardest part of creating a website, basic English simply won't do as it doesn't "atract" the visitor as well as it should.
On average a user only spends 30 seconds on your website before he hops off to another website, you have 30 seconds to make that visitor stay on your website.

Once you have a foothold in everything mentioned above, then consider starting your business ideas. They will be tricky, time consuming and require financial input to be truely successful.

Hopefully what I said was helpful, feel free to ask me any questions and I will try to provide as much help as possible.

Regards and goodluck,
Jonny.