Starting in Web Design?

Question

Myself and my friend are really interested in web design. We have looked on a few websites to try and get a general idea on how to get started but as you can imagine there is alot of information on the internet and i thought i would ask the question on here but with a bit more information about where we are at. We currently have no experience in web design but both have a knack of picking up software programs really quickly and are very good at self teaching and both have a high level of creativity. I know a course or some sort of training would be ideal and will move onto this. However i would just like to know where and how is the best way to start off in our spare time. Just to have a play with some programs and build some websites to begin a portfolio. Thats the background behind the questions i am about to ask so here goes....

.....what programs would be ideal to have a play with?
.....are the programs free?
.....do you have any advice on begining to build websites?
.....and is there any other information i need to know?

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this......

Answer 1

Check out these programs;



PERL: Catalyst, Interchange, Mason, Maypole



PHP: AgilePHP, Drupal, Wordpress, Joomla, Helix, Atomic Framework, Prado, CakePHP, CodeIgniter, Horde,eZ Components, Fuse, Kohana, KumbiaPHP, LISA, Mambo, PEAR, PHP for Applications, PHP ActiveRecord, PHP Work, Qcodo, QCubed, Seaguli, Silver Stripe, SPIP, Symfony, TYPO3, Zend Framework



JAVA: Apache Click, Apache Cocoon, Apache Struts, Apache Wicket, AppFuse, Aranea, Eclipse RAP, Google Web Toolkit, Hamlets, ItsNat, IT Mill Toolkit, JavaServer Faces, JBoss Seam, OpenLaszlo, OpenXava, RIFE, Shale, Sling, SmartClient, Sofia, Spring, Stripes, Tapestry, ThinWire, Vaadin, WebObjects, Webwork, ZK, zTemplates



PYTHON: CherryPy, CubicWeb, Django, Grok, Pyjamas, Pylons, TurboGears, Web2py, Zope 2, Zope 3



RUBY: Camping, Merb, Nitro, Ruby on Rails, Sinatra



ColdFusion: ColdFusion on Wheels, ColdSpring, Fusebox, Mach-II, Model-Glue, onTap



Other: AIDA/WEB, ASP.NET MVC, BFC, Csla, CppCMS, DotNetNuke, Flex, Grails, Helma, Kepler, Lift, Midgard, MonoRail, Morfik, Obyx, OpenACS, Seaside, Sproutcore, Wavemaker, Wt



Ecommerce: Paymerica Merchant Services, ShopSite, Magento, CubeCart, OpenCart, OSCommerce, ZenCart, AgoraCart, Marketecture



My advice is work on what you love in the end you end up happy.



Also check out web design created by Ace Web Design Adelaide for some sample portfolios. http://www.acewebdesign.com.au/

Answer 2

Being a web designer is a huge undertaking. You need to master several skills in order to be able to offer a full-service web design experience. Here's the basic rundown of what you need to get started:



Code - There are several coding languages you will need to learn. At the very least need to become proficient in HTML and CSS. HTML is for structure (content, layout, scripts) and CSS is for style (images, colours, fonts). You're right, there are literally thousands of sites you can go to to learn how to make a website. You want to learn to code the RIGHT way, so find a place that teaches proper CSS (no tables in your layout) and just start experimenting with small variations from working examples or tutorials. Over time you'll be able to code things from scratch, and eventually you'll be able to code with no help at all! (PS this takes years to get good at)



Graphics: Adobe Photoshop is the industry standard. Use this to create initial mock-ups, layouts, and all the little buttons/images/graphics that will ultimately end up on your site.



Coding: Adobe Dreamweaver is really good, but kind of bloated. There are tons of free/cheap HTML code editors out there (TextWrangler, BBEdit)





When doing a website, start with a paper sketch, then proceed to a mock-up, then create your images and code them together. Creating stunning, modern websites takes a long time, so don't get discouraged if your first few sites are not spectacular. For now you will have to settle for designing whatever you can actually code, as opposed to coding whatever you design. Over time you'll be able to code more sophisticated, complex websites, incorporating things like Javascript and/or Flash to really add some spice!



Good luck!

Answer 3

I would like to add a little more information about starting your web designing. There are several tools available for doing so, such as TemplateToaster, which I use myself. No coding skills necessary.

Answer 4

I wouldn't do anything for free, even college students shouldn't intern instead even if you don't get the job is better then handing out free websites to people who should be paying then that's charity after all student loans come at a price. When you give free you take the business in web design out.

Answer 5

Lots of helpful information shared here. This will be a good start for the budding web designers to learn. Good work