Seeking Advise on Web Design.

H

Harshie

I am interested in working in the computer field. I have attended a
community college, studying networking, but do not feel networking is
what I want as a career.
I am now considering a career in Web Design. Does anyone in this group
have advices about useful tools, books, links to helpful sites, and so
forth?

Thanks for you time and consideration.
Harshie
 
K

Kris

I am interested in working in the computer field. I have attended a
community college, studying networking, but do not feel networking is
what I want as a career.
I am now considering a career in Web Design. Does anyone in this group
have advices about useful tools, books, links to helpful sites, and so
forth?
Click to expand...

<http://www.w3schools.com/>
 
A

Augustus

Harshie said:
I am interested in working in the computer field. I have attended a
community college, studying networking, but do not feel networking is
what I want as a career.
I am now considering a career in Web Design. Does anyone in this group
have advices about useful tools, books, links to helpful sites, and so
forth?
Click to expand...

There are lots of websites out there with help and tutorials on building web
pages, CSS, PHP, ASP, MySQL, MS SQL, etc...
(mostly just search google for them)

But the one peice of advice I always give out is:
Web Design is maybe 80% sales and only 20% design/HTML/programming. You
can't just build a website with your portfolio on it and sit back and wait
for the jobs to come in.
You have to be able to network, make cold calls and maybe even do some
advertising to get clients... If you can't, then you will just join the
ranks of the thousands of other web designers who end up working at
McDonald's and in their spare time sit around and whine and complain that
the IT field is dead and there are no jobs out there.

You can try the route of honing your skills and then applying to work for a
company that does web design (or a large company that maintains a web design
department for itself) but these jobs (especially full time permanent jobs)
are few and far between.
 
A

Adrienne

There are lots of websites out there with help and tutorials on
building web pages, CSS, PHP, ASP, MySQL, MS SQL, etc...
(mostly just search google for them)

But the one peice of advice I always give out is:
Web Design is maybe 80% sales and only 20% design/HTML/programming.
You
can't just build a website with your portfolio on it and sit back and
wait for the jobs to come in.
You have to be able to network, make cold calls and maybe even do
some
advertising to get clients... If you can't, then you will just join
the ranks of the thousands of other web designers who end up working at
McDonald's and in their spare time sit around and whine and complain
that the IT field is dead and there are no jobs out there.

You can try the route of honing your skills and then applying to work
for a company that does web design (or a large company that maintains a
web design department for itself) but these jobs (especially full time
permanent jobs) are few and far between.
Click to expand...

In addition, contact local charitable organizations and offer to design
something simple for them, for free or a small fee. If they like what they
see, they may refer paying clients to you.

Just be sure that what you design you design well, no spelling errors, no
grammatical errors, no validation errors, no javascript/server side script
errors, no accessibility errors, etc.
 
T

Talc Ta Matt

Just be sure that what you design you design well, no spelling errors, no
grammatical errors, no validation errors, no javascript/server side script
errors, no accessibility errors, etc.
Click to expand...

You left out the single most important part..... That the design SELLS the
service or product well. This is what seperates a good designer from the
garbage site builders.

Would you rather have a site that meets everything you listed, or one designed
to sell? Ideally it would be both, but what this boils down to is that only one
is directly responsable for revenues.
 
A

Adrienne

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed (e-mail address removed) (Talc Ta Matt)
writing in
You left out the single most important part..... That the design SELLS
the service or product well. This is what seperates a good designer
from the garbage site builders.

Would you rather have a site that meets everything you listed, or one
designed to sell? Ideally it would be both, but what this boils down to
is that only one is directly responsable for revenues.
Click to expand...

I don't understand why you can't have a site that sells and has no errors.

Do spelling errors sell?
Do grammatical errors sell?
Do validation errors sell? (Markup is so bad the page won't even render)
Do javascript/server side errors sell? (Error notices from invalid
javascript - invalid 500 server side code errors)
Do accessibility errors sell? (Flash only site can't be indexed by search
engines, therefore no sales from Google - font color/background color
doesn't have enough contrast, font size too small and cannot be resized,
etc. )

I think not. Yes, it might take a little longer to make sure that a site
passes these tests, but in the long run, the user, you and your bank
benefit.

This is especially true in the case of the OP, where if one is starting
out, they can take the time to do it right the first time.
 
T

Talc Ta Matt

I don't understand why you can't have a site that sells and has no errors.

I'm not disputing this at all. I was just pointing out that good marketing in
the design was left out.

What I'm saying is that a site is 100% worthless if it can't sell no matter how
well coded it may be, but it is rarely worthless if it can sell but has some
coding problems. Obviously you are shooting for both, but the most important is
the sites ability to sell.
Do accessibility errors sell? (Flash only site can't be indexed by search
engines, therefore no sales from Google
Click to expand...

Flash from a presentation perspective can be a huge asset if it's used wisely.
You may lose some visitors, but the impression you put on those who do see it
may result in more sales than if 100% saw a regular HTML page.

I haven't kept up on the news the last couple weeks, but browsers soon won't be
able to incorporate programs on webpages because of a lawsuit against MS. This
means Flash (along with other things) is going bye bye as we currently know it.
My guess is a standalone viewer much like Acrobat is on it's way.
 
A

Adrienne

Gazing into my crystal ball I observed (e-mail address removed) (Talc Ta Matt)
writing in
I'm not disputing this at all. I was just pointing out that good
marketing in the design was left out.

What I'm saying is that a site is 100% worthless if it can't sell no
matter how well coded it may be, but it is rarely worthless if it can
sell but has some coding problems. Obviously you are shooting for both,
but the most important is the sites ability to sell.
Click to expand...

Again, I don't see why you can't have both. Do you really want you or your
client to settle for second best? Marketing is VERY important, but you
can't market a broken product (well you can, but you'll get in trouble
eventually).
Flash from a presentation perspective can be a huge asset if it's used
wisely. You may lose some visitors, but the impression you put on those
who do see it may result in more sales than if 100% saw a regular HTML
page.
Click to expand...

I didn't say that. I said Flash only - meaning no alternative content.
I haven't kept up on the news the last couple weeks, but browsers soon
won't be able to incorporate programs on webpages because of a lawsuit
against MS. This means Flash (along with other things) is going bye bye
as we currently know it. My guess is a standalone viewer much like
Acrobat is on it's way.
Click to expand...

I'm sure something will be worked out. There are too many sites using that
technology, and it would take too long to have to rewrite/redo everything.
Of course, I could be wrong.
 
B

brucie

[...] browsers soon won't be able to incorporate programs on webpages
because of a lawsuit against MS. This means Flash (along with other things)
is going bye bye as we currently know it.
Click to expand...

it sucks poo big time. i'm hoping a workaround can be found without
behavior change.

as MS has to make the changes i'm also sacrificing many small furry
animals to appease the &god;s in the hope they'll influence MS to at
least improve/fix their css support at the same time. complying with
the HTTP spec would also be nice.
 
M

Mark Parnell

Sometime around Tue, 30 Sep 2003 10:13:56 +1000, brucie is reported to have
stated:
as MS has to make the changes i'm also sacrificing many small furry
animals to appease the &god;s in the hope they'll influence MS to at
least improve/fix their css support at the same time. complying with
the HTTP spec would also be nice.
Click to expand...

It would be nice, but wishful thinking, IMO. :-(
 
C

Carmen

Flash from a presentation perspective can be a huge asset if it's used
wisely.
You may lose some visitors, but the impression you put on those who do see it
may result in more sales than if 100% saw a regular HTML page.
Click to expand...

Amazon? eBay? Just a thought.
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Similar Threads

I'm tempted to quit out of frustration 1
What should I do Before I give up programming? 6
UConn seeking qualified Java instructor 3
Help!!! Need advice in pursuing a career in Web Design.......... 9
Looking for partners & work in web design. 0
Telecommute Web Design Volunteer - College Credit 0
Rhizome.org seeking software consultant 2
Recommend a book on web application design 2

Members online

Total: 42 (members: 2, guests: 40)
Robots: 436

Forum statistics

Threads
473,768
Messages
2,569,574
Members
45,051
Latest member
CarleyMcCr

Latest Threads

Top