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I work for a small travel company of three people doing just about everything in the office. This includes our internet marketing, website usability, and creating new pages on a website that I did not create myself. I work in Dreamweaver MX and while I do something and there is result, I do not "understand" why. There are many things I do not know and I am keen to learn more as it is a fascinating part of my work.
I am very interested in website usability, creating websites and internet marketing and am thinking of paying for some education or training in this area (perhaps online learning if possible). I do not really know where to start. Is there some training or course in the above fields that I should know about?
Or should I read and read until my eyes hurt.
I am curious. Have professionals on these forums had formal education and training or have they learned things by themselves?
Most likely you'll find most of the basics covered here in depth.
That will give you a better idea of what you really need additional help with.
I have done all of these steps (not necessarily in this order) and recommend doing them as well:
1) Read books. Pick a topic, find a general intro book and read it, then start exploring those aspects of the topic you want to get deeper into.
2) Search the Net for the topic. But remember to look at everything with a critical eye- don't automatically assume the first site you find has all the correct information.
3) Read WebmasterWorld.com every day! Post questions on specific problems or topics. (Bad: "Tell me evertyhing I need to know about HTML." Better: "I currently use Dreamweaver MX and want your advice as to whether I should continue using it or learn HTML.")
4) Attend related conferences/seminars. You have lots of choices here. There are several e-commerce conferences related to travel. There are also many non-industry specirfic conferences about e-advertising, search engine promotion, etc.
At this point, I think the most important thing is to narrow down your initial focus. What aspect(s) are most important for you to learn first?
I work in Dreamweaver MX and while I do something and there is result, I do not "understand" why.
This is the base reason why I have not and never will use a WYSIWYG program. I have tried it and spend more time removing things that the wysiwyg program put in than if I'd built it from scratch. You will find that a familiar complaint amongsts most hand coders here. If you have Studio MX, you already have what I consider the best text editor for HTML or even perl programming, Macromedia HomeSite.
I offer these basic grains of advice:
- Google for tutorials in whatever field you work in most, be it programming or straight html, and begin hand coding. The problem with wysiwyg's as you have discovered is it's like driving a car without ever lifting the hood. When something goes wrong under there, all you can do is scratch your head and cry for help. Hand-coding will teach you to be your own mechanic. W3C Schools is a GREAT place to start [w3schools.com].
- Validate, validate, validate. http://validator.w3.org [validator.w3.org] You will learn more by checking your code against a validator than anything, especially if you don't just "fix" it but find out why it didn't validate. Also learn to work with a valid document type and not in Quirks mode (search here to find out what that is.) In reality this has only a small effect on your web page presentation or functionality but has EXPONENTIAL effect on what you will learn about correct coding.
- Don't just read, EXPERIMENT. This field is one of copy, paste, alter, file; I have 20 or 30 various experimentation folders that swell to thousands of files, I clean house with every revision of HTML version, they swell again. If you see an interesting problem posted here - copy and paste it in your own file, open it, run it, try it in every browser at your disposal, even if you can't solve it the physical act of experimenting with the file will teach you something new. It's like writing a list of "what's bothering you today," just doing it is much greater than reading it or thinking about it, you have to play it out in a physical manifestation to get the full advantage.
- This last will probably draw flames, and I am sorry to those who it will offend. Do not pay for courses or seminars. I have worked with local colleges and "educators" and many such courses will only give you a little, leaving you confused and wanting more (which insures you sign up for courses 103, 104, and 105.) Additionally many times a lot of effort wil be spent on teaching principles and data you will never need or will only serve to confuse you in learning the topic. For example, three days of course study in exploring WYSIWYG programs and how to use them is totally worthless if your interest is to learn the workings of the code.
While you may pick up some things faster in courses or seminars, most of the ones I've attended have been fairly flat and IMO generally not worth the time or money spent, but that's just me . . .
