Web Designing as a Career

[bandana loulou]

Im 16 yrs old, studying Ebusiness at college in UK. and am really interested as Web Design as a career choice, would someone be able to give me some pointers about how i start going about it all.

i made one site for a friend in about 3 days, and soon theyll be another online that i need to do for my coursework.

Thanks
Kay Bromley

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[edited by: tedster at 9:10 am (utc) on Jan. 13, 2005]

[mattur]

Welcome to webmasterworld loulou.

You're off to a good start already - posting here on webmasterworld and building web sites. My basic advice: read as much as you can, build sites to experiment (also handy for a portfolio), and learn about web tracking and logging so you can measure performance.

These threads may be of interest:

for those who have a designers eye then it's worth concentrating on a combination of graphics, marketing and usability...for those whose skills are in programming it's better to concentrate on attaining an extremely high level of understanding of that...the generalists amongst us need to develop marketing and project management skills

What skills do you require as a web developer? [webmasterworld.com]

Basically, if you want to become a professional webmaster, you first need to become an amateur webmaster. Set up a website of your own and play with it... Get some books. Read them. Apply them. Do some surveys. Familiarize yourself with the design elements of award winning websites as well as the flaws of the worst sites on the web

Getting started as a Webmaster [webmasterworld.com]

HTH

[valder]

Hi,

I just thought I'd give some advice based on my own experience.

Learning web developing is a never-ending task if you want to know everything and stay up-to-date, but it is quite possible to learn some (even many) things well.

A few things I would recommend you learn:
-HTML - structure
-CSS - style
-PHP - build server-side programs that will output HTML and CSS (and any client-side scripts you would use, like javascript etc.)
-SQL - databases. use databases to store information like names, adresses or whatever.

Be sure to separate structure (HTML) and content from style (CSS). Not only will it make your life easier, you will be a part of making a better internet because that is how things were designed to be. Be aware of that CSS will display differently on each browser, so be sure to test it with as many browsers and OS's as possible.

When writing code (especially server-side scripting, like PHP), you should always think "what if someone did this or that to manipulate this code. Is this code safe from cracking?". One of the bad parts about the web is bad people; crackers, thieves, criminals. If you live in a big city, you would always lock your door when you leave, be sure to "lock" your code as well.

When using client-side programs (javascript, java, flash, quicktime, shockwave etc.) be sure to provide alternatives, so that anyone can view your page. A good advice is to check if your site is readable and usable in a text-based browser like Lynx. If it's not, then you're discriminating someone.

Blind and deaf people use the web as well.

Be sure to make your text readable for people with poor eyesight; too small fonts can be just annoying for us with good vision as well.

The most important things are: make it usable and accessible!
People should have no hassle in navigating your site.

And do remember that HTML and CSS are the only things you can depend on to be supported by the client's browser.

If you're looking for a place to start learning, try w3schools.com [w3schools.com]. If you know where on the web to look, you would most likely never need to buy a book on web developing. (I've sticky-mailed you a link to a page with my own personal favourite resources in case you're interested)

Good luck learning!
-Eivind