Forum Moderators: mack
Recently separated from this company after a tenure of more than 10 years, due to a reorganization, I'm in the final stages of negotiating a severance package that provides a modest payment but requires a 12 month non-compete. I'm using this opportunity to begin planning a business of my own based on a model similar to my former employer's.
Cash will be tight, so I need to do most of the work on my own. I'll probably enroll for web design classes at the local community college come spring, but I'm wondering what
software programs and skills you all might suggest I concentrate on first. Are there any free versions or student versions of the software available to get started with?
By the way, the site will be informational in nature, detailing product specifications and advantages, somewhat of an on-line catalog, although not in pdf format. Flash is optional.
Much obliged for any direction or help you can provide.
There are student versions available from most of the software companies. Check out the bookstore when you enroll.
As far as free software is concerned, try HTML-KIT for web design and irfanview as a image editor.
You most valuable resource is here... Read, Ask questions. 24/7 there is stuff going on here. Good community. Don't be a stranger.
jb
I would recommend that you learn photoshop (Photoshop elements V1 is really cheap right now on eBay and every graphic designer I've talked to has said that 99% of what you might use it for is there)
I would recommend learning some sort of HTML generator.
Between those two programs, you can put together a site on your own. Therest is just reading. I personally think classes are a waste of time and money since most of what you learn can be found on the web for free.
Regarding flash, I would try to steer clear of this. Flash and SEO do not go together. If you want to be a Search Engine Optimiser then stick to the basics for now. It is what it is called - "flash" - too flash for my liking. They tend to be slow loading too and looking from a surfers point of view, I would find myself hammering away at the little x's in the top corner of them there windows and moving onto the next website.
Try out a few of the free html editors out there to see which you get a feel of better. Build your site and generate some revenue and I would go for Macromedia Dreamweaver... I have never found a better program since - but everyone to their own. You can get a 30 day trial at Macromedias website and it works great with its graphics sidekick Fireworks.
You could also have a look at Yahoo! Site Builder. I have never used it though so can't really give you a review.
As for graphics... try out "GIMP". Another program thats free which I have not yet used but I hear great reviews about it.
Good luck
Terry
This way you learn real life stuff rather than trying to picture what people mean by referrals, traffic, 404, linking, rankings, affiliate programs, forms, etc. Dive head first and get stuck in. Personally, the jump from my first site to my second site was huge. I learned so much it was untrue.
Then when you come to build your first proper site (which will actually be your second) it'll be free of flaws and perfect in every way imaginable and will dominate the internet for decades to come...or something like that anyway.
Dreamweaver is an excellent programme but quite complex. the good thing is the dreamweaver bible series of books are excellent. I read it a few times I off I went.
I don't know what part of the world you are from but here in the UK classes are useless because they are still teaching absolete designs which are no good to anyone. I live by a college and I'm simply amazed at the rubbish they teach (They still teach designs that fail UK laws that have been around since 1999 regarding web accessability).
Web Design is a constantly progressing skill and the fastest way to learn is books and places like this.
Simon.
I've had a wounded ego a few times when people couldn't figure out the brilliant navigation tools I had provided. Whatever; what counts is sales and I don't care if I don't win design prizes.
Avoid HTML generators, as they usually produce bloated code. If you will be producing html, learn to code it unassisted. Go straight to CSS and try to be standards compliant; you'll avoid much grief.
If the program at your local community college is anything like those in my neck of the woods, it's a waste of time, save perhaps for the networking opportunities and a piece of paper.
Find people in your area to do work-exchanges with. Programming, design, web authoring (html authoring), content writing and marketing are very different and I know of no one that can do all of them really well. Choose which ones you'll focus on.
Finally, stick around here :)
There's already been several good suggestions, but I'll throw out my thoughts as well...
I also recomend skipping web design classes. Instead, spend your money on books and software tools. If money is tight, you could go for educational versions of software, but using educational software to build a commercial website would violate the terms of the sale. There are quite a few free or very inexpensive HTML programs available. HTML-Kit has been mentioned, and it is excellent, though maybe a bit daunting for a beginner. 1st page is another free option worth looking into. If you decide to go the PHP route, you may want to look into Maguma studio or PHP coder. Both are free (or have a free version) and can handle PHP and HTML coding.
Since your goals include building an online catalog, I'd focus on not only learning HTML and web design, but also learning database and backend programming, such as ASP or PHP. Since ASP and PHP are the two most popular web programming tools, spend some time evaluating each (as well as databases, such as MS SQL server, MySQL, etc...) to find out what would best suit your needs. It's just my opinion, but for someone relatively new to this (and on a budget), I'd recomend going with PHP and MySQL, because they're free, have lots of books and online tutorials to help you out, and you'll have a wide range of choices when it comes to hosting your site. What ever route you take, be sure to set up a personal web server on your own PC (either IIS for ASP or Apache for PHP). This will give you a chance to learn the ropes, make mistakes, etc... Fruit and Veg's post has some excellent advise, too. With an online business, it will be VERY important to track site usage, so a cheap hosting account to experiment with would help greatly.
Also, as you build up your web dev skills, be sure to spend a lot of time developing a sound business and marketing plan. The most skilled web developer/designer in the world can still wind up building a lousy web site if he/she doesn't have a clear vision of what to accomplish with the website. A clear, well-thought strategy for presenting your products or services is a vital component to building an effective website. Once you get started, it is a lot easier to fix a bad web design than it is to fix a bad business or marketing plan.
I'm a firm believer that anyone willing to learn and put in the time and effort can certainly succeed in building an online business without having to spend much money. Good luck!
