Web design Training

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

I am thinking of learning Web design as a re training route.

Anyone do this as a trade How difficult is it to learn? Is there much scope to work from home?

[Malcolm.mtts]

Depends on how simple you want to make it and how professional you want it to look.

Basic and even complex websites can be easily constructed using existing web design software packages such as the one they have used to create this website.

For professional web design and to get unique looking websites for your clients you will need to know how to write them using html, java script, CGI, Perl etc etc etc and this can be and is very complicated or you can use professional web design packages which are very expensive to buy.

If you want to do web design professionally you will need to own your own private website .. this is needed so that you can make sure your completed web pages work ok when uploaded onto the internet and to avoid others accessing your work in progress. There are lots of firms prepared to host your own websites but if you want them to be banner and advert free you normally have to pay a fee.
 
You will also need a simple FTP program to allow quick uploading of your files etc onto your website so that you can check it out before passing onto your clients.

Another essential is a good editor which can indicate your script errors and allow you to preview and verify the correct working of the script.

OK ... we know this is a ready made program but now to give you an example of what is involved to write a website like this using scripts read on.

This refers to the webpage you are reading at this very moment. 

On top of this page you have "file..edit..view ..favorites etc"...
 
click on "VIEW"

from the drop box... click "SOURCE"

A new box will now appear and you will be able to view the script for this page.

Every page needs its own script and as you can see it is not a simple matter of writing words etc. It is a specialist job and not something you can learn in a few weeks or months.

Best suggestion is to get a ready made web design package where you can just add your wording, insert your pictures by clicking a box, etc.

I suggest you download a free web design packages from the internet and try to get good results before you decide to do anything that will cost you money.

To do work professionally you will need professional web design programs which are not cheap or learn to write your own scripts.

I used to write computer and web programs years ago and still do occasionally and I can assure you it is very time consuming doing so.

You mention training... beware of what you are getting into... lots of companies train you to use certain ready made programs and this will never make you a web designer... it will only make you a web creator using the software they sell to their trainees.

Now you have an idea of what is involved, from that "SOURCE" box you look at.. You will be able to see what package is used for this site.

AHHHAAA... detecting in a different way now... find the name of the program they use for this site... it can be found on the script used.  Happy detecting for it but if you can't find it PM admin or me to find out.   

Hope the above helps towards an answer to your question.

[Malcolm.mtts]

Rob.

I just copied and pasted the script of this webpage onto my editor to see how good the script is .

Not too bad for a free program ...   OK .. it looks good and appears to work ok you may say but there are lots of unpaired tags, mismatched tags and misused tags on it but who cares? It is only a forum website and it was free and most people will not even notice what is wrong so why worry?

The saying applies.. you get what you pay for but if someone is paying good money for a web page for their business they want perfection.

The faults on it as such are relatively minor but they are faults which a few minutes extra working on it could have been rectified and made it perfect.. script wise.

Professionally this script would not be acceptable if someone had to pay you good money for it. 

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

Many thanks Malcomn!!!!