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A podcast and forum for those who design, develop and run websites.
Boagworld is not just a web design podcast, it is also a thriving online community. Whether you build, design or run websites there are always people here to help. Whatever your question there is sure to be somebody with the answer.
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- CommentAuthorSquirrelgirl87
- CommentTimeAug 24th 2008
I have a dilema.
First, a little background info: I just graduated this spring with an Associate's degree in Visual Communication (Audio, Video, Photography, Design) from a local tech college. I re-discovered my interest in web design when I took a Web Design course required for my degree; I had taken a class in high school where we made pages in HTML and I enjoyed that (although I do prefer the WYSIWYG editors). The school doesnt (yet) have a web design course and I have had so much trouble finding a school that either (1) doesn't cost a fortune, (2) is legitimate, (3) is near me / online, and/or (4) has a serious web design program. So far, I haven't had much luck.
Here's where my question begins. Where have any of you started out? Did you start out in graphic design? Programming? And where did you go to school for web design? I live in a somewhat rural area of Minnesota (U.S) so I would prefer schools nearby or online schools.
Hope some of you can help me out here. I'm making my way (from the beginning) through the podcasts (which are great!) and I'm currently on on #99... -
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CommentAuthorticklefish
- CommentTimeAug 24th 2008
Hi,
I started out from scratch in January of this year with no training in web design or graphic design.
It's not been easy for me but the best way to learn is to read good books, read blogs, join some forums listen to podcasts and practice design and coding.
Add to that social networking with sites like twitter, facebook, pownce and the many others.
I now have a subscription with lynda.com which i'm finding very helpful.
I hope 2008 will be a big turning point in my quest to change career and become a web designer. -
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I'm also fairly new to the web design/development world. My background is fairly technical (degree in Computer Science), but recently I've been working for a small internal marketing agency for a fairly large company.
I first learned mostly back-end web application work (server scripting, database stuff, etc.). Soon though I became more interested in front-end development and design.
ticklefish put it right though. Some of the best things you can do are find good books, blogs, communities and forums. Boagworld is definitely one of the TOP in that aspect, as there is a great community here and an unbelievable podcast and content. Freelance Radio is also pretty good in my opinion; even if you're not a freelancer, much of their discussion is still applicable.
One of the most important things in my opinion is to become familiar with all phases of creating a website (discovery and definition of a project, structuring, design, implementation, launch). A good book I read for this was Web Redesign 2.0. Don't let the buzzword fool you, it's still a good book!
P.S.
I'm also in a rural area of Minnesota too! -
I started out with a 4-year liberal arts degree and an interest in video production. Like ticklefish, I learned how to build and manage websites by reading books and articles and by talking to others in the field. Currently, I manage websites professionally and I just launched a local Refresh group with a friend of mine in an attempt to meet other web professionals/enthusiasts living near me. All the resources you need to learn on your own are out there. Good luck!
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CommentAuthorMartin Bean
- CommentTimeAug 25th 2008
Web design is one of those professions where your portfolio matters more than what you have on paper (or at least that's what I've found, any way).
I have a nice-paying cushy job as an in-house web designer/developer, and currently being head-hunted by a respected company in Newcastle upon Tyne (I have an interview on Wednesday) for a PHP developer's role, and all I have to my name in the way of qualifications is a pass (and just a pass) in a BTEC National Diploma in e-Media (I missed six months of my college course as I went to work with a different respected company in Newcastle).
I started out web designing with a book on HTML. My design skills came from being naturally artistic (more so in illustration than fine art, however) and obviously a good learning curve in ICT and mathematics helps with the programming aspect of web development. I spent about four years honing web design skills, and it wasn't until I got my first web design job that they decided to throw me in the deep end and get me to try PHP development, for which I am thankful for as my PHP skills have eclipsed my design skills in my eyes.
So basically, read books and on line resources and hone your craft, build yourself a good portfolio and you should get somewhere. -
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In all honesty university is good for nothing other than teaching you how to think like a designer. For some people this is extremely important, for others useless. When it comes to actual technical skills, university is, or was in my case, of no use at all.
To be honest more often than not I had to instruct my instructor.
Where to learn those technical skills is simple. The web is the single greatest resource. What I would recommend you do is plan a project and then go about making it. Something just for yourself, skills you know you'll need. Then just research what you don't know.
For tutorials I highly recommend:
http://www.lynda.com/ — It's not free but it's the best tutorial site I've ever found. You can leave EVERYTHING here.
http://www.actionscript.org/ — There is no better Flash resource on the web.
http://www.w3schools.com/ — Lots of basic coding tips, tricks, and references.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ — Loads of links to tutorials and such.
Otherwise read loads of books (there are lists all over this forum, read them all). -
@squirrelgirl87: I just read The Opposite of Professional today from Andy Rutledge. Although this article doesn't directly address your question, I thought someone in you're position could really benefit from reading Andy's articles.
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CommentAuthorJamieKnight
- CommentTimeAug 26th 2008
Hiya,
I got started with web design as an obsession with my bike and riding meant it needed a site badly.
Roll on about 6 years and i am currently working freelance, doing a large amount of subcontracting and have a strong portfolio.
A good way to start is to get your head around web standards, not always the technologies, but WHY things are done certain ways. For example, many people ho claim to "Know XHTML" would tell you the difference between a class and an ID is you only use the ID once. While this is true, its merely a side effect. An ID was created to allow for page "fragments" and semantic retrieval of bits of information from a single page, or indeed a whole site. If you use a ID then that element gains its own fully qualified unique URI in the form os sitename.com#youridhere.
Rather than code for the design, code for the meaning then only use the CSS to style it, in the long run it REALLY makes life easier.
There are a number of great books out there, Ian lyod has a couple of good ones, the classics by zeldman and andy budd are also worth getting.
Hope that helps,
^licks^
Jamie & Lion -
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CommentAuthorMartin Bean
- CommentTimeAug 28th 2008
It is wrong to dissuade people from going to university if they want to be a web designer/developer...?
I'm 19, finished college this year, and I've just been offered a job as PHP developer for an established company in Newcastle upon Tyne for £15 an hour, and that's only for the probationary period. That's twice as much as what I'm on in my soon-to-be-former job. Before that, I worked for another company in Newcastle as a general web guy (bit of design here, bit of development there, bit of other stuff in between) on even less.
I guess it really is true that there is no better substitution than experience... -
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CommentAuthorThe Tall Designer
- CommentTimeAug 29th 2008
Take the job. Now. :)
I've got no qualifications at all really, no degree, 1.5 alevels and nothing that relates to web design, I do however have almost 9 years experience, I've never been on a course.
Grab the bull by the horns and start designing websites, the first one will suck, so will the second one, but they will get better and the best way to learn is to do.
There are many many good books out there to buy which has been talked about ad infinitum on here so do a search, buy the best ten and read them. It will be cheaper, faster and more lucrative than any course you could take.
Good luck one and all ;) -
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- CommentAuthorSquirrelgirl87
- CommentTimeAug 29th 2008
Thanks you guys! I figured as much that I would need to check out quite a few books, but wasn't sure if I should still go to a college/university. Thanks for all of your encouragement too! -
- CommentAuthorSquirrelgirl87
- CommentTimeSep 9th 2008
I'm still open to other comments as well (if you come after this message). I'm now reading books and I've enlisted in some Lynda.com courses. It's still interesting though, to find out how people start out... -
Always been a coder myself, I have listed in a rough order, the main steps in my still ongoing learning.
-Batch (.bat) files for my first pc (helped make my games run faster & auto load win 3.1)
-Html
-VB6 + SQL
-Classic ASP
-Paint Shop Pro
-ASP.Net (VB) 1.1 then 2.0 then 3.5
-XHTML & CSS
-Photoshop
All of this has been initially self taught with a couple of MS courses to support my learning.
The only advice I can give is try to get real live projects to learn on. I find that when you are creating dummy sites, it can sometimes be tempting to take the easy root if you get stuck on something when you only have yourself to answer to, if someone has specifically requested something from you then you tend to do all you can to deliver and you learn alot in the process. On second thought, maybe that's just me being lazy :-)
Chris -
I am a front-end type developer (primarily XHTML/CSS and a basic knowledge of javascript). I've acquired most of my skills via self-education. Tutorials on A List Apart, W3Schools, and other websites were my main resource.
I did undergraduate study in video production and then continued to a master's program (originally intending to do film/tv/video) but i got interested in many forms of digital media, and this is where I really started to dive in.
So for me, my schooling wasn't directly responsible for my skills, but it definitely helped me find my way. Classes are good because they are regimented, but a lot of times you can learn lots more by noticing a specific problem and then trying to solve it on your own. It's all about figuring out what works best for you. -
I'm a computer scientist, although my course has covered a lot of useful things for web design, I've studied javascript and php, and we were introduced briefly to html and css, but or the most part, I self-taught myself html/css.
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Program wise I'm 100% self-taught. This would be why sometimes I do things that seem backwards. I've picked up a few things from other developers but for the most part what I learned I learned from books and online resources.
At uni I was the one telling my instructor how to do something in the program. This isn't saying too much about my abilities (which I'd say are maybe on the higher side of intermediate depending on what I'm doing) but rather the lack of his.
It's one of the reasons I say university is good for teaching you how to think creatively but is almost useless at teaching you how to be a designer.
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