About to start web design at college

[iluvmypook]

I'm about to start web design at college in July. I have a Mac /emoticons/wub.gif

At the college they use Macromedia as the software to learn on, I currently have Adobe CS because I depend on PS and Acrobat as well as Corel Painter 8. Do you think it would be overkill for me to have Macromedia MX 2004 suite installed as well?

I kinda thought having it whilst I study over the next 2 years would be a great help to me, but not sure if it's worthwhile considering what I already have.

Any thoughts?

/emoticons/yeah.gif

[PrintDriver]

Corel Painter 8?

Are you only doing web design? Or graphic design as well. Having dealt with web designers who suddenly find themselves designing for a client that also wants letterhead and signage and car graphics and bumper stickers and t-shirts, etc., you should brush up on Illustrator for creating logo work as well.

As for the Macromedia suite, if you can afford it and that's what the school is using and you want to be a web designer, I would go for it. You ain't gonna get much out of the Go Live that came with the Adobe CS. Illustrator or Freehand? Well, Illustrator is more standard but Freehand has decent export filters.

You might find too that no matter how much you love your mac, most of the guys on here that do web work use PC's to do alot of the programming. They'll be on momentarily I'm sure.

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

[PrintDriver]

Oh, and welcome to the forum!
forgot my manners there a moment.
Hang around. Lots of info here.
/emoticons/cheers.gif

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

iluvmypook welcome to the forum.

As for using macromedia... Yes get it. It's should be a must for all aspiring web developers/designer. Now about the Mac PC thing, well it's really based on what you like.

I'm starting to do web developing (I'm learning) and I love using Mac OSX. It comes with apache built in and already had PHP pre-installed. It's really great cause you don't have to upload your files to any server to test them you just test them right off of your system to me this makes developing alot easier. But you can do the same with XP and install anything you want so it's really what you feel more comfortable working with.

Either way get the software but the most important part is learning HTML, CSS and then choosing a back end server side language to learn. I choose PHP cause it's free and I'm finding alot of support out there for it but just follow what the school teaches for now and if you have time go to www.w3schools.com (http://www.w3schools.com) and get ahead of your class this summer.

[D-Zine]

Welcome iluvmypook. If you are worried about the program hogging too much HD space or too much ram I am sure you will be fine...

http://coastalcarousel.com/GDF/metatag3.jpg

[Ryan8720]

Who needs Dreamweaver? All you need is notepad (or the Mac equivilent). But an HTML editor like BBEdit helps.

http://edgewebdesign.org/ryan2.gif (http://www.edgewebdesign.org)

Quick! There is time to waste, hurry up and wait!

[iluvmypook]

Thanks for your kind advice everyone. /emoticons/cheers.gif

I didn't anticipate a Mac/PC debate so I hope my post didn't come across that way.

I have Painter 8 because I do my own artwork and stuff which led me into web design as another interest (and hopefully worthwhile career). I love to draw and paint so when I found Painter 8 I was in heaven.

The graphic art side of what I do is what I learnt myself and hopefully it will embellish my web designs a bit for me is all.

I'm really excited about doing this course (it's 2 years fulltime).

I don't know if this is true or not but I heard if you successfully get to know Dreamweaver and Flash then Adobe Go Live is simple but it doesn't work the same way vice versa.... would you agree?

Also is there any significant disadvantage to having the student addition of Studio MX as opposed to the retail version?

Post Edited (iluvmypook) : 6/24/2004 9:03:11 AM GMT

[iluvmypook]

Official Spelling Bea - Thanks for that link it's terrific. I'll do that over the next few weeks leading up to semester.

/emoticons/worshippy.gif

Your welcome and stick around we can mold you like no other school can.

[PrintDriver]

Student versions from a reputable student discount site are full working versions without the commercial license. Read the fine print or contact the vendor or software company on what you need to do to make a student license into a commercial one.

As for Mac/PC debating, this is one of the few Graphic Design sites where we don't care what YOU use but don't mind telling you what WE use and like. Up to you to choose your own weapon of mass destruction.
;)

PrintDriver is a large format digital print dude. His advice/opinions may not apply to the 4color/offset/web world of printing

[iluvmypook]

/emoticons/biggrin.gif Thanks again.