How to get started? Recommended Web Design Schools

[jasonchan]

Hi,

I am curious as to how to get started in this field. Currently I am reading an HTML, XHTML, CSS book by O'Reilly and have become very interested. I have also taken introduction courses to Dreamweaver 7.0. However, I do not know where to go from here. What web design schools would you guys recommend? Is this something I can pick up on my own or would enrolling into a school such as the Art Institutes be beneficial? I want to clarify that I want to be a web developer, not only a one dimensional designer that uses WYSIWYG editors; I want to learn all the languages - Javascript, Actionscript, PHP, etc. and effectively use them in my creations. I know I may be thinking too far ahead of myself but I am confident that this is the career that I wish to pursue. Any advice or input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks guys,

J

[JPnyc]

I'd spend a lot of time reading this forum and webdeveloper.com (http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/index.php?). They're both good places to learn some real world practices. If you're starting from scratch with both coding and DW, I really don't see the point in learning both. Just learn to code, and DW will be redundant.

[morea]

www.w3schools.com is a good place to start

[jasonchan]

So no formal education is necessary? I am hoping to pursue this as a career and so I would like to know if companies or clients look at an educational background in graphics or web design (I'm sure they do, right?). I already have a bachelors degree in economics which is completely unrelated to web design. Somewhat lost right now because I recently quit my job as an accountant to learn web design but unsure of exactly what kind of school i need to enroll in. Can I simply pick up this on my own and learn from online sites? The reason why I am referring to the schools is that I also want to learn the design aspects of web development (ie. learning softwares such as illustrator, photoshop, etc.).

thanks again for your responses

[JPnyc]

Let's put it this way, for some it is, for some it isn't. I studied back end development in school, and a little front end, but I mostly do front end now. School gave me a little foundation in those things, but I learned more from forums than they taught me.

[EC]

I believe in formal education and you've got one. Since you made it through an economics degree, you know how to learn. In web design in particular, since things change so fast -- you are likely to be able to pick up a LOT of this on your own. That is, if you have the discipline to really buckle down and study and work hard. Web design curriculum tends to be software-focused, this is wrong. (Learn how to code, you'll hear that a lot here).

As for graphic design, this is something that is difficult to master on your own (but possible), and formal schooling is really ideal if you have the time and money.

As for programming -- php, javascript, etc. Unless you're extremely technically-minded and pick up on such things very easily, classes would be a big help.

But for HTML & CSS I'd say learn that on your own. If I saw "dreamweaver" on somebody's resume I'd probably not even consider it. It shows that I'd probably not be able to count on them to whip up some lean mean code in a hurry or be able to troubleshoot issues very well. I'd rather see "Strong understanding of HTML, CSS and web standards. Ability to write code from scratch or use industry standard HTML editors. (You might find a "dreamweaver" shop where you're working in a team and use their file sharing protocols and stuff, so I wouldn't discount learning the basics in at least Dreamweaver.)

Just my opinion, hope that helps.

[chris_bcn]

I find that peer to peer help on these forums is a great help. I learnt about web standards and good coding practices from forums like this one. It was a huge spur in my career

A lot of formal courses will, unfortunately teach you the old school methods, meaning you have to unlearn everything when you get out.

There are fabulous resources on here, and lots of web pros who will be more than willing to help you out.

study and practice, then repeat, then do it again, and so on.

[jasonchan]

EC,

In your reply, you mentioned that "since things change so fast, you have to keep up and learn A LOT on your own." My question is, where and how do you keep up? Are there certain books/magazines/sites that you keep buying to keep updated? How do you continue to prepare yourself in this ever so changing field? BTW I have decided to go through some books and tutorials for now, and decide later if school is necessary.

[EC]

EC,

In your reply, you mentioned that "since things change so fast, you have to keep up and learn A LOT on your own." My question is, where and how do you keep up? Are there certain books/magazines/sites that you keep buying to keep updated? How do you continue to prepare yourself in this ever so changing field? BTW I have decided to go through some books and tutorials for now, and decide later if school is necessary.

What I really meant by that is, things change fast -- so schools sometimes seem "dated" in what they teach.

Basically the w3schools.com is a great place to go because they teach web standards. Learn the authoritative players, the developers out there pushing standards and writing books, they really set the bar (they have blogs and books you should read). In my opinion they are:

Jeffrey Zeldman http://zeldman.com/
Dan Cederholm http://simplebits.com/
Andy Budd http://andybudd.com/
Molly http://molly.com/
Cameron Moll http://www.cameronmoll.com/
Simon Collison http://www.collylogic.com/
Dave Shea (of csszengarden.com fame) http://www.mezzoblue.com/
Eric Meyer http://meyerweb.com/

Chris turned me on to this site http://www.dontmeetyourheroes.com/v_2/ and I have it set as my home page.

[jlknauff]

I generally think that in fast-paced industries like web dev, you're better off with hands on, real life learning rather than going to school, if you're able to learn in that environment. I agree with some of the other members posts about learning here and a few other forums. My advice is to get a good solid understanding on xhtml + css and run with it. While you're at it, drop by the SEO forum at www.seoguy.com/forum/ - if you're going to do web dev, you might as well learn how to generate traffic too :)

[jasonchan]

How do you quote something that has been said on this forum? See , I can even do that... i feel like such a noob :(. Anyways, I'll take up your advice and delve into HTML and CSS myself. As far as the programming languages such as PHP, ASP, etc. does it really matter what kind of school i take them at? I'm thinking about takin it at a community college near my parents place up in valencia.

[EC]

How do you quote something that has been said on this forum? See , I can even do that... i feel like such a noob :(. Anyways, I'll take up your advice and delve into HTML and CSS myself. As far as the programming languages such as PHP, ASP, etc. does it really matter what kind of school i take them at? I'm thinking about takin it at a community college near my parents place up in valencia.

At the bottom of the post of the person you want to quote, click the "quote" green button on the bottom right side. That will open up your new message for you and that quote will be on top. It took me forever to figure that out too no worries lol :p

I don't know about the programming stuff but I'd say a community college is fine. I wanted to take php and javascript and whatnot at the local U, but they have so many prerequisites it would take me years to get into those classes if I do them one or two at a time. (While I appreciate C++, I feel confident I can skip that foundation :rolleyes: )

[jasonchan]

At the bottom of the post of the person you want to quote, click the "quote" green button on the bottom right side. That will open up your new message for you and that quote will be on top. It took me forever to figure that out too no worries lol :p

I don't know about the programming stuff but I'd say a community college is fine. I wanted to take php and javascript and whatnot at the local U, but they have so many prerequisites it would take me years to get into those classes if I do them one or two at a time. (While I appreciate C++, I feel confident I can skip that foundation :rolleyes: )

Cool thanks EC. I feel much better now!:D How much knowledge of HTML and CSS would I need to know before I enter into PHP? I am asking this bc one of the teachers at this college says "You should already know HTML and building web pages BEFORE you take this class. So take an HTML class first or start teaching yourself web pages now."

i mean, I have gone through an entire book of HTML and CSS and understand the basics and general coding techniques. i guess I will create a website soon for you guys to evaluate and analyze. But again, how much harder is PHP to pick up?

[EC]

I'm the wrong person to ask, but actually PHP and HTML go hand in hand ("PHP is an HTML embedded scripting language" chapter one says ;) ), so I think it's smart to know HTML first.