Newbie and web design

[john_grad]

Hi there guys,

I've just graduated from University, and I'm looking at doing some freelance work for various small companies while looking for a graphic design position thats suitable.

The only thing I want help with is web design. it isnt my strong point, but i know its what alot of companies around here want.

We used basic html at uni, and programs such as flash, and director.

how do i go about creating a website?

any 'how-tos'?

Any hints and tints would be great guys.

thanks

[Jam]

Google will be your best friend - be specific in the type of information your after, there are some great tutorials out there.

Have a look at....
http://www.w3schools.com/css
...to learn CSS

Have look at PeachPit for some great books on the how to...

Steer well clear of Microsoft's HTML editor - its such a horrible programme I wont taint this thread with its name.

[morea]

start with www.w3schools.com with HTML though, before moving on to CSS.

Also, I would recommend that you look into hiring or bartering services with a web designer to code your site for you. When I first started dabbling in web design I had a hard time getting everything to work properly across different browsers and platforms.

[john_grad]

so would i not start by using director or flash?

all sounds very complicated lol

[morea]

designing a site strictly in flash is generally not recommended. The main reason (as I understand, and bear in mind that I am not a web designer) is that flash uses images instead of text, so search engines can not crawl through the text and index your site properly.

Also, some people choose not to enable flash in their browsers.

[morea]

all sounds very complicated lol

it IS very complicated.

[john_grad]

it all sound svery difficult. no wonder they didnt teach us very much at uni.

its all well and good just writing basic text in html, but addind colours and images seems hard

[tZ]

Its a whole separate expertise in it self.

[tZ]

if your serious and would like to learn the correct way visit this thread:

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29421

[john_grad]

so as a graphic designer, does it make sense for me to create a website for a company, then pay a web designer to create it for me?

is this what people do?

[tZ]

No, because most designers have no concept of correct web practices. It would make more sense to hire someone that knows web design/development in and out. Like I stated before, they are very different. Just because you doodle in dreamweaver doesn't mean you can produce a well put together website.

[urstwile]

Um, tZ, I think that's what John_Grad was talking about. Designing comps for a website and having someone more proficient do the actual coding and stuff.

Unless you mean he shouldn't be involved in the design at all?

[tZ]

ops…

I need to read slower,lol

yeah

[john_grad]

yes thats what i meant guys.

so id do the layout of the website, show the client, make sure everything aesthetically looks spot on, and then pay a web designer to create it for me?

[urstwile]

I know that's what a lot of people do in fact do.

Bear in mind that print and web are two different animals, and things that work quite well in print might not work as well in the web world, so you might want to have a web designer/programmer on board from the start of the project, to make sure you're not building something into the design that will later prove impractical from a web standpoint.

[Drazan]

Yes, there are many who do design the layout and hire someone else to code the backend of the site to make it work properly.

The best thing to do is start a good relationship with a web coder/programer. This will ensure that both the design and the code merge well.

I also know that the design team for Nike's soccor site not only designed and hired out the coding part - but also used a CMS called Expression Engine (originally pmachine).

There is a big bridge between designing the graphics for the web and then actually putting it to code. Add in the interactivity, SEO, as well as general security and the site can be very complicated very quickly.

However, there are levels and levels of web designers out there. You could verywell use Dreamweaver to produce sites. But you will need to know the code behind it for debuggin purposes and even to the point of making a change with out relying strickly on a wysiwyg editor.

Also wysiwyg only webdesigners don't really go very far in a professional market. The wysiwyg dependant will not be able to grasp the object orientated and advance scripting to put together even the simplest of interactivity.

Typically a fully capable web designer must know HTML, CSS and at least one scripting language such as PHP or ASP enough to at least interpret and build simple queries. And the person must be willing to keep learning new codes, new ways of doing things. It is quite typical of the net to reinvent how things are done about every 18 months or so. What I did even a year ago is now approached in a different manor.

Things that a well rounded web designer should know: HTML, CSS, PHP or ASP (or both), Javascript, Perl. How to compress a video for web, flash/create animation, as well as possibly knowing advanced scripting for custom applications, or at least knowing how to manipulate existing applications for a clients needs.

I've been doing websites for about 14 years now, and I know enough to keep ahead of the challenging websites, but I know there is still plenty to the web scripting that I don't know.

Typically I spend 1/10th of the time designing the graphics and layout as I do actually coding and scripting for the site.

And as a side note: consult with the web designer about the look that you want to show the client before you actually show it to the client. There are somethings that may not translate well into a website.

Jade