Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : What should I learn first?
jeffr0wland
11-16-2007, 08:14 PM
I know a little about web design. I've done a couple of sites so far, nothing fancy and one using a template. My question is, I'm going to start teaching myself the software to do more website work but don't know which one to start with. Fireworks, dreamweaver, flash, or go live? Let me know what you think.
chalsema
11-16-2007, 09:09 PM
I would say pick up a book on HTML/CSS. You can use Go Live/Dreamweaver or any other program to write HTML/CSS with. Then start learning Fireworks/Photoshop or whatever other image editing/graphics program. Finally, Flash... It isn't as necessary as the others in my opinion. I know many people create full Flash sites that look really awesome, but aren't very usable or SEO friendly. Flash is good for spicing up your HTML/CSS pages though.
Good luck!
http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29421&highlight=books
The post with all the links.
colonel5
11-16-2007, 09:28 PM
xhtml and css are the way to go for anyone wanting to get into this business
jeffr0wland
11-16-2007, 10:23 PM
I hadn't liked what I've used of CSS yet, but maybe I need to learn more.
A lot of the learning I'm going to do is online at lynda.com
chalsema
11-16-2007, 10:32 PM
CSS is pretty much mandatory unless you make your whole site in Flash. It's really easy and helpful once you learn it.
carter the artist
11-17-2007, 05:42 AM
principles of design. monkeys can use software.
Two-Toe Tom
11-17-2007, 06:17 AM
principles of design. monkeys can use software.
hey i resemble that statement
Drazan
11-17-2007, 03:46 PM
dreamweaver is pretty standard for creating websites. Just use it as a tool and not the crutch.
Basically with any program there's a habbit of using their code as a crutch so you don't have to learn it. Many of the new generation of web designers are so independant on the crutch programs that if something breaks, they have to rebuild the page from scratch because they don't know how to fix it.
If you really want to go far in the web industry start learning the code so that you can do it without a "helper program". This will enable you to work cleaner, debug easier and build upon your skillset faster.
HTML/CSS go hand in hand in creating a nice modern site. Learn the difference on laying out with a table vs a div and what should be used per senario.
Then take a look at scripting. DHTML is javascript and html commonly used in dropdown/slideout menus as well as many navigational and popup effects. It's also the drive behind the "lightbox" image galleries.
PHP or ASP are your two main application languages. If you were to install and customize a CMS (content management system) or e-commerce (shopping cart) these are usually the two languages taht you'll find the prebuilt apts. You should know at least how to recognize the structure of the language so that you can add in modules, customizations etc. Even if you don't code aps from scratch this is a very good skill and very flexible.
Probably 80% of the sites I build have php applications of some sort. And out of that 80% - half want tweaks.
Learn the code, there's no "editor" that I know of that will code multi-included applications, pages, or sites. If you know the code and learn it well you won't be stopped by saying "Well, dreamweaver can't do that, so I can't either".
Also we just let someone go at work who was very wysiwyg dependant.
Another tip is to look at using CSS templates with simple php includes. This will assist greatly when making multipage/app sites that have little in common other than the look. Also this will assist you in understanding the templating systems often used by the CMS/ecommerce applications.
Jade
Who needs principles of design when they have dreamweaver – you outta know better.