knowlege wanted

[catbat]

hi peeps i am looking into taking a course to enable me to be a home based web designer. i have seen a course from the home learning college that gives me Dreamweaver studio 8 flash fireworks contribute and flash play. it also gives me a membership in the assosiation of certified IT profesionals. does this mean anything or dose it sound like rubbish.

please help im only little.

:( :confused: :( :confused: :( :confused: :D

[Charles]

Sounds like rubbish to me.

While not perfect, start with the tutorials at W3 Schools (http://www.w3schools.com/). And then read, mark, learn and inwardly digest: HTML 4.01 Specification (http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/) Cascading Style Sheets, level 2 (http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/)That will teach you more and better than any course. And you do not want to be using Dreamweaver or any other WYSIWYG.

But that will only teach you the mechanics of getting information on the web. The tricky part is having something worth saying and something worth publishing. Get as much formal education as you can in the Liberal Arts and Graphical design and spend a lot of time at the Museum.

[The Old Sarge]

The courses themselves might be just fine. It's the "membership in the assosiation of certified IT profesionals" that sounds like rubbish.

Who are they? What do they actually do?

With a quality laser printer, an online payment gateway and ten minutes, I can give you a certificate for just about anything you can dream up. But what, exactly, will that certificate do for you? What will it mean? WHo will recognize, or place any value, on it?

[wh666-666]

Let me guess catbat, computeach?

If it is, best advise is to forget it, total waste of money. I would go with the open university for courses.

As charles said above try w3 schools. Once you learn several forms of scripting and can create decent webpages and then create an online portfolio with all your work.

[theuedimaster]

w3 school your basics, and then browse through the forums (in webdeveloper.com) of your interest. You'll pick up random stuff, but it'll all add up and you'll be the master of the universe in no time.

[NyKc]

I do both hard code web design & WSIWYG design, depending on if i want to be lazy. Hi-tech, extravagent looking websites with limited functionality can easily be made with Dreamweaver or Photoshop etc.,
If you want a quality site, search engine friendly, completely controlled web space learn straight HTML, CSS, then dabble in XML, JavaScript. i also advise learning a server side language such as PHP, PERL or CGI.

Now you dont need to be an expert in all of those, but learn HTML & CSS as if it is a second language.

Like it was stated early W3 Schools is the best school to learn from, cause it is free. I took a few classes at my university, however most of my web knowledge was self taught. Dont waste money on someone claiming to have you certified as a CIW, or anything for that sort. If it isnt an accredited University - it isn't a valid certification.

[CrazyMerlin]

Courses are all good and well, but something to bear in mind is that they only teach you the basics.

While the basics are essential, you can learn them for approx $0 on multiple websites on the net. Lots of sites even have structured tutorials that run from week to week, and cost "nada"!

What you want to actually do is also a major thing to consider...designer or developer?

I am a freelance web developer, which basically means I do a lot more coding than I do layout and graphics. I spend 10 hours a day writing php5 code.

When I started a few years ago I was a web designer..doing about 10 hours a day making pretty graphics, bits of javascript and lots of similar pages.

I got into php and that all changed. I actually learnt almost all my javascript (which is now a lot) on here.

Not all distant learning courses are crap, but don't go for the basic ones. Go intermediate and ask here if you don't quite get something.

Must haves:
PHP or ASP (server side language)
Javascript or VBScript (client side language)
Raw HTML and maybe DreamWeaver or FrontPage (html)
Fireworks or a similar competent image package (images)

And I would personally add learning Ajax, although that can wait.

Other things to consider before embarking on such a hair-brained scheme:

Working at home can get boring with no one to chat to, and that leads to distraction, and that leads to having to work weekends to make up time.
Believe me it took me a while to get to grips with that.

Working at home can get you down because you don't spend time away from your office. I leave my house now maybe once a week for a few hours because I have no need to leave the house. Working with other people is something that a lot of people need!
This is also a plus once you get used to spending most of your time alone because the peace and quiet are great for concentrating. (I live out in the desert so it really is quiet, lol).


Seriously, those last two points are ones you will come to know well.

Other than that, it is great money and great freedom.

Oh, one final point I just thought of...where you live! I recently moved and had to go 2 weeks without any internet connection and that really pissed my clients off.
Make sure you have a good provider!!!


//erlin!