Hello friends i'm new here, there is a question bugging me for some time i cant make my mind of it. I love webdesinging and its a passion i want to make a career of say freelancing as i have a decent job, but still i want to persue my passion.
The big question is where should i start. Everybody say html and css but the advent of dreaweaver and adobe muse of late has kinda attracted me and made a big question?. Should i persue wysiwyg and will my career survive in the long run or i have to start from the basics. I know html but scared to learn css.The motivation is not there, i dont know where to go now. I get inspired daily watching css websites, i'm stuck help me please. How do i motivate myself and release my creative side.I talk to webdesigners but nobody share their experience and tricks, maybe they are also sailing in the same boat but boast of talents. I want to ask this forum and no body has every posed this question in the forum i suppose, What do you make of todays webdesign scenario and how can we be saved, is it with code or design.
code opens pleathora of subjects css,html,javascript,php etc and design with photoshop(psd),illustrator indesign etc.
For me to be a successful webdesigner do i have to learn all this mammoth coding and design or can we just live with wysiwyg.
Just building with wysiwyg is dangerous. If your client wants something, it's most likely not possible with just a drag/drop editor. You HAVE to know CSS, especially because there are still browser differences.
Code is almost a must, think Javascript. You can learn server-side scripting, but if you use a standard CMS you can get away without learning it for a while.
I think you have to be clear on your goals and objectives. You indicate that you want to pursue your passion, but that you dont have motivation. That sends a mixed message.
It may be that the problem is that you are very interested in web designing, but not very interested in web development. They are not the same thing. One is the presentational and the other is the semantics.
You can be a great designer and a bad developer. Just like you can be great at developing, but not so good at designing (that's me).
Its very hard to be great at both, but some people do posses both skills.
If you do want to be really proficient at development, my advice is that you work in this order:
HTML/HTML5 > CSS/CSS3 > JavaScript > AJAX > jQuery > Server-side scripting/DB
If you need to hit the ground running... i agree that a standard CMS can help you for now.
To be a great web designer, you should have a background in web development too. It would be disappointing of someone to refuse a job paying a few thousand dollars for 1 - 2 days of work just because they don't know CSS.
I would say stick to your current job and practice your web design/development skills, try your best to ignore people's "advise" (your colleagues) because they normally try to scare so you don't compete with them (i do that, so i know how it works ;)). Once you are ready to share your practices for income, "ditch" your old job and start doing your web design and development business.
JorgeM brings a good example of how to learn your development. I may add that if you want to create templates, you can try putting photoshop before html/html5... i don't know, maybe that will help you learn a bit better.
@JorgeM, i didn't even notice you... due to your new avatar ;) btw, when did you become a mod? I must have missed a lot in my 2 month absense...
most wysiwyg editors produceepixel measured layout, looks great on your screen, looks ridiculous on all others
basic design on a wysiwyg, redone to display in em or % instead of pixels will get you by, but hand written code, is going to be prettier, faster, and more consistent overall.
Pretty much everything your co-workers tell you will be wrong, ignorance they learned about X, Y years ago and there is no other way to do it , , , else people would still be slicing up images to display with dreamweaver and doubling the time the page takes to display (oops, they are), or malice they dont want competent competition
ignorance and malice dont leave much room for honest answers
There was an anouncement from HappyGeek, just last week about JorgeM's elevation.
almostbob brings up a great point on why you should know css. try not to focus on wysiwyg, it tends to go against you on things such as browser compatibility. for example, your site looks perfect on Google Chrome but it looks like a mess on safari and likes defective on explorer.
Learn to code, you will be glad you did :)
At first coding will seem like a scary thing, but later on you will discover you have made a good choice (in fact you can even "educate" colleagues).
@almostbob, hmmmm, i seemed to have missed that announcement.
Even web designers are expected to know at least a little html/css. Not learning it you'd only be hurting yourself. And wysiwyg editors tend to make awful looking code and inefficient. HTML isn't that hard to learn.
HTML isn't that hard to learn.
No language is hard to learn, it just takes time and practice.
If you do code, you get designs and layouts that you can use over and over, knowing they work, and making $ off them
Cordell sells its services to banks and insurers
this link differs from this link differs from this link
by a profile number mapping a good idea to a bunch of purchaser's color and layouts
cant do that if the code you produce is proprietary to someone else
(I do real estate services)
AnyHoo, this is the new mod thread
Thank you folks i think i got a ground up for where to begin and what to do. Thanks pritaes,JorgeM,almostbob,m/,Phaelax for being there and helping out.
Do you have anymore questions left for us to answer based on this topic? If not, you can mark this question solved. If not, ask away! :)
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