Web Design
April 17, 2012
Just about every small business owner knows that they have to have a website. What many don’t know, is that they also have to have basic web design skills … yes, even learning the dreaded code behind the pages: HTML and CSS.
Why do you need to know HTML and CSS?
For a few reasons:
- To be able to make small changes to your site, without having to call your web designer every two minutes!
- To be able to judge (to a certain extent) how long it might take to make a change to your website.
- To know what your options are regarding a website.
… Let’s tackle each of these:
MAKING SMALL CHANGES TO YOUR WEBSITE
Websites are in constant need of updates, no question. It could be some new text you want add, corrections, adding a new image or even a new page. Many of these jobs are actually pretty easy to do with even a simple understanding of HTML and CSS.
So rather than having to reach your web designer, waiting for he/she to get back to you, just learn some basic web design and you will save a lot of time, headaches and even some money.
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April 7, 2012
Everyone has their own style of learning, and because of this, we’ve provide a few different ways for you to learn web design and web programming:
1. Buy a video package that you can take home and own – for example:
www.killervideostore.com/video-courses/complete-web-designer.php
These are video courses that you can either download or have a DVD shipped to you.
2. Subscribe to our big library of premium content:
www.killersites.com/video-library/
This is a subscription service that works a lot like Netflix, where you can access our entire collection and watch as many videos you want. We have a standard and a premium subscription where with the premium subscription, you have access to all the videos, sources files and we give you one year access.
3. And of course, the KillerSites University where you get the interactive video training experience:
killersitesuniversity.com/
You can either buy individual courses or subscribe to access all of the training courses. KillerSites University is an interactive learning system, where you are quizzed and code challenged, while you watch videos that teach web design and web programming.
Stefan Mischook
killersites.com
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March 10, 2012
Hi,
I got a good question from someone wanting to learn web design:
… if I buy your videos on how to construct a website, do I not also have to purchase the software to actually make the website, such as DreamWeaver or some other software?
My answer:
Hi James,
To create web sites, you don’t have to buy the expensive commercial packages like Dreamweaver. There are many free alternatives that work great and in fact, we include one in this package:
Complete Web Designer
That said, we teach with the popular commercial products because they are popular. But once you learn to work with say Dreamweaver, any web design program you use will be easy because they are work in the same way.
.. Like driving a car, it doesn’t matter which car it is you are driving.
I hope that helps,
Stefan
killersites.com
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January 5, 2012
Hello Everyone!!
Once in a while I use an email conversation as a blog post – I get good questions from people all the time. So, in this email, someone wanted to know about software used in building web sites – check it out:
… This is the 60 thousand dollar question that no one I ask seems to be able to answer. What programs do you need to be a functioning professional web designer? (Adobe, Dreamweaver,etc.)
And do you know price ranges? I want to have the programs before I get the program so I can hit the ground running.
Thanks,
Jimmy
My answer:
Hi Steve,
The answer to the $60 000 question: You don’t need any!!!
Yep, once you start learning (video #1) you will see that you can build websites with a simple text editor like notepad!! Programs like Dreamweaver can speed up the process … but these days, they are far, far less important than they used to be.
In the first course of the Complete Web Designer package, I demonstrate building a site using notepad and textedit (for Mac people) … and I also include a free web design program that does a lot of what Dreamweaver does.
… You have many options.
Image Editors
In terms of editing images, there are cheap and free alternatives to Photoshop that will do everything you need – web image editing isn’t that complex. The Gimp and Aviary come to mind.
That said, we teach the techniques with Dreamweaver and Photoshop since they are the industry leaders. But the skills you learn there are 100% transferable to the free alternatives I mentioned.
… For the purpose of learning, just download the FREE 30 day trials of Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop … more than enough time to learn. Once you have the know how, you can jump to any of the free alternatives or go for the Adobe products.
I hope that helps,
Stefan
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November 22, 2011
It seems that Google and Youtube are moving quickly to replace the Flash video player; they just released a new HTML 5 video player for Youtube that does a bunch of things:
- enable annotations and captions
- copy embed code and URL
- native full-screen support for Firefox and Chrome
- 480p and 1080p options
Read more: Youtube Upgrades HTML 5 Player.
I know the Flash people are going to be pissed at me (again!) for suggestion the obvious: Flash is quickly moving into obsolescence.
From PC Mag:
Adobe confirmed Monday that it will release one more version of Flash Player for the mobile Web to accommodate Android 4.0, but that will be the final update.
“Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0, and one more release of the Flash Linux Porting Kit—both expected to be released before the end of this year,” an Adobe spokesman said via email. “After that time, Adobe will continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates.”
Occupy Flash!!
I’m all for advancing technology, but this is really vicious!! We now have a group who is actively looking to kill Flash:
Occupy Flash has stepped into the breach with an ambitious goal: “To get the world to uninstall the Flash Player plug-in from their desktop browsers.”
Read more: Occupy Flash has stepped up.
Final Comment:
I was one of the first users of Flash in the world – back in the 1990’s when it was called Future Splash. But being a nimble nerd who is language/platform agnostic … I’ve learned to move on from fading technologies, not wanting to fade right along with them. In biology they say the most successful species are the most adaptable; we web nerds have to be ultra nimble too.
Though it will probably take a few years for Flash to fade away into a niche, Killersites has always been about PRACTICAL web training and not getting stuck on a technology. The writing is on the wall, even Adobe is adopting HTML 5 and CSS 3.
Thanks,
Stefan Mischook
killersites.com
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November 17, 2011
I get this all the time:
Stef,
You’re a nerd and professional web designer, what computer would you recommend for someone wanting to get into the web design or web programming business?
My answer:
Being a professional nerd presents many challenges, and one of them shouldn’t be fighting with your computer, viruses or installing hardware!
You also need something very fast and what most people don’t know, a huge part of a computer’s speed is not found in the processor (everyone just thinks processor!!) … no, the biggest bottleneck these days is disk access. Or as we hard-core nerds like to call it: IO.
What is IO?
IO is short for: input / output
… It is the speed of sending and receiving information to and from your computer hard disk. Hard disk speed is huge!!
So what computer has the best IO out there?
MacBook Air
Buy it and be amazed at how fast a computer can move!! Check it out:
http://www.apple.com/macbookair/
PS: I am not a Mac/Steve Jobs fan-boy … I have an Android phone!!
Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com
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August 8, 2011
What is the best way to learn web design?
Well, I’ve learned over the years that the best way to learn anything is to just do it. I would say that the theory-to-practical mix, should be say 20% theory and 80% practical.
Yep, academic shills (regardless of profession) are not only useless, they’re down right dangerous!! To avoid becoming an evil useless shill, you need to step it up and actually build websites, write code, make mistakes and learn from it.
We build our courses with that in mind.
If you check out our growing collection of web design training courses, you will notice a few things:
- They are very tasks oriented – you learn by doing.
- They are very practical – you learn stuff that people actually use in the field!
- The teachers are ALL experienced web designers and programmers – no academic shills here!!
Conclusion:
Yep, I’m shilling for our courses, but why not?
🙂
Besides, people like our stuff, check out just a small sampling of the emails we get:
www.killertestimonials.com/
Thanks.
Stefan Mischook
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July 18, 2011
Hi,
The one great fear any nerd has is the specter of outsourcing – will my job be outsourced to some cheaper part of the world?
Yes, free trade is really not free trade, it’s actually opening up barriers to allow big American, Canadian and European companies to ship jobs to much poorer countries so that they can save money on cheap labor.
The people who benefit are:
- The executives of the big companies, since they can pay themselves big bonuses. Of course, they are the few who WILL NOT have their jobs outsourced!
- The hard working people in the poorer countries – people of the west should not bear them any ill will. They are simply trying to earn a living like anyone else.
- Bankers – who see the stock prices rise in the publicly traded corporations. In fact, it seems the big Wall Street banks were the major force behind outsourcing.
… But it is not all bad for SMART web designers and programmers working in the crumbling west. Read on and learn how!
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June 26, 2011
Web Designers Roadmap
June 2011 – By: Stefan Mischook
PDF: web-designer-roadmap
The skills required in modern web design are constantly changing … that’s because the Web itself is always changing. If you want to be successful as either a web professional (web designer / programmer) or as web site owner, you have to keep up!
What to learn (as of 2011-2012) – in order of priority:
1. HTML
2. CSS
3. PHP basics
4. Javascript
5. JQuery
6. WordPress
7. OOP PHP (for programmers only)
8. HTML 5 and CSS 3
9. iPad / iPhone (choice of either: Objective C or HTML 5 + CSS 3)
Comments
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June 7, 2011
One of my main motivations is to teach you web design skills that are practical, marketable and in the end, will make you more money. We want to teach you how to make a living with those skills.
… Yes, web design for cash is a good thing – in fact, it’s the goal for many of us!
How to beat the competition:
Though the Web is growing faster than ever before, you still have a lot of competition out there when it comes to web design jobs. In fact, there are many more web designers today than ever before. Fortunately, we have a couple of big things going for us:
- The Web is many times bigger than it was in the 1990’s.
- Like the 1990’s, the key to getting ahead of the competition is not all that hard because (as always) we have one thing on our side: laziness! Yes, people are lazy.
The more you learn, the more you earn:
The key to getting ahead is found in learning. The more you know, the easier it will be to find work, to land that contract and to charge more for your time. It is important that you as a web professional continue to develop your skills and to look to what is coming around the bend – those who jump onto the next web technology trend, will be able to monetize that upside.
… Since most people are lazy and will only learn new techniques when they absolutely have to, all you need to do to get ahead, is to continue to the learn.
So, what are the web skills for today and tomorrow?
- HTML 5 and CSS 3.
- Tablets and smart phones: iPad, iPhone, Android.
- CMS development: WordPress, Drupal.
More later,
Stefan Mischook
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