What software do you need to become a web designer?
This is actually a good question, because you’d figure with all the web design programs that you see out there, that you’d have to shell out a lot of cash to get going. Ah … it would seem grasshoppers … but do not be deceived!
… You don’t need to buy any software to build websites – that is one of the beauties of web design.
Are you sure Stef? I thought you needed to buy something like Dreamweaver or Web Expression to build websites?
No. Web design programs like Dreamweaver CAN speed up the process but so can being smart about how you build websites. In fact, my beginners course on web design teaches you how to build websites using free software that you already have.
We just launched our brand-spanking-new forum/community for web designers and aspiring web designers. It is basically a forum with extend personal profiles and social networking capabilities like friends lists, private messaging, galleries, chat .. etc.
Beyond the obvious, we will be including a few interesting features:
Script banks for people to contribute useful PHP and Javascript.
A web template library … again, for people to contribute to and use.
A photo sharing section for people to showcase their web design work.
The idea is to create a community of web professionals that can share not only knowledge of web design, but also potentially pool talents and secure jobs. For instance, maybe you’re are great coder but lack on the design side of things, you being a member of the community, will undoubtedly get to know a few great designers – people you can get to help you on more design intensive projects.
A common question that is put to me by aspiring web designers is:
What are the job prospect looking forward, for web designers and web programmers?
Oftentimes, they will mention web templates and other tools/technology that speed up the process of web design, seeing them as potential roadblocks for the profession:
… if these tools keep getting better and making web design easier, who’s going to need web designers?
Let me first start by saying that web designers, programmers, market specialist and all other web professionals are going to become even MORE SOUGHT AFTER, over the next many years.
Why? Simple young nerdlings, everything is jumping onto the Web. Radio stations and newspapers are going bust, magazines and books are going digital … even TV is fragmenting, where video sites like Youtube have huge audiences that rival many traditional TV networks.
But wait, there’s more!
Besides traditional media business having to go online, just about every business (large and small) NEED to have a Web presence. Today, a business without a website is like a home without electricity.
So it’s pretty clear that business needs to be on the Web and so the Web is growing like crazy. But how about them pesky templates and blogs that make putting up a website easy? Well, let me ask you, do you know how to install a blog, set up a database? Do you know how to choose a good domain name, structure a website so that it is search engine friendly? Do you know how to add sound, video, contact forms, forums …. e-commerce systems to a site? Do you know how the design a custom theme for WordPress or Drupal?
… Now, as a web professional you may know how to do some of these things, but what I can tell you with great certainty, is just about all non-web designers no nothing about how to do these things. That’s where a web professional comes in:
– installing that blog.
– customizing the theme.
– adding the forum.
Now the article doesn’t mention web designers or programmers specifically, but you can be sure they are a serious part of the mix. One thing the article does mention though, is that the more skills you have, the greater chance you will get a job and the more money you will make – something I’ve been pushing for years: web designers need to evolve into 21st century web designers and learn:
Sometimes change makes people nervous. I got an email from someone recently, who’s been noticing some changes in the web design world and had some fears. Check it out:
I been noticing more ads on the TV and the internet about web site building kits and companies set up to build web sites through the use of templates and prearranged page layout formats to choose from. Since this is on the rise I was wondering in me learning to become a web developer, will this occupation be a dieing breed given all the self help web template sites that are popping up. What are some of the pros and cons of going with a web template based company or a guy who can do it all from scratch like yourself. Any thoughts appreciated.
Best Regards,
Rich
So let’s hit the major points:
… will this occupation be a dieing breed given all the self help web template sites that are popping up
Good question. Short answer: no. Couple of quick points:
Many of those website building kits are very, very limited. Though they will satisfy some segment of the population, they only have a small place in the grand scheme of web design things.
Web Templates should not be looked at as competition, instead you should look at them as tools … a way to rapidly produce websites. That said, you will find that many clients will not want to use templates for fear that their website will look like it was built with a template.
I would say that you should be open to using templates and designing from scratch. Some budgets will require templates where other clients will want to spend the extra money on original design work.
In the end, if you want to be competitive, you ought to expand you skills into things like PHP, Javascript and blogs.
A really interesting question was emailed to me recently by someone that I will call ‘Rick’. Her real name was Jenny, but she wanted to keep that private:
I’ve been trying to make a decision about my career path and I wondered if you could offer me any words of advice?
I have a disability that prevents me from working on-site and I will need to work from home as a freelancer. I’m trying to find out which of these server side technologies will make me more marketable from home as a freelancer …
… Rick goes on to mention a few of the popular web programming languages that he is considering:
If you want to work from home, by far and away PHP is your best choice because it is the most widely used language and it is the language that you see small business use more often than not. After PHP, I would give Ruby a go.
… Actually, why not learn both!
🙂
Java and .NET are not great choices for stay-at-home freelancers because those technologies are more or less used by larger corporations that more likely than not, will want you to work on site.
In the following video, I go over what the differences are between a web designer and a graphic designer. I also give a few tips on how to judge whether or not to become a web designer.
Web usability is a very important aspect in web design. In fact, there are web professionals out there who call themselves ‘usability’ specialist.
What is Web Usability?
This is basically understanding how a web page and a web site are made easier to use .. from the web surfers perspective. This is really, really important stuff because the less usable a website is, the less likely the site will be successful. For example, if you have very unfriendly (bad usability) shopping cart installed in your site, you would see sales drop off … sometimes dramatically.
… This is bad, because then your client couldn’t afford to hire you again!!
😉
In the following video, I show you a real life example of how simply moving a page widget over to the right of the page, had a dramatic impact. You will also see one of my old (circa 2004) web sites … ouch:
I’m a big fan of Flash and it has many uses .. one of them though, is NOT to create an entire website with it.
My top four reasons for not creating a Flash only website:
Limited search engine visibility.
Harder to update because you have to crack open Flash source files.
Harder to find Flash developers/designers than it is HTML/CSS nerds.
Apple’s iPhone and iPad can’t see Flash.
Learn from the past …
Back in the 1990’s, Flash only websites became a big thing for a while … then people realized that it was a bad idea, and the Web returned to traditional HTML and CSS based web sites. Let’s not make the same mistake.
Attack of the KILLER APPLE
Another fact that should make you reconsider Flash only sites, is that Apple is now in open warfare against Flash, where they will not let Flash work on the very popular iPhone and soon to be released (with much hype) iPad. That means that a Flash only website cannot be seen by millions of iPhone users.
Flash should only be used for:
Application development.
Only in parts of your HTML web sites – to do things like play video, audio or some other multimedia use.
This short article may piss-off some Flash maniacs … but what can I say, sometimes the truth hurts.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve noticed that artist (including web designers) develop or adopt a distinct and consistent style that rarely changes.
… It seems that like leopards, artists can’t change their spots. It’s as though the brain gets hardwired.
We are not alone .. we lowly web designers stand with giants …
Consider some of these big (huge) names:
The Beatles
Charles and Ray Eames
Pablo Picasso
In the above, we have incredibly talented people who each defined a recognizable style. What’s interesting, is that once you’re familiar with say the way the Beatles sounded, you didn’t have to know the song to know it was the Beatles.
… The most recognizable style for me though, is probably Picasso’s … some weird looking stuff!
My point: Though these iconic artists were incredibly talented, like most artists, they had a style and they carried that style to the end.
