I want to become a Web Designer / Developer...

[RoEy]

Hi all,

Unfortunately I'm going to be made redundant due to severe cutbacks (Thanks Mr Cameron). Fortunately though, I have until April to find another job. I am currently working for a School as an ICT Learning Resources Co-ordinator. The main responsibilities of my job are to develop and maintain our website and feeder schools websites and develop our VLE system.

I've been doing the Job for over 4 years now and in that time I've really developed a passion for web design / development. I didn't know anything about web site building prior to getting to job but I interviewed very well and came from an IT lecturing background at a local College.

So I have taught myself about web design as the school couldn’t afford any courses for me. However, the frustrating part is that I have to do other things within my job so I don't get to spend as much time with our website as I'd like to as that is the career path I want to take.

I have signed up to the Lynda.com tutorials web site which gets great reviews. So basically I want to study, a lot, from now until April to get as much knowledge as possible to help me get into the web industry. I really don't mind putting the hours in to learn what I need to, infact I thoroughly enjoy doing it.

I use Dreamweaver, CSS, Flash and Fireworks primarily. But I want to get into PHP and MySQL to start building dynamic websites. What I’d really like to do is produce a plan for the next 6 months on what I need to learn. As I go a long I want to build as many example sites as possible so it helps me retain the information. Even if I don’t manage to find a job I will continue to study none the less until I do.

I’d just like some advice on what I need to learn and preferably what order. I know HTML but not enough to thoroughly code it by hand and the same goes for CSS as I tend to use Dreamweaver and then change small bits of code if needed. Do companys use Dreamweaver or are you expected to fully hand code?

If someone could give me some advice I’d really appreciate it. I built our school website from scratch so I’ll let you guys have a look to see if I do have potential to become a professional web designer / developer.

www.medenschool.co.uk

Thanks,

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Hi Spunkey,

Thanks for the info mate and I have been thinking about this. However, the jobs you see say you require both sets of skills. Very often I'll see needs good knowledge of HTML, XHTML, CSS, FLASH, & PHP MySQL, hence the reason I was thinking about doing both as they are connected together really. You don't tend to see many static websites these days. It's probably better for me to split them up though like you say and I guess that will help me to learn it thoroughly.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Thanks for your help Ekim. I think I'll go down the dev route initially as I feel I have more resources to learn that. I really need to put a plan together that covers the next 6 months and beyond really as I know it takes years to fully master programming but I will get there.

What would you say is the most important things to learn over the next 6 months to help get me develop further, without going into overload, and to increase my chances of getting a web developing post?

HTML, CSS, PHP & MySQL?

Can you recommend some good books please? I want to get all the resources I can from my current job while I'm still here as I am entitled to it.

It's great to have a forum like this where people take the time to advise other people. I really appreciate everyone’s help. Thank you very much.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

This is great info guys, much appreciated and I feel more confident already! With regard to HTML, should I just jump to html 5 and learn that or 4.01 first?

fez - I too need a target when learning and I want to build as many sites as possible really. I just can't think what I'll build so I'm hoping I can just do some example sites when learning and take it from there.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

HTML, CSS, PHP & MySQL are the things I've started learning. In that order. Naturally when you develop you'll be almost forced into learning new things. Javascript/Jquery, AJAX and so on...

I'll always recommend PHP because it's strong and there's so much documentation out there.

1 to 2-weeks HTML/CSS then start PHP work but continue to develop it all.

Cheers fabien. Sounds good and very logical.

gord - the tizag site looks great, thanks for that.

 

[RoEy]

Just looking into notepad++ and was wondering which seems to be the most commonly used open source code editting prog? There seems to be hundreds so will I need to use a few or can I hone into just one?

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Notepad.. lol

Notepad++ is good for coloured lines etc though nothing beats just throwing code into notepad for a quick edit

Just to reiterate, is it better to learn html 4.01 first or just go straight into 5?

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

learn HTML 4 and HTML 5.

There are features in HTML 5 that aren't always supported by older browsers (which are used too frequently). Most HTML 5 tutorials will tell you the compatibility anyway.

w3schools.com
http://net.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/html-css-techniques/

Two awesome places to start. w3schools first net tuts later.

Cheers Fab. Great stuff.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Ok let me get this straight. I should primarily concentrate on learning XHTML and CSS3, yes? I do have access to Dreamweaver CS5 at work and at home, courtesy of work. So should I use that instead of notepad ++ if I just use the code view?

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know how I get on.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Thanks Tripnologist. I do like Dreamweaver and I have it so I may as well use it. Whenever I move files within Dreamweaver it automatically sorts and updates the paths for what I have moved. How would you do that in notepad? From now on though, I'll stay in Code view.

XHTML (Strict) and CSS 2.1, got it.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

With Dreamweaver I usually have the design view open on the right and code inspector window open on the left so I can see both at the same time, rather than the split code/design view.

Other programs I've looked at are:

Webuilder 2010
http://www.blumentals.net/webuilder/

And a good all-in-one developer (and free) is Aptana Studio - cross-platform too.
http://aptana.com/products/studio3

By the way...your website looks really good. You're off to a great start!

And another recommendation for Lynda.com...invaluable!

And some inspiration towards coding by hand - it's great watching this guy at work. Looks nice in Textmate...must be the colour scheme!

http://vimeo.com/channels/csstipsandtricks

Textmate is Mac-only though but there is an equivalent for the PC:
http://www.e-texteditor.com/

Thank you very much Le Samourai. Some great links for me to check out. This is all going into my resources bank. I'm glad you like the web site I built as I get no praise whatsoever from the school. I'm glad I'm moving on.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Its already been mostly said, you need to be one or the other, lots of freelancers try and do everything and fail. Most companies take on one or the other, being honest your site in the first post doesnt come across as someone who would be good att he design side of it, thats just my opinion though, you can learn the code side of things, design you cant, you either have the ability or you dont.

Well thanks for your opinion schnipps. I don't proclaim to be a web designer but compared to a lot of school websites I've seen I'd say mine is a hell of a lot better. Not perfect but much better than loads I've seen. Yes I think you're right about the ability to design, to a certain degree. I think the more you do it though, the better you get, which is like anything else really. I do wish to take the development route though and I can always improve design later on.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Is it really possible for me to learn asp.net in my own time and apply for a job when I know it well enough though? Or will I have to go on courses?

I really have to take this one step at a time otherwise it will send me mad. I've just started to learn XHTML from the video tutorial I got at lynda.com Please see course outline - http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourse.aspx?lpk2=47603

The guy is mainly talking about XHTML transitional and not strict. I'm hearing it's better to learn strict so do I ditch this video and find resources on strict or what?

I like the appeal of strict as I've read you have to rely on css for all positioning and layout etc..


RoEy

P.S. ASP.NET does look really good and I've just looked into WebMatrix. Looks great but oh so many decisions to make. One thing is clear, this is a career change for me so I really want to go for it.

 

[RoEy]

There is very little difference between XHTML transitional and strict. It's really just a few deprecated attributes/elements such as target="".

So would you say it's ok to carry on with this video tutorial?

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

I too want to use strict so I'd sooner learn that from scratch than transitional and then mess around learning other bits. I feel like I really need to go back to sqaure one. There's just so many things to look at, which is spinning me out. I've spent too long in Dreamweaver and relied on that. I don't really know much about validation or accessibility. I just need a simple plan that will point me in the right direction. Wish I'd have done this 10 years ago.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Once you have learnt xHTML and CSS and you are starting on the programming side of things, you may want to concentrate on programming techniques and design patterns as well as the actual syntax.

Programming things like basic logic (string, integers, arrays, if, else, switch) and OOP (Object Oriented Programming) are good to know in theory.

Once you understand the theory and recognise design patterns then without too much difficulty you can learn a programming language, after all, it's just the syntax you need to learn.

I can't stress enough really how much knowing OOP is valuable, I don't think you'll get far if you don't at least know the basics.

I like you, started as a junior. I developed personal sites in my own time to learn basic programming and HTML/CSS. Because I'm hard working, motivated and willing to learn I was given a shot at the place I work now (A web design and development agency). I started here just doing HTML/CSS production and quickly found myself being the number one for HTML production work. I've since moved on from being a junior to a middleweight developer who now spends most of my time developing applications, helping out with builds where I can.

Enough about me, I was just showing how, with enough determination, you can do it.

Good luck.

This post has made me feel great and just goes to show you can do anything you want to with enough effort in place. I will take on board everything you said and you are a real inspiration to me mate. With regards to php and asp.net, I'll get stuck into xhtml and css first then decide on that later.

Once again, thank you to everyone who has taken the time to advise me.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Im doing the exact same thing. Currently building a portfolio, mainly html and css just now but starting to dabble in php and jquery a little more beyond the usual plugins.

Im aiming at getting some freelance work then trying to get a junior front end dev or design role.

Great thread RoEy and all the other commenters, really helpfull and motivational.

Cheers mate. Really please other people are benefiting from this thread too, I know I am!

Just about to purchase these books:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0672330970/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0596802447/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

I want to forget everything I've done with Dreamweaver and start a fresh working from the ground up. From this weekend onwards I'll have plenty of time to get stuck in.

I'm going to use these books a long side the videos I have from lynda.com

Do they look ok as a good starting point? They have very good reviews.

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Yes I can see where you're coming from but I do like to 'pick' something up too. By all means I'll use many different types of resources but I also favour books.

Do they look good enough to give me a good starting point?

RoEy

 

[RoEy]

Yeah, I've always liked SAMS. you won't have issues learning CSS/HTML from any resource. Read the first few pages to get a feel. I also like For Dummies.

Cheers fab.

RoEy