[Nor]

Hello everybody i hope all of you are great

I came here to know more about the web design workabout and i was thinking about expanding my knowledge in graphic design using these very powerfull tool of media content .

So im just a second year graphic design now in university , and i wanted to learn by my own about web design.

So i was wondering what its the necesary tools , definitions and knowledge to start off ?

i just know a bit of Html (most common tags) , done some things in flash , is it necesarry to understand fully the code of html (xhtml) , css , javascript nowadays?

i have dreamweaver installed but dont know how to fully use it yet...


anyway i wanted to know your advice

[ThomasFjordside]

I would recommend learning html and css fully. You are going to hit a lot of problems which are easier to spot if you can read the code. But it is entirely possible to make a website without knowing code using programs like dreamweaver. The output might not be the most correct way to do it tho.

[StumpyXL]

There is a beginners thread on here, search for that it should help you out.

[Nor]

Originally Posted by ThomasFjordside

I would recommend learning html and css fully. You are going to hit a lot of problems which are easier to spot if you can read the code. But it is entirely possible to make a website without knowing code using programs like dreamweaver. The output might not be the most correct way to do it tho.

Yes indeed this was the biggest doubt about web design , i was trying just to go to the design area using dreamweaver that makes it so easy nowadays but a fully knowledge of Xhtml and CSS would be indeed very practical .

Sad thing i dont know any of CSS (just about the issue of every1 complaining for using frames for page layout xD)

anyway ill fully understand both css and xthml and then ill just hop on tools like dreamweaver , im not a programmer you know :p , im a designer >< ! (so im not learning javascript)

Originally Posted by StumpyXL

There is a beginners thread on here, search for that it should help you out.

Yes ive seen those very nice but im using now one from killerwebsites.com


thank you for your responses

[ThomasFjordside]

I still use tools like dreamweaver to code my websites even though I code css html by heart.

Good luck with your project.

[LukeV]

I'd recommend you lay off dreamweaver if you really want to learn the code. Unless you intend to work in Code view all the time. But actually using the tools provided by dreamweaver may make your code inefficient some times and you will not learn as much from it.

The way I learned it was by making a simple photoshop design, told a friend exactly what I wanted it to look like, he coded it for me, and then I looked at the code and examined how he accomplished what I wanted to do. I still look back on that very same code nowadays. It really helps if you have someone that can code very well

[djhektik]

focus on html and css for now.

have a look at well designed websites, especially css Zen Garden: The Beauty in CSS Design

also Smashing Magazine has many good resources for learning css

[pgo]

If you want to work in the web industry you need to do one of the following:

Just do design and hire developers to write HTML/CSS/JavaScript and the rest. This is a very specialized role and your portfolio will have to be stellar. You won't be able to sell yourself as a web designer, though.

or

Learn HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to be a front-end developer. Learn programming languages to be a programmer.

Either way, forget Dreamweaver unless you're using Code View. No professional uses it for anything but Code View. Notepad++ (Windows) is nice because it does syntax highlighting, code folding, and so on. It's also $400 cheaper (as in free).

Originally Posted by LukeV

It really helps if you have someone that can code very well

How do you know if someone codes well if you don't know what good code looks like?

[djhektik]

Originally Posted by pgo

forget Dreamweaver unless you're using Code View. No professional uses it for anything but Code View. Notepad++ (Windows) is nice because it does syntax highlighting, code folding, and so on. It's also $400 cheaper (as in free).

How do you know if someone codes well if you don't know what good code looks like?

completely agree. If you use MacOS Coda is great.