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Website Design

Thread title: Website Design
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06-20-2011, 02:15 PM
#1
JacktheFlipper is offline JacktheFlipper
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  Old  Website Design

Hey Guys,

I have usually always hired someone to do website design for me but now I am working online full time I feel its the time I learnt some skills for myself.

But I have a few questions,

What software do you use? Paid or free?

Where did you learn from?

How long until you had your own portfolio and creating nice designs?

JtF

06-20-2011, 09:23 PM
#2
Matt Brighton is offline Matt Brighton
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Well, there's Web Design and then there's Web Development

Web Design is basically going through the design process and then creating a full dummy on photoshop of a website, and then there is web development which is coding and putting the 'brains' into the website so to speak.
Its great that your looking into learning this and theres usually huge discussions on the whole, can you be a designer AND a developer at a professional level as they are seen as 2 different things completely. Some designers spend years in design schools learning trends and techniques, the same goes for coders spending years studying all the languages. So to combine the two would take a lot of time to be a 'professional'

But on a personal level for your own online work then its probably a great way to save money. It depends how much effort you want to put into learning one or the other, or both.

The industry standard really is Dreamweaver from the adobe suite to code your sites, this software is quite expensive but worth while. The same goes for Photoshop which is again part of Adobe and you can get these two in a package for a few £100. Most if not all designers and developers use these two pieces of kit to develop and amazing site.

Most people learn through education for one of the other, as i mentioned, some designers go through 2 college years and 3 university years so they will have 5 years experience before they get out there. Same for developers. Others learn online or through experience, they start off small, earning a small amount and working for low budget clients and then they work their way up the chain, charging more for their work as the skill develops, and as they make friends / contacts who return for more work, those people are happy to pay a slightly higher price for a designer / developer who they know, love and trust. There's great resources online for example online videos for software at www.lynda.com. If you google the terms "photoshop tutorials" etc you'll find loads of paid and free tutorials. The best thing to do is follow the free ones to develop your skill.

The problem is - you can learn software inside out, but its useless if you don't have that natural ability to make things look good if your a designer, or to be able to code an entire website if your a developer.

It takes as long as it needs until you have a good portfolio and nice designs. I've been designing in education for 2 years now and I've been designing professionally for about 4 months, my portfolio is ok - for low budget clients but i wouldn't present what i have to higher clients just yet.

Its all about when you think your ready to move onto the next step, do it. Just remember to put one foot in front of the other and don't run before you can walk.

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06-21-2011, 07:15 AM
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madhusmita is offline madhusmita
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You can use the Dream weaver for the web designing purpose.Its a very good tool.You can work on it.It will help you to learn easily while designing.So, it can be a better option for you.

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06-22-2011, 09:40 PM
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JacktheFlipper is offline JacktheFlipper
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Hey Guys,

Thanks for your replies!

I have started using jEdit on my iMac to start learning html/css and php all of which is coming along nicely but I really want to do web design as its an area of the web I love and I used to be very artistic and creative.

I was just looking for the best sources and software.

Is photoshop the best software to use when designing websites? I've heard of fireworks, is that better?

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07-15-2011, 10:45 PM
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Chris.Chaffin is offline Chris.Chaffin
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Yes, I am pretty sure Photoshop is the best program for designing website.

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07-15-2011, 11:21 PM
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dlopez916 is offline dlopez916
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With my experience I have found Photoshop to be better than Fireworks when it comes to web design. I use Fireworks more for icon, logo, and small image type creation. But that's just me. Fireworks also comes in the Adobe Suite, so if you had an interest in Fireworks, you may be able to scoop up all 3 (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks) in a bundle.

07-16-2011, 02:50 AM
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  Old

I prefer Photoshop over Fireworks, but that's more a matter of what I'm used to. There are other designers who prefer Fireworks so it's really your choice. When Photoshop and Fireworks were made by two different companies, Adobe and Macromedia respectively, the designers' preference came down to Adobe or Macromedia products. Since I learned on Adobe, Photoshop was my go-to software. Even now that they come together in CS, I still use Photoshop and have never opened Fireworks. I use Illustrator for all of my vector work as well.

You could also look into free options like GIMP. Although, I've never used it myself, there are some designers that like it.

10-25-2011, 09:37 AM
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Its great that your looking into learning this and theres usually huge discussions on the whole, can you be a designer AND a developer at a professional level as they are seen as 2 different things completely. Some designers spend years in design schools learning trends and techniques, the same goes for coders spending years studying all the languages. So to combine the two would take a lot of time to be a 'professional'

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12-03-2011, 09:17 AM
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Glen_B is offline Glen_B
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Originally Posted by JacktheFlipper View Post
Hey Guys,

I have usually always hired someone to do website design for me but now I am working online full time I feel its the time I learnt some skills for myself.

But I have a few questions,

What software do you use? Paid or free?

Where did you learn from?

How long until you had your own portfolio and creating nice designs?

JtF
It's always good to use a paid software but of course you have to charge a fraction of the software price each time a client asks for your services.

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02-22-2012, 11:04 AM
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HenrySWolfe is offline HenrySWolfe
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Dreamweaver is the best software for web design. You can easily download this tool from free websites on internet without any cost. This tool includes many advance options to design website and it is also easy to learn from online ebook as "ebooksgo".

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