The definition of 'Web Designer' is possibly one of the more over used and misinterpreted titles in the I.T. market. For anyone wanting to get in to the industry, some details about the diverse aspects ought to help to de-mystify things. There are fundamentally 2 elements to web-design - the 'technical' process & the creative design side. The typical PC user believes web-site designers are responsible for how a site looks and 'feels'. In other words, they look at web-site designers as artists on the whole. The truth is the modern web designer's work is an inter-related blend of technical knowledge & design-creativity - and the two have become very hard to split up. When you break down web design into it's component functions, then it will become much more apparent how each thing sits together.

To start with, we have the graphic artists, that design & put together the graphic icons & pictures which you see on a web-page. They're not exactly web-site designers per-se, and usually are multi-media artists employing graphic lay-out & animation software, (such as Adobe 'Photoshop' and Adobe Flash.) The majority have been through higher-education, typically with a degree-level art qualification. This particular role is much more about creative expertise than any other function.

Then come the web-designers, who develop the layout & overall feel of a web site using a design-environment such as Dreamweaver. Using graphics from the graphic-artist, they will assemble the 'navigational' framework of the web-site, working with the client to confirm the 'feel' is right. An amateur web-designer tends to start with the 'form' of the site, rather than the 'function'. However, you should really start with a grasp of the 'functions' it's required to perform to create a really effective web site. It might be an on-line catalogue of products, or maybe its an E-commerce web site that wants to have the ability to sell straight from the web page. It could be you want to accentuate products and solutions through video and a largely 'graphical' inter-face, or it could be it's mostly an informational site where the necessity is straightforward access to essential text information (such as this site.) Regardless of what you want from a web site, it must - at its simplest level - carry out the function for which it's intended. Such a lot of web sites look wonderful but they are a pain to 'navigate' and find where you need - and so visitors move on and never return. The goal of any good web-designer is to first & foremost create an experience that individuals enjoy and feel happy with - so they will come back again and again.

Web developers are members of the equation, and they are the most technically-minded. Not only will these people understand the languages already mentioned, they will also have had training in additional languages, such as 'C#', Visual Basic, 'PHP', Java, 'ASP.Net' etc. Quite a few also possess a very good understanding of SQL, the Database language - as the data on many sizable modern sites is stored in this particular 'language'. The majority of E-commerce web-sites are not the result of a sizable group of web-designers who have created many hundreds of pages in a layout format. More usually, following the creation of a place holder 'template', the contents will be extracted from a Database and 'dynamically' inserted. This process not only makes the construction, management and up-dates vastly more efficient, it also makes for a far more consistent website.

Needless to say you'll find crossovers with a lot of these functions - in-fact we have connections with a number of web-site designers who are competent in most of them. However, it will take quite some time to develop that much expertise. You have to be trained in several things on a professionally feasible web design training program: A basic introduction to web-design, and then how to utilise Adobe Dreamweaver and gain a basic knowledge of Adobe 'Flash'. Next you must understand the coding languages HTML and 'CSS', & then be trained in a synopsis of just how e-commerce works. Some Database & 'SEO' know-how is crucial, & an awareness of the programming language PHP (rather than the more complicated ASP.NET) so that you can build 'dynamic' websites. Grasping these competencies will give you a chance to begin working on a good cross-section of sites. The actual physical skills have got to come first of all, before you can fine tune them to a more natural flowing style - a lot like when you learned to drive a car. An intensive training program of this sort would possibly take around 400 to 500 hours of part time study (and practice) & therefore can be reasonably carried out part time over a year. As there are numerous things to consider, it's worth taking the time to look carefully at any training-programs you're interested in. Talk to somebody with knowledge of the industry who can help you put things together.

The most important resources utilised by web designers are the design environments, with 'Adobe Creative Suite' (now in version 4 as of '09/10) being essentially the most commercially popular. 'Dreamweaver' is the software program that builds web-sites, with Flash delivering usage of animated & interactive graphical content. You could state that Dreamweaver is the Word Processor of the Adobe CS range. Graphics & text can be displayed (according to known rules) and then a basic inter-activity can be produced by page-linking. Like other web design-environments, 'Dreamweaver' creates the program-code 'HTML' in the background ('HTML' stands for Hyper Text Markup Language). It's the 'language' of web browsers, and is a script that essentially draws & controls the page you are seeing. Matched with HTML are the layout 'tag' languages like XML and CSS. These tag languages allow more stream-lined 'HTML' coding and more effective layout methods, which will work on multiple platforms (as they are 'standardised'). The theory is that the page will look exactly the same on any web browser, be it 'Mozilla Firefox', Internet Explorer, Safari, 'Opera' or whichever. And so though you're laying graphic-blocks and text, in the background, Dreamweaver is turning what you're doing in to 'code'. If you are planning to be a commercially viable web designer, you'll need an in-depth knowledge of these languages.

Other skill sets which are relevant to web-designers in the commercial marketplace are a good grasp of E-commerce & project management. Search Engine Optimisation ('SEO') is another area that tackles how the site is listed with Search Engines - so it may be more easily found (this is sometimes a whole job in itself.) And in the background but vitally important are the web-server administrators and installers that ensure that everything runs as it should. Strictly speaking these people are network administrator professionals though.

Its vital to realise that even the very best web-design programs can only show you the techniques and procedures - none of them can convert you into a bona fide web-designer. Put together as many sites as possible as you go through your studies - the exercise will be invaluable and you will have a portfolio to show what you can do. A craft or interest is a good place to start, or maybe your favourite family pet, or a holiday resort you especially enjoyed. Construct an inter-active website, and begin generating traffic towards it. 'Adobe' certifications are very useful, but how you can apply the training says far more about you as a web designer!

Microsoft Office Systems Computer Training >>