About Web Site Designing
The Web has been around for more than 20 years now, experiencing euphoric early expansion, an economic-driven bust, an innovation-driven rebirth, and constant evolution along the way. One thing is certain: the Web as a communication and commercial medium is here to stay. Not only that, it has found its way onto devices such as smartphones, tablets, TVs, and more. There have never been more opportunities to put web design knowhow
to use.
Where Do I Start?
Your particular starting point will no doubt depend on your background and
goals. However, a good first step for everyone is to get a basic understanding
of how the Web and web pages work. This book will give you that foundation.
Once you learn the fundamentals, there are plenty of resources on the Web
and in bookstores for you to further your learning in specific areas.
There are many levels of involvement in web design, from building a small
site for yourself to making it a full-blown career. You may enjoy being a fullservice
website developer or just specializing in one skill. There are a lot of
ways you can go.
If your involvement in web design is purely at the hobbyist level, or if you
have just one or two web projects you’d like to publish, you may find that a
combination of personal research (like reading this book), taking advantage
of available templates, and perhaps even investing in a visual web design tool
such as Adobe Dreamweaver may be all you need to accomplish the task at
hand. Many Continuing Education programs offer introductory courses to
web design and production.
If you are interested in pursuing web design or production as a career, you’ll
need to bring your skills up to a professional level. Employers may not
require a web design degree, but they will expect to see working sample sites
that demonstrate your skills and experience. These sites can be the result of
class assignments, personal projects, or a simple site for a small business or
organization. What’s important is that they look professional and have wellwritten,
clean HTML, style sheets, and possibly scripts behind the scenes.
Getting an entry-level job and working as part of a team is a great way to
learn how larger sites are constructed and can help you decide which aspects
of web design you would like to pursue.