The definition of Web-Designer is quite possibly one of the most over-used and misinterpreted labels in the I.T. marketplace. Web Design takes on board many distinct facets, & a good understanding of these may help anybody seeking to get in to the marketplace. Fundamentally, there are 2 main sides to web design; the creative side and the technical side. The typical computer user considers web designers determine how a website looks and 'feels'. Many individuals might consider a web designer a form of artist. But in actuality, in contemporary web-design it's turning out to be more and more difficult to split up the 'technical' side from the creative element, as both of them are so inter-twined. It will become a bit more apparent just how things fit together if we break the work down into its component parts.

People who design and put together the images and graphic symbols that go on a web-site are known as graphic-artists. These are not exactly web site designers per-se, & in many cases are multi-media artists making use of graphic layout & 'animation' software, (for instance Adobe 'Photoshop' & Adobe Flash.) Typically, they'll have come from an art background, and could have undertaken studies at college or university level. Evidently, this role calls for a strong artistic ability.

Next we have the web-designers, who generate the layout & overall 'feel' of a web-site by utilising a design environment such as Adobe 'Dreamweaver'. Using artwork from the graphic-artist, they will build the 'navigational' framework of the website, working together with the clients to make sure the feel is correct. A web-designer with fairly limited understanding would probably focus on the form instead of the function of a site. But, to truly develop an effective website, you need to start with a clear understanding of the things you require the web site to actually do. It could be it is in effect an online catalogue, or an e-commerce web site where products and solutions can be bought there and then. Maybe rather like this web-site the main function is simple access to pertinent info, or it could be it'll be a show-case for goods through video and a heavily 'graphical' inter-face. Whatever you require from a site, it must - at its most basic level - fulfil the function for which it is intended. Visitors will abandon a web site & not come back if its too tricky to get around - however great it looks at first glance. The overriding aim of every good web site designers is for people to visit their web-site repeatedly - so it really needs to be a happy and enjoyable experience.

Commercial web designers can also improve their offering if they branch-out in to areas like project management and E-commerce for example. Another field - that is not to be under-estimated - is 'SEO' (Search Engine Optimisation). This is all about how to optimise web-site listings on Search Engines like 'Google' and Yahoo. And whilst they generally originate from a network-administration background, we mustn't forget the incredibly valuable function of the web-server administrators and installers, who keep everything working behind the scenes.

The most important resources used by web site designers are their design environments, with Adobe Creative Suite (now in version 4 as of 2009/2010) staying essentially the most popular commercially. Dreamweaver is the software which builds website pages, with Flash providing access to interactive & animated 'graphical' content material. In many ways we might view Dreamweaver as a rather fancy Word-Processor. In accordance with particular rules & constraints, it lets you display text & graphics, & then through a method called 'page linking' you can create basic inter-activity inside the web-site. 'HTML' ('Hyper Text Markup Language') program-coding is produced in the background with 'Dreamweaver', just like any other web design environment. 'HTML' is a 'script' which in essence 'draws' & controls the web-page on your screen. It's the language of web-browsers. Alongside 'HTML' are the layout tag 'languages' - like XML and CSS. Because these 'tag' 'languages' are 'standardised', the smoother and rather more efficient outcomes work successfully on a number of different platforms. What this means is the web-page will look the same on Microsoft 'Internet Explorer', 'Mozilla Firefox', 'Opera', 'Safari' etc. (at least, that's the plan!) Subsequently the graphic blocks you are laying and the text you're including is being converted into coding behind the scenes by 'Dreamweaver'. If you're going to be a commercially viable website designer, you'll need an in-depth knowledge of these languages.

Its essential to understand that even the finest web-design programs can only provide you with the methods & processes - not one will be able to turn you into a bona fide web-designer. Build as many web sites as you can whilst you work through your studies - the exercise will be invaluable & you will have something to show what you can do. A sport or interest is a good starting place, or simply your favourite dog or cat, or a holiday resort you especially enjoyed. You could even set up inter-active web-sites & get traffic on them. Anything you do will add to your Curriculum Vitae, & indicate much more to a recruiter than an Adobe accreditation.

Web developers are members of this group, and they are the most technically apt. Not only will these people understand the languages above, they will also have studied other languages, such as C#, 'VB', PHP, Java, 'ASP.Net' and so on. A large number also have got a good understanding of SQL, the database language - as the information on many sizable modern web sites is stored in this language. A typical E-commerce web-site doesn't have a crew of web designers who've produced it's thousands of pages in lay-out form. What normally happens is a place-holder 'template' is produced, and the details are automatically inserted from a Database to the site. Besides being hugely more efficient to build, manage & up-date, it also helps with the 'feel' of the web site remaining constant.

Many of these functions can and certainly do crossover needless to say, we use various free-lance web designers who all cover most of the above jobs. Although that level of knowledge takes quite some time to master. A web-design course then that will prepare you to enter the market should encompass the following disciplines - A synopsis of the basic fundamentals of web-design first, then directly into using 'Dreamweaver' to a commercial standard and the primary nuances of 'Flash' too. The languages of 'HTML' & 'CSS' should be taught next, with some e-commerce instruction provided here. To build 'dynamic' web sites it's important to have a grasp of 'PHP', which is an easier programming language to start off in than ASP.Net. You additionally need a rudimentary grasp of databases & SEO. The main reason you will need all these elements is so that you have the technical wherewithal to operate on a range of web-site builds. Much like anything else, we have to learn how to do the physical skill-sets initially, and then build greater finesse by way of practice and experience. You'd probably need to allow somewhere around 400 to 500 hrs to study and properly master a wide ranging program of this nature - therefore if your plan is to get this done along-side full-time work it could be completed within a year. An experienced advisor can help you plan your way through this quagmire of commercial learning, and we highly recommend that you plan your route with care before you start your web design training.

Commercial PC Self-Study Multimedia Certification Courses For Microsoft Windows Support >>