Tip 1: Learn Best Web Design Practices
Learn about the aesthetics of good web design. This means you'll learn what looks good and why. It also means you'll know why certain fonts, colors and layouts are not good for web design. Always know the rules before you break them. This is your foundation. Lisa Irby did some good job in highlighting these basics at: www.2planawebsite.com. Do check out this site by all means. Tip 2: Learn HTML: The building block of web design
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It’s not really difficult to learn. There’s a lot of software out there that claim to help you build websites without having to know how to code your site from scratch.
However, learning to build your web sites using HTML (code) will give you far better control over the process and ultimately your web sites. You will have a far deeper understanding of the web, and as a result you will create better web sites.
See chapter 4.2 for details.
Tip 3: Learn to apply CSS to HTML pages
While HTML is the building-blocks of web pages that allows you to put images, text, videos, forms and other pieces of content together into a website…
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) dictates your website’s look and feel. Font size, font color, font type, styling around images, page layout, mouse-over effects and more are all determined by CSS in a more flexible way.
Note that you can also add font size, colour, font type, images and so on using HTML, but it is tedious and frustrating and CSS was invented to make it easier. See chapter 4.3 for details on this.
Tip 4: Video tutorials make your learning easier
Like I pointed out earlier, video tutorials are preferrable for the complete novice as you’ll get a real life demonstration of the teaching than in books or articles. Invest in video tutorials. The money it will cost you is far less than what you will pay if you go for a web design training, yet they are excellent guides because they are often prepared by real professionals.
Tip 5: Get a couple of books on web design for beginners.
Even though video tutorials seem to be better off for beginners, however articles and books or ebooks are also important as they are usually more detailed. Get as many books as you can lay your hands on. It’s an investment that pays off at end.
Tip 6: Take advantage of Online Web Design Forums
There are a host of web design communities online with real people, most of whom are experts and professionals in their rights, willing and ready to offer a helping hand to newbies free of charge. I received a lot of support from these communities. And good enough, membership is always free. Some of my best of these communities are feature in chapter 4.4
Tip 7: Consider how deeply you want to get involved
The field of web design is relatively vast. There are many aspects to web design. It is important to decide from the outset how far you want to go. If you want just a basic knowledge, then HTML and CSS may be all you need. But should you want to make a career out of it, see Chapter Five—Going beyond the Basics for details.
Tip 8: Set aside at least 3 hours from your day to learn and practice
I said earlier that web design involves hard work. I suggest you spend an average of 3 hours every day in learning and practicing if you want to learn and master it fast.
Tip 9: Using Text Editors like Dreamweaver simplifies your life
Text or HTML Editors are programs that help you to do your website coding—an example of which is Dreamweaver. I recommend it because it has an inbuilt functionality that auto-suggests or auto-completes code writing. And this makes the process easier and fun. I love it.
Tip 10: Take note of websites whose looks and fill you like
Taking note of websites whose layout and design you like and studying them is a good practice. By finding out how they are laid out, you’ll be on your way to laying out better pages.
Tip 11: Study the HTML codes of web pages that catch you fancy
How do you find out how web pages are laid out? By studying the HTML codes. You can get to the HTML code of a website by: one, going to the View menu of your browser and selecting Page Source in Mozilla Firefox, or View and then selecting source in Internet Explorer.
Two, simply right-click on the web page and select View Page Source in Mozilla Firefox, or View source in Internet Explorer.
Tip 12: Try to duplicate websites you like
Having known how to get to the source code of a website, always attempt to duplicate any website whose layout you admire. What this does is that it helps you to internalize the process. I earlier said that imitation is the way to go in web design. Don’t despise this tip.
Tip 13: Learn a little of graphics design
As you get familiar with the terrain, the next logical step to take is, of course, to begin to put up stunning sites. But at that point, you’ll discover that there’s something missing: you need graphics. So you see, you need to learn how to design using any of Coral Draw, Photoshop and Firefox. Graphics is a necessary makeup for web pages. However…
Tip 14: Use images sparingly
Only use images when and where it is necessary. Using images indiscriminately will not only make your website look stupid, but also slow down the loading speed.
Tip 15: Make Google your greatest companion
With Google, you’re just a click away from getting what you want, especially when you do know what you really want. Always Google whatever it is you want to do or learn about, and chances are that your problem is already taken care of by someone, somewhere.
Tip 16: Don’t stop learning
The web design world is dynamic and new changes as a result of new technologies are being introduced every now and then. So don’t stop learning; keep yourself abreast with trends in the industries.
Tip 17: And don’t give up.
Everything is going to sound Greek the first time and your natural reaction would be to quit. Be informed! That is rather when you should buckle up. It becomes an easy route after this initial challenge. Promise!
