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WEBSITE DESIGN
Are you looking to get into website
design for the first time or perhaps you are looking for someone to
design a website for you? This short article is really aimed at people
who are wanting to adopt this as a pastime or perhaps those of you who
are looking to move your career in that direction. But this is a complex
subject, right? Well yes it can be, but it is actually quite simple if
you want to develop a very simple website for personal use and you have
no aspirations to try and sell your services in the future!
In my opinion, you shouldn't
begin to think about starting out as a web designer unless you are
reasonably technical or at least you have more than a passing interest
in the Internet. My own 'career' started out because I am passionate
about the Internet as a communication medium. One important thing it is
worth flagging up from the outset is that web design can be
addictive and don't even think about it if you don't have an
understanding partner! It can become an all-consuming activity very
quickly as you begin to master the technologies. So what do you need to start out in web design. Well
for sure you need a computer and Internet connection - your first tick
in the box! Secondly, you need some software to 'code' your web
design. For starters, you can get all sorts of freeware and shareware
off the web and you can begin by searching for 'HTML Editors'. Don't
worry about what this stands for, as it's irrelevant. You will need a
HTML Editor to create the code for your website. As you move up the
website learning curve, you will more than likely want t invest in
commercial software such as Microsoft's FrontPage or something like
Dreamweaver. "So that's all I need?" I hear you ask. Well, it would be
handy to start out with a few reference books to get you started.
Getting your first rung on the web design ladder is probably the hardest
and it can be quite frustrating in the early stages as you try and
figure out the technicalities. There's masses of help on the Web, but I
cannot recommend highly enough that you at least get something like
"Website Design for Dummies" book to make things a little easier.
Like what you see? Most of the HTML Editors are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get),
so this will make life so much easier for you. As your skills progress
you will inevitably start to look at other people's web design
techniques and study the code they have used to develop certain things
that catch your eye as you browse the Web. This is when you will need to
know about how the code works and this is when the really hard work
begins. In a matter of weeks you will be talking knowledgably about
Tables and CSS, Java Script etc. You will become the 'office bore'
before you know it! Finally, you will need to think about how you will get your fledgling
web site out in front of the unsuspecting public i.e. on the Internet.
You're unlikely to want to go and buy a domain name and a hosting
package from day one, so it's probably best if you check out what your
Internet Service Provider offers you for free. Most of the larger
companies offer limited facilities to publish your web pages for free
and this is a great starting point. One thing is for sure. If and when you actually get to the point of
publishing your work of art so you can access it via the Web, you will
be glowing with pride and fascination. I certainly did and it's quite an
addictive feeling. Good luck!
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