Website Designer Questions

[Tiggy]

Hello All

For a long time I have fancied learning website design, not necessarily for a full time business but more as another string to my bow.


Can you be a part time website designer?
What is the pay like?
Where would I look for training? I have search for this and end up going around in circles with it.
How long does training take?
How much does training cost?
Do I need to be a person who asks lots of questions? (Joke!!)

Tiggy

[MinuWeb]

Hi,

Sure you can be a part time designer, you can basically charge what ever your work is worth and what your clients are willing to pay. Some designers knock out sites for £50 - 75 whist others are charging serveral 100's of £'s

As for training, you would first need to decide how you are going to do the designs, and how much coding you would want to do in languages other than html, shuch as PHP. Also, if you would be using something like dreamweaver to create sites and if you would be doing your own artwork using something like adobe photoshop or similar.

Most applications like dreamweaver, photoshop etc have their own tutorials as well as online forums where you can get advice.

You could also contact your local education authority and see if there are any part time courses you could take that might help.

It really comes down to you, how you want to learn and exactly what you want to be able to do.

[Tiggy]

vshosting - thankyou for your advice, I'll have think about the considerations you pointed out.
Tiggy

[RockLinks]

Hi Tiggy,

If your interested drop me a pm im sure i can give you some usefull advice.

[epiphany]

Can you be a part time website designer?
Yes

What is the pay like?
Depends how good you are at finding highly paid work

Where would I look for training?
There is only one place to learn the basics http://www.w3schools.com/
Once you have worked through that you will have the right knowledge to search for the relevant tutorials using the right terminology

How long does training take?
Depends what type of sites you want to make and in what language you want to make them. Making websites is really something you never stop learning with as the technology is constantly changing

How much does training cost?
Forget about paying for training, in my opinion it is a waste of time as everything you need to know is available online.

[Amber]

Something very important to note is that it's not enough to learn how to design websites: you'll also need to know how to market yourself as a business or freelancer (assuming that you want to work for yourself of course, rather than work as a web designer for someone else!). That can be just as steep a learning curve! In the early days you'll spend more time finding clients than you'll spend designing websites, so you'll need to be prepared for that too!

[broadband-engine]

Hi

I do not profess to being a web designer, but I did attend a local course in Advanced Dreamweaver and Flash. The support of other students and a lecturer at hand was extremely helpful and I learned alot quickly. I did that as a night class. Maybe if you like that type of environment and like the learning/college experince then that direction may be good for you. I too would like to learn more complex things, like PHP and databases, but I have looked at distance learning and it costs the Earth.

[Eagle]

Artistic talent... :!:

[Rob Holmes]

Tiggy - IMHO you'll also need to know how to sell yourself in a fairly flooded market once you actually get close to a potential client.

This means having a mental list of your Unique Perceived Benefits etc,

We have an ebook (that isn't given away anywhere else on the internet) on Scientific Power Marketing - it's dead good and downloadable here: http://www.matrixxhosting.com/tools.shtml

I hope it helps!
Rob

[Tiggy]

WOW! A wealth of invaluable information and advice and even an ebook!!
I'll come here again!!

Thankyou

Tiggy :)

[annethedonn]

Hi Tiggy

If you join my on line forum I'll send you a free self paced course but only until end of August. There are also other courses like java, Frontpage etc:

http://www.freelanceoffice.skillspride.com/courselibrary/category/66?PHPSESSID=7124e07a101bf716893bc772fb758e6d

You can also sign up for a subscription to over 525 on line courses for an annual fee of £99 for unlimited access - or join for a month free to trial.

Anne

[Cornish Steve]

Tiggy,

I believe Annethedonn offers a wide range of self-paced courses that probably address the topic you are looking for (mine do not). The prices she has posted to the UKBF Offers forum are very good. Not all online courses cost the earth!

[CG Effect]

Like I did with 3D software I will learn Dreamweaver from books writen by pros. At college it was always someone to rubbish to work in their field that got them into teaching. Its better to learn on your own gear from pros.

[Cornish Steve]

Like I did with 3D software I will learn Dreamweaver from books writen by pros. At college it was always someone to rubbish to work in their field that got them into teaching. Its better to learn on your own gear from pros.

I'm sure you've heard the cynical definition of a teacher: Someone who is paid to tell you to do what they themselves can't do. While it's true that some teachers and professors are poor, far more are good at what they do, and most are excellent.

Please don't write off members of this forum who offer training courses. From those I have spoken with behind the scenes, I know they are professionals who know their industries inside and out. If you can get a discount for relevant courses through this forum, I'd jump at the opportunity.

[CG Effect]

Well as long as the teachers work in the industry at a professional level and can prove it.
It would be good to learn from them. At college many years ago the design teachers were very bad. None could use a computer and none could draw or use colour. I learned alot about printing and very little about design when i worked at a printing company then after a a couple of years started learning more about design from books.

[Cornish Steve]

Well as long as the teachers work in the industry at a professional level and can prove it.
It would be good to learn from them. At college many years ago the design teachers were very bad. None could use a computer and none could draw or use colour. I learned alot about printing and very little about design when i worked at a printing company then after a a couple of years started learning more about design from books.

It's certainly good to supplement your learning from books. However, some things can only be learned from experience. That's where the value of a good, experienced teacher comes in.

You've probably heard the story of the carpenter who fixed a squeaky floorboard. He felt around for a little, then hammered a single nail into the board to fix the problem. His bill read as follows:

- Cost of the nail: 1 pound
- Knowing where to hammer the nail: 49 pounds

You can't always learn where to hammer the nail from books.

Good luck as you learn about website design.