Spudders Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 I'd ideally like to learn web design, but would like to do it in my own time rather than having to go to collage. Has anyone ever done any teach yourself courses? What's the best ones to do? Are there any free ones rather than having to pay a fortune? ta Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 You can certainly learn the basics of html coding and simple web design yourself, it's what I did quite a few years back. There's quite a few html editing software out there so that you don't necessarily have to understand the coding to put together basic web pages, but I'd suggest its a good idea to learn about html if you want to progress. I learnt using MS FrontPage and bought a book for it, then just played about with it a fair bit (I put together a site for my Sunday morning footy team and just improved it every season as I learnt more and more). Take this book for example: It comes with step by step instructions but there are usually quite a few tutorials with them so you can learn at your own pace. Distance learning has become such a feature now that, as long as you've got the time to put to it, there's plenty of products out there to help you get as far as you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudders Posted 29 April, 2010 Author Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Cheers Dav, do you know anything about dreamweaver? Is frontpage the basic level, then people move on to dreamweaver, or are they totally different? Like you I just want to be able to put together a site, not looking at this as a career, just want to play around and see what I can put together. ta. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Haha, funny you should ask that question Spudgun, I'm toiling with Dreamweaver as it is - I'm still trying to discover the best route to 'learn' web design etc myself... so any responses on here about courses, online 'help' would be very, very handy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrant Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Microsoft have, I believed, stopped making and supporting Front Page. It will also pile in reams of code that you don't need, which will only serve to confuse you if you want to learn the "proper" way of developing websites (i.e. by writing the code yourself rather than using a What You See Is What You Get editor). Dreamweaver is a slightly better option, but I learnt most of what I know from books and doing "View Source" on websites which had items of interest and playing around with the code to see what I could make it do. W3 Schools is a decent starting point in terms of online tutorials, but if you do a quick Google search you'll find thousands of options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joensuu Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 I'd ideally like to learn web design, but would like to do it in my own time rather than having to go to collage. Has anyone ever done any teach yourself courses? What's the best ones to do? Are there any free ones rather than having to pay a fortune? ta Google is your friend. It has far more information than any course or textbook. If you want to get into web design you need to have a good grip of HTML and CSS. If you don't have this knowledge already, find basic online guides to step you through the learning curve. As a web designer (as opposed to web developer) you will also need to have a good understanding of a image editor (ideally Photoshop), and of course a good eye for design... which is difficult to learn. If you want to be more hands on then even web designers can benefit a lot from learning how to make a page more dynamic, yes you can leave it to the developers, but if you are giving prototypes or even trying to explain your design to developers it would be a good idea to understand some basic scripting, and at least have a theoretical grasp of server side code. I'd recommend that after HTML and CSS you turn to Javascript (or if you're up for a challenge jQuery) to give your basic site a little jazz... The way I learn't was to open up notepad (you don't need any fancy software unless you want to play with server side code), build yourself few basic html pages with css styling, and once you're more comfortable throw some basic script (like mouseover etc) into the mix. Google and getting your hands dirty beat any course I've been on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joensuu Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 (edited) Microsoft have, I believed, stopped making and supporting Front Page. It will also pile in reams of code that you don't need, which will only serve to confuse you if you want to learn the "proper" way of developing websites (i.e. by writing the code yourself rather than using a What You See Is What You Get editor). Front Page is no longer supported, but SharePoint Designer is based on Front Page, and does everything it ever could (but now has a real purpose AKA building & managing SharePoint masterpages and page layouts... ) But if you pretend it's still Front Page and ignore the SharePoint bits (Workflow etc) it will do pretty much everything Front Page used to... Oh and it's free to download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=BAA3AD86-BFC1-4BD4-9812-D9E710D44F42&displaylang=en Edited 29 April, 2010 by Joensuu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Cheers Steve, Joensuu... very helpful (although I know SG made the initial query!) On a personal note, I'm pretty competent with PS and I'm not brilliant but OK with DW, but I am learning. All information on web development and design is helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trousers Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 I use this: http://www.lmsoft.com/ Probably not the most sophisticated website design tool in the world (it's of the "what you see is what you get" variety) but it's simple to use (thus matching my intellect) and you can get good results out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scudamore Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 For those of you in the Bournemouth area i really would recommend The Arts University College at Bournemouth shortcourses. They have Dreamweaver and Dreamweaver Advanced and also a course in Flash. I'd already designed a couple of sites (using Dreamweaver) before going on the course. But i still learnt sh:tloads from these courses covering not just using Dreamweaver but also Photoshop, Fireworks, HTML, CSS, jQuery, ServerSide Includes and more. 3 hours one evening a week for ten weeks. Just throwing it out there even though you said not going to college. There are online tutorials out there but frankly i wanted the motivation of a course and deadlines to really get me learning. Oh and i have some fairly meaningless certificates to show for it all as well! --------------- Also just following on from what Steve was saying about viewing source code i also recommend the Web Developer add-on for Firefox. Cracking tool which allows you to see all kinds of information about other sites much more easily: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevegrant Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Also just following on from what Steve was saying about viewing source code i also recommend the Web Developer add-on for Firefox. Cracking tool which allows you to see all kinds of information about other sites much more easily: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60 Firebug is also a must-have, although I'm not using Firefox again until they sort out the hideous memory leaks. Google Chrome FTW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 For those of you in the Bournemouth area i really would recommend The Arts University College at Bournemouth shortcourses. They have Dreamweaver and Dreamweaver Advanced and also a course in Flash. I'd already designed a couple of sites (using Dreamweaver) before going on the course. But i still learnt sh:tloads from these courses covering not just using Dreamweaver but also Photoshop, Fireworks, HTML, CSS, jQuery, ServerSide Includes and more. 3 hours one evening a week for ten weeks. Just throwing it out there even though you said not going to college. There are online tutorials out there but frankly i wanted the motivation of a course and deadlines to really get me learning. Oh and i have some fairly meaningless certificates to show for it all as well! --------------- Also just following on from what Steve was saying about viewing source code i also recommend the Web Developer add-on for Firefox. Cracking tool which allows you to see all kinds of information about other sites much more easily: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60 I was signed on to do one of these types of courses at Itchen College; supposed to start mid April but the course was cancelled due to lack of numbers. So I'll either be hoping they run the course again in the Autumn (summer months maybe not great for night school with holiday interference) or need to look around for an alternative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 I've been toying with the idea of offering evening classes in it, since I get so many people like yourselves on this thread who are interested. I can occasionally be quite pleasant and informative (and have actually taught occasionally as a guest at secondary schools), but I'm not sure what's involved or even if its legal. Wouldnt want to do it for much profit, more the enjoyment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 I'd definitely be interested in that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 It's no more than an idea, Dav, I'm afraid... but there must people facilities like this for people like myself wishing to provide skills to the public, but arent trained teachers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 You've got your second pupil right here if it develops beyond an idea, Baj! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudders Posted 29 April, 2010 Author Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Thanks everyone this is all really useful. Baj, I assume you will offer saintsweb user discount I'm pretty competent with PS Photoshop is another thing I've wanted to get into, inspired by some of the classics you've produced over the years crabby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Thanks everyone this is all really useful. Baj, I assume you will offer saintsweb user discount Photoshop is another thing I've wanted to get into, inspired by some of the classics you've produced over the years crabby. Thanks SG, lol! PS is pretty easy to get into once you've watched or read a few tutorials and once you've mastered the basics, I found that you can pretty much play around with it yourself and get some decent results. FWIW, I've got another 'Pompey LOL' I'm working on, but its taking me a while to finish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudders Posted 29 April, 2010 Author Share Posted 29 April, 2010 FWIW, I've got another 'Pompey LOL' I'm working on, but its taking me a while to finish Sure it will be worth the wait Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 (edited) Sure it will be worth the wait Ah, go on then, might as well give you a teaser ... below, displayed correctly... thank you SG! Edited 29 April, 2010 by Crab Lungs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 its a bit too big at the mo, just have to zoom out to see it in all its glory.. anyway, sorry, back on topic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baj Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 not yet mastered image resizing for web yet the, lungs? ps. your wordpress set up is finished, check your facebook messages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 not yet mastered image resizing for web yet the, lungs? ps. your wordpress set up is finished, check your facebook messages LMAO, extra courses for me, then!! Thanks Bajenius, checking now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spudders Posted 29 April, 2010 Author Share Posted 29 April, 2010 not yet mastered image resizing for web yet the, lungs? ps. your wordpress set up is finished, check your facebook messages I am in awe of of crabby's PS skills (this looks like it'll be a classic), image reszing....not so. Even I can do that right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shirleysfc Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 Front Page is no longer supported, but SharePoint Designer is based on Front Page, and does everything it ever could (but now has a real purpose AKA building & managing SharePoint masterpages and page layouts... ) But if you pretend it's still Front Page and ignore the SharePoint bits (Workflow etc) it will do pretty much everything Front Page used to... Oh and it's free to download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=BAA3AD86-BFC1-4BD4-9812-D9E710D44F42&displaylang=en If you want to get into development as opposed to design Microsoft do a lot of good free tools. http://www.microsoft.com/express/Web/ I use Visual Studio at work but for a good free starting point you can't go wrong with these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kraken Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 At the risk of asking a stupid question..........what's the difference between web design and development? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scudamore Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 At the risk of asking a stupid question..........what's the difference between web design and development? One fwaps over making things look pretty. The other fwaps over precise code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMike Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 I'd ideally like to learn web design, but would like to do it in my own time rather than having to go to collage. Has anyone ever done any teach yourself courses? What's the best ones to do? Are there any free ones rather than having to pay a fortune? ta try visual web developer, its free and their are loads of tutorials around. It deals with design as well as vb code (or c#). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saint_stevo Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 was going to sign up to a course at wildern. Just interested really. Baj, if it happened, i would be interested fwiw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crab Lungs Posted 29 April, 2010 Share Posted 29 April, 2010 was going to sign up to a course at wildern. Just interested really. Baj, if it happened, i would be interested fwiw Baj has 3 possible, potential students now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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