learn web design?

Question

I want to learn web design. I have experience in html and css. I have not used dreamweaver, access etc... I want to know what else I should learn for good web design. Like some scripting languages. What I don't understand is that there are some that are server side and some aren't. Does that mean you need a personal server to benefit from these languages? What languages should I learn? I also want to know how to link to databases?

Answer 1

Java should be your primary scripting language. As for databases, My Sql is pretty common. Also if you have some experience in flash or fireworks/photoshop it helps alot. That way you can create both interactive content and modify/create your own images. Dreamweaver is pretty straight forward, if you have used frontpage or something of the sort, Dreamweaver should come relatively easy for you (it is slightly more advanced, and formalized than front page, but ultimately more useful).

Answer 2

I would start at www.webdesignfromscratch.com this is only a start. You should also look at www.webaim.org so you understand accessibility issues. You then will want to get some Ideas one good site that you can use for this is www.designmeltdown.com This site will give you some ideas. You might find it usefull to use Firefox with the Firebug plugin. Firebug will let you see the CSS and JavaScript behind the site. You can even experiment with changes of your own live with the site up with Firebug. You should learn a scripting language but which is largely a matter of personal choice. The three biggest in todays market are PHP, C# with ASP.net and VisualBasic with ASP.net I use all of them but find I like PHP best. Dreamweave is just a tool I have it and use it but there are many Open source alternatives to someone just starting. Start maybe with a combination of Aptana(www.aptana.com) and Gimp(www.gimp.org). Aptana will work as a stand in for Dreamweaver and Gimp as a stand in for Photoshop while you learn. The commands are not the same but the concepts are. Both of these products are free. If you are going the .net route go to www.asp.net and download Visual Web Developer express. While not as fully featured as the payed versions of Visual Web Developer it is free and has most of the commonly used features it just does not do as much of the XML stuff like automatically generating XSD(XML Schema definitions) or debugging XSLT(XML style language and Translations)

Answer 3

If you would like program that can be basic or can suit the advanced webmaster then I would recommend MoreMotion Web Express 3.3 at: http://www.moremotion.com/webexpress/index.html
An added bonus is that this programme is free!

I like this program because it is free, simple and fast to create websites.

I think I can help you quite a bit with web design although I don't think I will be much use if you want to know about servers and scripting languages.

The Best Designs are simple. Try researching the meaning of colours as colours can set the users mood. Choose a colour scheme according to your audience.

Include good photography on your site, don't put distracting clip art that 6 year olds incude in their Word Documents. Try nice icons. I would recommend icons that are like web 2.0 (try searching "web 2.0 icons" on google). Try and Include a shiny feel to your website and the design should be modern and interesting.

I'm sure you can find many photoshop guides that will help you design even if you don't own a copy of photoshop you can still learn from them.

I hope this helps resolve your issue!

Answer 4

(1) Learning resource: http://w3schools.com/
(2) In the extreme, you could download and install, say, Apache server software (free) on your computer. It would let you run PHP, for example. PHP is a very handy language for websites. But, then, if you're careful about it, you can test your PHP on your website (your host's server)...
(3) Other languages? I'd say, javascript (which is client-side...and then server-side when used in ASP), SQL (of course, for database, and if you call it, a "language"), VB, AJAX, and if you want to be an extreme geek, C++.