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sudoer541
September 23rd, 2010, 12:17 AM
Hey Ubuntuers!!!
I am thinking to become a web designer (create websites)
What are the entrance requirements for college?
How long will it take to finish school?
How much $ will I make?
Is this field in demand?
btw, I am a noob, where can I start? Are there any tutorials to help me create a web page?

Thanks!

alket
September 23rd, 2010, 01:03 AM
sudo apt-get install kompozer bluefish gimp inkscape

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/lessons.html

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ApacheMySQLPHP

http://www.tizag.com/phpT/

for 0$

Cuddles McKitten
September 23rd, 2010, 01:09 AM
http://www.w3schools.com/

Understand (probably in this order) HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, jQuery, AJAX, PHP, and SQL and you should be pretty well off. Keep in mind that you need a pretty well-honed sense of aesthetics to do professional web page design, unless you just want to churn out code.

23meg
September 23rd, 2010, 01:17 AM
What are the entrance requirements for college?
How long will it take to finish school?

I would rethink the notion that you need formal education.

Not to say that it isn't worth it, but it can be hard to justify the cost in terms of time and energy, as well as money. Unless you cite a specific education program, and without knowing what kind of learner you are, it's hard to give meaningful advice.


How much $ will I make?

Depends on your business strategy and personal communication skills.


Is this field in demand?

Globally yes, but that doesn't mean it's in demand in your local economy (whether your local economy will affect your income depends on your business strategy). The competition is very tough as well.


btw, I am a noob, where can I start? Are there any tutorials to help me create a web page?

http://code.google.com/edu/submissions/html-css-javascript
http://www.alistapart.com/
http://handcraftedcss.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/
http://books.alistapart.com/products/html5-for-web-designers
http://books.google.com/books?id=ZCPWYFoWaMIC
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/032145345X
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321344758
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Graphic-Designer-Without-Losing-Your/dp/1856694100

Black_Tanto
September 23rd, 2010, 09:24 AM
You dont need Javascript to build basic websites. All you need to know is HTML and StyleSheets which are both very easy to learn.

From there you just need to learn how to use composer tools and FTP clients.


Luckily in todays age you can build sites even WITHOUT knowing HTML or Stylesheets.....a lot of web hosting has one click installs and you can do everything past that with a GUI...really, web designers are going to become obsolete unless you can bring something new to the table like web programming or graphic design. If you can style a website well people will pay for that, but building websites is no longer as esoteric as it used to be. I think a lot of web desingers will be out of a job in the next few decades if they dont delve a bit deeper because building websites is going to be too easy.

You can teach yourself web design....since its largely freelance work nobody cares if you graduated. Just mess around and build a few sites for yourself.

I like starting out with the point and click installs, but FTP clients are not really that hard to user either though a little intimidating if you have not used it before....get somebody to show you or walk you through it once and then its childs play.

Once you have a page up, try editing the headers and body, do something simple like replacing the background image with one from a different URL.


I am just a beginner myself and this is how I am teaching myself.

Johnsie
September 23rd, 2010, 11:08 AM
Yes, there are free ways to learn web design. But a professional qualification goes a long way. Things you will find useful:

-A qualification which shows you can actually design sites
-A portfolio of existing websites you have created
-Evidence that you have had profession experience creating sites
-Knowledge of HTML, CSS Javascript, PHP, MYSQl, ASP
-The ability to use common web design tools like Notepad++/Gedit, dreamweaver, frontpage, flash

Also, I might get flamed for this, but Linux isn't the best OS to use for web design. Most web users are using internet explorer which handles html and css slightly different from firefox. Even if you use standards compliant code you cannot be sure everything will look ok in Internet Explorer unless you look for yourself.

limestone
September 23rd, 2010, 11:38 AM
What are the entrance requirements for college?
How much $ will I make?
btw, I am a noob, where can I start? Are there any tutorials to help me create a web page?

Thanks!

First off. If you planning on doing this by your own and not work in a company you don't need any education, you need to know about HTML, CSS, MySql and stuff to make it...

How much you will make depends probably on your popularity.

Begin with searching the web for HTML and CSS, I recommend to use just a text editor to learn best and its easy to use.

obsidian90
April 3rd, 2011, 09:16 AM
You can try these outsourcing sites which is mentioned in this article: http://www.timedoctor.com/blog/2011/02/22/the-top-6-outsourcing-sites-and-how-to-use-them

You can be a freelance doing web design works in such sites. Being a web design freelancer does not necessarily mean that you have to graduate a course about web design. Employers/Contractors don't need you to graduate a web design course, they just need you to do your job well as what they expect and that's it. You can make your portfolio to let them see your websites that you have made. They just need an assurance that you are well equipped to work as a web designer, that you have the skills of a web designer. Mostly, they check your profile or portfolio to see if you have good ratings and feedback. If you still don't have a rating or feedback, they check your previous work or just like what is mentioned above, your existing websites.

I'mGeorge
April 3rd, 2011, 09:22 AM
first step would be to learn some HTML and Java. Kompozer and Bluefish might be a graphical option for making web pages but you still have to understand what you are doing there

mmix
April 3rd, 2011, 11:40 AM
html5, javascript, jquery --> you have to learn,

java --> plus for your job position.