About Learning Web Design
Learning web design can be an insanely daunting task.There is so much to all of it, that it can seem overwhelming. Most people wonder how to even get started to begin with. You hear about all of these different things to learn, such as html, html5, javascript, jQuery, CSS, PHP, WordPress, Ajax, and the list goes on and on. It can seem like you are standing as the bottom of a skyscraper or a 1000 foot bluff, and you have to figure out how to climb it to get to the top. This post is meant to help you get started with web design, and point you in the right direction for learning how the web works, the different aspects and technologies, and how break things down into manageable chunks. One thing above all else is 100% true, you can’t do anything sitting still, so let’s get up and take action. You have to get started somewhere, so take the first step.
Learning Web Design The Hard Way
Learning web design the hard way is something that no one wants to do. Who has hours, days, or weeks to spend trying to learn web design or anything else? You could try reading book, after book, which is fine if you learn that way, but the problem is that when you go to build your first site on your own, you are going to run into problems and have trouble. It is one thing to read about web design from a book and another to actually try to do it.
Approach Learning Web Design the Easy Way
One of the best ways to truly learn web design is to actually get into it. If you mix reading materials, such as industry standard books, with great websites, and then practice real world website building and making changes, then you will get a real world understanding of how it works. I would suggest starting out with basic html. You have to learn tags and what they do. Learn the basic html tags and then go ahead and learn html5 tags and how they differ.
Learning Web Design By Analyzing Templates
This is a tip that I give anyone that is looking to learn web design quickly and easily. There are hundreds, even thousands of templates available for free online. Choose one that looks great and that uses HTML and CSS to get the look that you want. Then open the html files up in your text editor or web design program such as Text Wrangler or Dreamweaver. This will let you look at the code. You can pull up a side by side view of the code and the live design, so that you can see how an area of the site is put together.
Learning Web Design: Tools & Sites That Help
Learning web design isn’t all about analyzing code. There are sites, plugins, and other things out there that will help you with your journey. These sites and tools will help you to break apart CSS styles, and how everything works. Check out these goodies to help you with learning web design:
Firebug For Firefox
Firebug allows you to right click on any element on your web page and see why an element is behaving the way that it is. Common culprits such as margin and padding are color coded so that you can see how much they have an affect on any element. For example, margin is yellow and padding is purple. The element itself is blue. This makes it easy to see why something isn’t aligned properly, or why it isn’t where you want it to be.
Firebug will also show you how the CSS stacks, and if one rule is overriding another. It goes so far as to tell you what line it is on in your stylesheet, so you don’t have to spend a ton of time looking for the rule. If you have multiple stylesheets, you can see which one it is coming from, and if there is CSS in your javascript, then it will show you that as well.
Google+ Communities
Communities such as HTML5, Web Design, CSS Community, Javascript, Web Development, and Web Developers, Web Designers & Web Coding are great places to go and learn. You can ask questions and more than likely you will get a response from dozens of people that are eager to help others. people are always sharing tips and tricks,and you can pick up more in a day on there than anywhere else. get invloved, ask questions and see just how much you’ll learn.
Dreamweaver
Dreamweaver is getting better about giving you the tools you need to create stellar websites. I love Dreamweaver CS6, and that is my choice product for building a site. It may just be because that I started with back in the day, but I have stuck with it.
CSS3 Generator
This site is great for learning how CSS works. If you want something such as rounded corners or an inset shadow, you can plug in a few parameters, and the site will generate the proper CSS to make it happen. The best part is that you get a preview of what it will look like, so you can make adjustments, and the code will update live on their site. Then you can copy and paste it right into your stylesheet.
W3School
This site is packed full of information about web design, including every tag and style that you could imagine. This is a great source for learning the code side of a website.
TreeHouse
Treehouse is an amazing website that teaches web design, how to build apps, coding, etc.They feature video tutorials and quizzes, so that you can apply the knowledge that you just acquired.
Lynda
Lynda is another place where you can learn via tutorial videos. This is excellent, because you can work on realistic projects and the person on the video walks you through the process step by step until the project is completed.
Learnable
Learnable is another great place to watch video tutorials and learn how to build websites from seasoned professionals. they have tons of content, so there’s always something to learn.
Conclusion
Learning Web Design may seem like an insurmountable task, but in reality, it isn’t as bad as it may seem. Now, keep in mind that you won’t become a web design guru in a week, but in a few short months of daily dedication will really pay off. You have to be consistent in learning and you have to stick with it. your first website may not be perfect, but building a house starts with placing the first stone.
Do you have any advice for learning web design easily? If so, share your experiences in the comments section below.
