Designer wannabe needs advice on what to learn

[trojan18]

Ok, here's my deal.

I'm about to graduate with a degree in newspaper journalism.

But I'm thinking I'd like to get involved in some type of online journalism, like working on a newspaper's Web site.

My dream job would be an online producer for a journalism site...this is the person that lays out the online pages for a specific section of the site, writes the headlines and gives the copy one last edit before posting...and this person also comes up with ideas for Web-exclusive content and helps the reporters implement these ideas into the site.

So, I still want to be a journalist, and not just a designer exclusively.

I have the journalism/editing skills down, but I'm a novice on the Web end of it. I know Dreamweaver, Photoshop and some basic HTML but that's about it.

What other skills would you recommend that I learn in order to be able to pursue a job like this?

Does anyone have a job like this? What type of stuff does the employer usually look for when you apply?

Thanks.

 

[James L]

Ok, here's my deal.

I'm about to graduate with a degree in newspaper journalism.

But I'm thinking I'd like to get involved in some type of online journalism, like working on a newspaper's Web site.

My dream job would be an online producer for a journalism site...this is the person that lays out the online pages for a specific section of the site, writes the headlines and gives the copy one last edit before posting...and this person also comes up with ideas for Web-exclusive content and helps the reporters implement these ideas into the site.

So, I still want to be a journalist, and not just a designer exclusively.

I have the journalism/editing skills down, but I'm a novice on the Web end of it. I know Dreamweaver, Photoshop and some basic HTML but that's about it.

What other skills would you recommend that I learn in order to be able to pursue a job like this?

Does anyone have a job like this? What type of stuff does the employer usually look for when you apply?

Thanks.

I don't work in the exact field you are in, and design more generically, but I can say that you will see very few pro designers use WYSIWYG editors.

You MUST be able to code XHTML and CSS to the w3 standards:

www.w3.org

Also, from a graphical point of view, having Photoshop skills is a given. There are other nice graphic editors out there, but you will still find PS to be the dominant player in town.

If you are ever going to go beyond a simple graphical layout then you need to develop your server side skills, such as PHP/SQL/Apache coding.

Finally, it always helps to have an in depth understanding of web design standards, browser quirks, etc. Here are a couple of great sites if you are interested:

www.w3.org

www.ryanbrill.com

www.csszengarden.com/

www.alistapart.com

www.zeldman.com

www.meyerweb.com/eric/css/


...have fun!

James

p.s. This forum: http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/ is actually quite good for getting questions answered too.