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Learning web design

Z

zoran

macrumors 601
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Jun 30, 2005
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If you were to begin to learn web Design, what application would you prefer to choose learning and why?
And what tutorials would you subscribe to for learning?
I’ve seen the Wix application, seems pretty straight forward but does it have more weaknesses compared to word press?
 
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If you're just starting out, I would recommend exploring both Wix and WordPress, as each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Wix offers a straightforward, drag-and-drop interface that's great for beginners, while WordPress provides more customization possibilities, but might have a steeper learning curve.

As for tutorials, I'd suggest you start with foundational knowledge. Here's a comprehensive guide for beginners from Webflow that I found really helpful: Web Design for Beginners. It covers everything from choosing a simple project for your first site design, finding inspiration, understanding typography, and keeping your design simple and intuitive, to getting a grasp on UX and UI basics.
 
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Simple: start by learning html and css. And some Javascript. If you are serious about learning "web design" (such an outdated term, btw!) you need to learn at least the basics of the underlying tech.
 
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Depends on what you mean by learning web design, Wix/WordPress is not learning, it's just using a UI.

Learning front-end (Designer) as a minimum and in order of learning:

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
You could take that step further by learning something like PHP to turn a design into something usable or just create a theme for software such as WordPress.
 
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"Web Design" (or "Web Designer" in particular) is a term from the nineties/beginning 2000's. Nowadays terms such as "Front End Developer", "UX Designer", "Web Developer", "Back End Developer", "Full Stack Developer", etc. are in vogue and more precisely describe what those jobs entail.

"Web Design(er)" as a catch-all word is too vague. And often not taken seriously ;).

Btw, almost no-one does simple static websites anymore. Nor does anyone create server-side apps from scratch (for example, using PHP). Now it is all about frameworks, stacks, APIs, and pre-built modules/packages to build web (cloud) applications. And for websites often WordPress or other content management systems (CMS) are preferred.

While you could say that web dev "grew up", I do find it less of an interesting and fun trade to work in now.
 
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Ahah, designers vs code noobs...
A web desingner need skils (congenital) what code noobs often don't have.
Code noobs are usually using a win/linux based PC, web designers are using only color calibrated mac's.
The most common tools are photoshop and colorcharts. The web designer does not code anything, he tells the code noobs which color, which font and which image to put where.
Web designers mainly come from an Art University, code noobs come from the Faculty of IT of the Technical University.
 
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If you really start afresh, do both. Learn the rules of UX (which basically are just sensible design, I see little difference in signage, print, web or app – it's the same principles for different things, just as a chair is different from a lamp but the basic foundation of what makes a good chair is the same as for a lamp ;-). This means learning about touchpoint, personae, A/B, but also design history, typefaces, color, layout, the way you as the designer can control, speed-up and slow down the reader and what is good «cooking» in our field. BUT at the same time: Learn to code yourself. No matter which tools you use, the transition from your design to what a coder gives you is very much as if you design a book in Indesign and the printer build it completely anew from scratch... in Word. It's like being a composer and telling the guitarist how to play what is in your head. It works and the meeting of the minds can be fruitful and fun and great, but it also can be a pain in the ass and eat a budget faster than you think. Being able to play the guitar yourself, to use the tools of programming, is a massive boon and if I were 20 & starting out, I think that Java/Swift/Python and all the other weapons you have as a dev would be so much fun to dive in. Having the song AND being able to play it – that is the best combination. Have fun!
 
Herbert123 said:
"Web Design" (or "Web Designer" in particular) is a term from the nineties/beginning 2000's. Nowadays terms such as "Front End Developer", "UX Designer", "Web Developer", "Back End Developer", "Full Stack Developer", etc. are in vogue and more precisely describe what those jobs entail.

"Web Design(er)" as a catch-all word is too vague. And often not taken seriously ;).

Btw, almost no-one does simple static websites anymore. Nor does anyone create server-side apps from scratch (for example, using PHP). Now it is all about frameworks, stacks, APIs, and pre-built modules/packages to build web (cloud) applications. And for websites often WordPress or other content management systems (CMS) are preferred.

While you could say that web dev "grew up", I do find it less of an interesting and fun trade to work in now.
Click to expand...
Well, I am one of the few that doesn't use any frameworks or libraries for my main development. I do use a few libraries for security reasons as I'm no security expert. I find it still fun at age 59, but my real passion is photography and technology. I keep my latest development on Github - https://github.com/Strider64/brain-wave-blitz

I will add I did go back to college when I was in my 40s and it was in the Computer Graphics field, so the only thing I really self-taught was back-end coding.
 
Strider64 said:
Well, I am one of the few that doesn't use any frameworks or libraries for my main development. I do use a few libraries for security reasons as I'm no security expert. I find it still fun at age 59, but my real passion is photography and technology.
Click to expand...

Me too, I'm developing a complex mapping/gps web app "from scratch" although it uses the MapTalks, MapBox and Three.js API's for low-level functions. I retired from a career in theatrical design and technology in 2011 and didn't get serious about learning javascript until I was 69 years old. Today, at 74, I'm writing some pretty complex code (that would probably make a CS major cringe). 🤣

The only computer course I ever took was CS-101 as a college freshman in 1967. We keypunched ALGOL programs on IBM cards and submitted them to the guys in white coats who fed them to a Burroughs B-5500 mainframe! Have taught myself many languages and written lots of code since then.

I agree that WordPress is a pretty capable platform if you don't want to write your own code. And there's a plug-in for almost everything, so complex sites can be built without much technical knowledge. I built a couple sites like this myself and was initially happy with them. But they didn't age well, many themes and plug-ins break with WordPress updates (which are frequent) and developers often stop supporting them or change them in ways that break your site.

If you create a site using the basic Wordpress functionality and accept its limitations, you should be fine. It really depends on exactly what you're building and how particular you are about the design. After several years, I realized the only way to get what I wanted was to learn javascript/html/css. Was very happy to finally be free of Wordpress.
 
Boyd01 said:
Today, at 74, I'm writing some pretty complex code (that would probably make a CS major cringe). 🤣
Click to expand...

If your code is not going to cause any harm or risk someones personal data being leaked then who cares as long as it does what you want :)
 
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zoran said:
begin to learn web Design
Click to expand...
First start learning the basics for web design like HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript.
Once you are comfortable than design your template using sample PSD.

Later, you can move to explore any CMS structure for designing.
 
Learning to design and/or code for web today, I´d probably start here: https://www.freecodecamp.org and here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web.

Since the abandoning of Atom Editor, I´d grab a trial of https://www.sublimetext.com or use another code editor like https://vscodium.com, https://pulsar-edit.dev or https://zed.dev and simply start designing and coding with plain HTML and CSS. Later add SASS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL and what else makes sense for you.

For experimenting with various web development concepts on a local Mac, I´d install https://www.mamp.info (great for many different kinds of static and dynamic sites), https://ampps.com (get WordPress and much more up and running with a click of a button). As a more advanced user, you might also want to install https://www.vagrantup.com (set up the same environment like your client´s web hosting provider) and https://www.docker.com (containerize to keep your system clean, while using many different services and tools for full-stack development).

Personally I don´t like Wix, but if you think it´s worth a trial, just go for it. Read a comparison with WordPress to get an idea of what you can expect.

If you don´t like to code, but use some WYSIWYG editor, ask Apple why they were stopping iWeb development and then take a look at https://blocsapp.com or WordPress plus Gutenberg, Divi or Elementor.

For many small websites you won´t need much more than a frontend UI framework like https://getbootstrap.com and some basic skills of PHP to send a contact form. For some more complex sites, a static site generator like Jekyll or Hugo might be sufficient, too. If you need to set up a large scale dynamic project, you might end up with React, Angular or Vue plus a quite complex toolset to get things done.

For the design https://www.sketch.com, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Serif Affinity Photo, Serif Affinity Designer, Gimp or Inkscape might work for you, but with some coding skills, you can create just the visual content with those apps and then put everything together straight forward with your tools of choice.

As a final thought, it really depends on the project, what´s the route to go and what you should learn. There are endless ways to go… Start somewhere, choose to learn what looks interesting enough and what seems manageable for you. It should make some fun to have fast progress.
 
organicCPU said:
If you don´t like to code, but use some WYSIWYG editor, ask Apple why they were stopping iWeb development and then take a look at https://blocsapp.com or WordPress plus Gutenberg, Divi or Elementor.
Click to expand...
iWeb was great, somewhat limited, but you could get creative. I honestly miss Adobe Muse, I loved that software and was able to earn a few quick dollars just after graduation because of it.
 
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buttongerald said:
iWeb was great, somewhat limited, but you could get creative. I honestly miss Adobe Muse, I loved that software and was able to earn a few quick dollars just after graduation because of it.
Click to expand...
I guess web development is changing too fast to maintain such editors in the long run.

Besides iWeb and Adobe Muse I liked Adobe Flash (later Adobe Animate) for its attempt to expand HTML with exceptional graphics and interactive capabilities. Today HTML5 and Javascript catches up most things what one could do with flash before it was abandoned, but its much harder to archive the same results. Sometimes I integrate https://tumult.com/hype/ in web design that reminds me a little bit of flash.
 
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deepvyas said:
First start learning the basics for web design like HTML, CSS, Bootstrap, JavaScript.
Once you are comfortable than design your template using sample PSD.

Later, you can move to explore any CMS structure for designing.
Click to expand...
I don't know that I'd give a beginner Bootstrap. Best to start off with having to manually do things rather than waving a magic wand. And it's not like modern CSS is all that hard now that we have stuff like flexbox.
 
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LeeW said:
Depends on what you mean by learning web design, Wix/WordPress is not learning, it's just using a UI.

Learning front-end (Designer) as a minimum and in order of learning:

  • HTML
  • CSS
  • JavaScript
You could take that step further by learning something like PHP to turn a design into something usable or just create a theme for software such as WordPress.
Click to expand...
Are beginners still learning PHP? I suppose if their goal is Wordpress or Magento, but that's a lousy goal imo. Everything else nowadays (for modern stuff) seems to be Javascript front and back. Or Python/Django for the backend.
 
UX Designer here who mostly focuses on apps, but have also worked on web stuff, too.

If I had a kid that wanted to become a professional web designer, this is what I would tell them to do.

1. Pick a website.
2. Redesign or iterate and improve the existing experience.
3. Back up every single decision you make with a "why", mostly coming down to the user.
4. Then document and visualize those decisions on a website.
5. Get feedback on it from a web designer or product manager at a company whose work you appreciate. If you don't know anyone, reach out until you get someone. Cold call. Linkedin message. Find someone.

Then use that feedback to repeat this process 3-5 times until you are confident enough to design your own original web site from the ground up with a purpose the market would find meaningful.

Put it all together on your website and apply for jobs.
 
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TSE said:
If I had a kid that wanted to become a professional web designer, this is what I would tell them to do.

1. Pick a website.
2. Redesign or iterate and improve the existing experience.
3. Back up every single decision you make with a "why", mostly coming down to the user.
4. Then document and visualize those decisions on a website.
5. Get feedback on it from a web designer or product manager at a company whose work you appreciate. If you don't know anyone, reach out until you get someone. Cold call. Linkedin message. Find someone.
Click to expand...
This is actually a phenomenal teaching method.
 
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Hello all,

If I were embarking on a journey to learn web design, I'd consider starting with WordPress and here's why. WordPress offers a versatile platform for both beginners and experienced designers. Its extensive library of themes, plugins, and customization options makes it an ideal choice. The skills you develop through WordPress can easily transfer to more complex projects as you grow in expertise.

For tutorials, I'd recommend checking out resources like Codecademy, Udemy, and freeCodeCamp. These platforms offer structured courses covering everything from the basics of HTML and CSS to more advanced topics like JavaScript and responsive design. Online communities like Stack Overflow and Reddit's web design subreddits can also provide valuable support and answers to your questions.

Regarding Wix, while it does offer an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, it can have some limitations compared to WordPress. WordPress provides more control over the design and functionality of your website, allowing for greater customization and scalability. Additionally, WordPress is a self-hosted solution, giving you complete ownership of your website, whereas Wix is hosted on their servers, which might limit your control.
 
zoran said:
If you were to begin to learn web Design, what application would you prefer to choose learning and why?
And what tutorials would you subscribe to for learning?
I’ve seen the Wix application, seems pretty straight forward but does it have more weaknesses compared to word press?
Click to expand...
Absolutely! Starting with web design is exciting. For beginners, user-friendly platforms like Wix offer simplicity, while WordPress grants more control but comes with a learning curve. Look for tutorials on video-sharing platforms and coding learning platforms. When comparing, consider customization options, scalability, and your learning preferences. Enjoy your journey into the world of web design
 
zoran said:
If you were to begin to learn web Design, what application would you prefer to choose learning and why?
And what tutorials would you subscribe to for learning?
I’ve seen the Wix application, seems pretty straight forward but does it have more weaknesses compared to word press?
Click to expand...
(imagine a very nice and constructive voice now)

this is not learning web design, that is drag and drop.

you need dreamweaver, frontage or a software program where one actually types in code.
case in point, I tried to build a site on WiX and the "hide my email" was in the domain name.
so after an our of page settings homepage conduction, I needed to delete everything
and MAYBE start over.

my credential are web designer, 2005-2019 using frontpage or what ever MS calls their web builder in 2017.
and Dreamweaver CS4 along with Final Cut, Flash and other adobe design programs.
 
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