What should I do to upskill and refresh myself in the lastest packages?

[blackrhino]

Hi all, looking for some unbiased advice/criticism on retraining myself in the Adobe packages.

5 years ago, I did a diplomia course in Multimedia which included web design using the current version of Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Flash. Then I finished my course and went in the complete opposite direction rather than workign within the relevant industry.

Fast forward to now and I am really regretting my decision not to get my industry experiance and such so have decided to retrain myself in CS5 and in 12 months time, get my own web design and brand management company up and running.

Since it's not practical for me to go back and study full time I have one of two options - short courses or online tutorials.

I have joined up to lynda.com and downloaded all ther relevant tutorials to I feel I need to reaquaint myself with the Adobe packages, CSS and HTML. I guess i'm wondering if these tutorials are enough to get my skills back up to scratch then start working on some minor projects to build up my experiance or is it worth going to all the short courses available to retrain there?

Any input or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[designguy79]

I have a friend who really like lynda.com, but remember that they are teaching you how to _use_ the program, not how to make a professional looking design.

In my opinion, the best thing to do is jump in and start practicing!

Either create a fictional company/organization and build a web site for them, or find a non-profit or friend's start-up to donate your design to. Just make sure they understand that you are just learning.

A lot changes in 5 years, too. Be sure and study up on CSS and using "divs" in your HTML as opposed to doing table-based layouts.

Also, check in to some Content Management Systems (lots of threads on here about that). They are easier than ever to install and most come (or have available) nice templates.

Have fun!

~ Jeremy