Web Design/Development

G-Money

I'm considering some options at the moment and I'm wondering about getting into some sort of web development. I've worked in IT for several years and would have quite a good knowledge of different areas. I've done some coding but it's not really something I particularly love.

I'd say design is probably my weakest area, I'm not great at coming up with nice eye catching designs so I wouldn't really be considering that.

I guess I'm just wondering how much experience would I need to get into web development, how much coding and such is involved? Is it possible to get some sort of web development job that doesn't involve much coding? I'd be reasonably technical but I don't think I want to be a code monkey. I'm doing some coding in my current job and not really enjoying it.

Thanks, and sorry for the vagueness.

NeverSayDie

grandmaster wrote: »

I'm considering some options at the moment and I'm wondering about getting into some sort of web development. I've worked in IT for several years and would have quite a good knowledge of different areas. I've done some coding but it's not really something I particularly love.

I'd say design is probably my weakest area, I'm not great at coming up with nice eye catching designs so I wouldn't really be considering that.

I guess I'm just wondering how much experience would I need to get into web development, how much coding and such is involved? Is it possible to get some sort of web development job that doesn't involve much coding?.

Well, yeah, one that's more web designer than web developer - most jobs like that involve some balance between the two, usually more one way than the other. But if you reckon you're not cut out for that, and you don't like the development part, tbh, you'd be best to look elsewhere in IT for new career directions. Doing stuff you don't enjoy is at least as bad an idea in this industry as in any other creative or technical one - you really need to be into this stuff (or see yourself getting interested in it) to make a good go of it.

"Web development" is a pretty loose term, but generally folks using it mean someone who does some software development (which involves building code as a core activity), with at least some web design (which involves designer skills as the core activity) thrown in. You don't like coding, and it sounds like you've tried enough to be fairly sure of that, so that's not a good road to go down. You say you don't have the talent for design, but if you like it anyway, it might be worth sticking with on the side, see if you can build up your skills to a workable level. If you don't like design though, best give that a miss too. Maybe look towards marketing, project management, business analysis, or all the other fields and specialities that work alongside developers in the IT business.

G-Money

Resurrecting my thread as this has popped into my mind again. I'm looking to earn some extra money and I'm possibly thinking of doing some web design and development in order to do so.

I do have some programming knowledge in C#, Perl and VB but that is about it. I've heard it's quite easy to setup websites using templates that are out there but any free templates I've seen I've not been massively impressed with and have struggled to modify them in a way I like.

I guess I'm wondering what my next step should be. Should I go to some training course? A friend recommend doing a FAS course but I don't know if their courses are that good?

Would it be possible for me to just get by with getting some templates online and doing some sort of online training with regards the coding and stuff? I wouldn't be thinking of setting up some huge e-commerce site or something.

But I'd like to get started somewhere with how to create nice professional looking websites.

So where do I start?

Thanks

PS: I should mention that one of my sisters recently became unemployed and she's quite good at design and graphics and I think she's considering moving into the web design area or at least doing some training there so that would be a way to shore up my lack of graphical abilities. However I don't know if that will definitely happen so it's probably better to assume it wont.

So how do I get started?

Dave!

I wouldn't bother with the FAS course/s, they looks very basic and would probably be a waste of time

If you want to get into design/development, then look up some tutorials on HTML and CSS, and then start creating websites! You'll only improve by trial and error, you need to get your hands dirty

There's a wealth of information available for free online, and ebooks and other more advanced/comprehensive tutorials can be acquired by illegitimate means if you're so inclined

HTML and CSS are what you need (at least), so once you're comfortable with them you'll be able to put together some good sites.

Oh you'll probably need to be comfortable using the likes of Photoshop too. Illustrator a bit further down the road.

G-Money

Dave! wrote: »

I wouldn't bother with the FAS course/s, they looks very basic and would probably be a waste of time

If you want to get into design/development, then look up some tutorials on HTML and CSS, and then start creating websites! You'll only improve by trial and error, you need to get your hands dirty

There's a wealth of information available for free online, and ebooks and other more advanced/comprehensive tutorials can be acquired by illegitimate means if you're so inclined

HTML and CSS are what you need (at least), so once you're comfortable with them you'll be able to put together some good sites.

Oh you'll probably need to be comfortable using the likes of Photoshop too. Illustrator a bit further down the road.

Cheers for that. Do you have any good links that I could look at? The only reason I'm asking is that there's a lot of information out there, some of which is good and some of which is quite bad. So it would be nice to avoid the crap if possible

Also, don't I need to start learning PHP or ASP or something?

Dave!

w3schools is a good resource, although it's not very comprehensive

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp

http://www.echoecho.com/html.htm

http://www.tizag.com/htmlT/

Lynda.com has lots of good tutorials, but they're expensive! If you're net savvy, I'm sure you'll be able to source them elsewhere though

PHP, ASP and the likes will be further down the line. The basics are XHTML (just strict HTML basically) and CSS, so master these and some image editing software and you can put together some good (static) websites.

I'm in the process of moving beyond that stage, so someone else can help you with the complicated sh*t

mewso

If you have done c# it might be worth taking a look at WebMatrix. This is Microsoft's alternative to Visual Web Developer Express (which is more code orientated but there is not a huge difference).

The reason WebMatrix might be worth a look is that it comes with various open source apps that can be used to create a site in a matter of minutes ready for you to tweak them to your heart's content. Sitepoint covered it revently.

Lots of getting started videos on the asp.net site too.

COYW

Buy yourself a good book on CSS and work away with that as a starting point. I work in the architecture/coding areas myself but like to take some time to keep in the loop regarding design.

Collumbo

COYW wrote: »

Buy yourself a good book on CSS and work away with that as a starting point. I work in the architecture/coding areas myself but like to take some time to keep in the loop regarding design.

look at the "In Easy Steps" CSS Book... it's probably about 12 quid. It's really well written and colour-coded which really helps. within a few days you'll be a CSS whiz. This will save you hours and days when removing little niggles in how the site looks. One of the better books I've bought....

en.r4cart

Thinking about photo design job?

grahamor

grandmaster wrote: »

I've done some coding but it's not really something I particularly love.

grandmaster wrote: »

I'm not great at coming up with nice eye catching designs so I wouldn't really be considering that.

grandmaster wrote: »

web development job that doesn't involve much coding?

!

grandmaster wrote: »

I'd be reasonably technical but I don't think I want to be a code monkey. . I'm doing some coding in my current job and not really enjoying it.

Do you really think it's a good idea to get into web design/development if you don't enjoy coding and will not consider the design side of things ?

G-Money

I see your point.

However I've kind of realised I need to upskill myself somewhat and I'd like something I can do from home part-time to earn some extra money. I'm also conscious that when I mentioned not enjoying coding, it was mostly because of my job and perhaps in a different environment as such, I would enjoy it.