Hey i-Club,

I want to learn how to build websites, so I am going to set aside time to learning the ins and outs of web design.

I am sure that many of you are familiar with this subject, so I am asking for some opinions on books, online how to guides, forums, etc to get me going or any other knowledge that you think would help me along the way.

Also, don't hesitate to post links of sites you have built or worked on to provide some creative insight.


Thanks!

-Rob

 

I kind of showed someone the basics of web design in like an hour. Do you have access to Dreamweaver?

 

^^^ Dreamweaver!

 

www.w3schools.com

 

^Since you're just starting out learning this stuff, I would stay away from this site so you don't end up learning stuff the wrong way. Some of the reasons for this can be read here: http://w3fools.com/

This is a great book that I used for learning and reference for XHTML & CSS: http://www.headfirstlabs.com/books/hfhtml/ (I would almost say this book is a must have)

If you want to get into php do not get the php book from Head First Labs... terrible book with many mistakes and mis matching code examples. Even worse documentation about setting up a dev environment. For php I picked up this book here: http://www.murach.com/books/phps/index.htm and have been pleased with it so far.

You should first master XHTML Strict 1.0 & CSS 2.1 then if you feel up to it take a stab at HTML5 & CSS3. Though HTML5 relies a lot on JavaScript too so it will probably be a while till you get to that point.

Make sure you don't get into the bad habit of building a site with tables. Here's a good series of videos for how to build a valid XHTML tableless layout: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpYC1fN2BHM

You definitely will want to learn Photoshop if you're getting into web design.

Also if you use Dreamweaver only use it as a text editor, don't rely on the design view because you'll never learn coding that way and it never renders correctly anyways. If you're on a mac I'd try a free solution like Text Wrangler: http://www.barebones.com/products/te.../download.html

Of course keep referring back to W3 since they make the standards for everything: http://www.w3.org/

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ is always great.

Here's one site I designed last year: http://www.ubatraumatherapy.com/

I'll try to post back with the most recent one I've been developing for the past 4 months once it goes live.

Anyways that should be more than enough to get you started, go to it!

EDIT: Oh and lastly, if you use Firefox DEFINITELY install Web Developer Toolbar and FireBug.

 

"It's free (as in beer)." Sounds like my kind of person

Thanks for all of the resources you've posted, as I know I've been building mine the bass-ackward way! (Layout in illustrator, text converted to paths, then sliced and imported into dreamweaver).

 

I'm thinking about taking a Java course next quarter but it would be unrelated to my major and I am trying to graduate sooner than later.

I'll have to look into getting dreamewaver and I am on PC. I learn by examples and trial and error, so I'll check out the book and see how it works for my learning style.

Thanks for all the info. I appreciate it!

 

Whats your major?

 

Well, let me rephrase. It could be relevant to a job or major but isn't directly relevant to my major in terms of graduating.

Business Admin - Marketing emphasizing in Sales

 

You should check to see whether the Adobe student discount applies to all students, or just creative major students. $1200 software suite for $400ish

 

I'll look into that this week.

 

I can get the...
Adobe Master Collection for $599 (Retail - $2599)
Web Premium - $349 (Retail - $1799)
Dreamweaver by itself is $119

 

If you don't want to do all that fancy stuff, I used wix.com, but what do I know lol

I'm just a college kid too, trying to learn website building for fun.

 

I used to do simple websites for SCI guilds n' stuff. LoL, nothing really fancy. Back in High school I did enjoy playing with Flash. But all the graphics and stuff you have to make on your own or import (if you make your own graphics, ur going to have one sexy *** site)

 

I need someone to build me a website, I dont have the time to learn how to do it.