Any web designers here?

[mzmolly]

I'm thinking of becoming one and want to work from home. Is this possible, and how's the market? ;)

Thanks!!!

[matcom]

1. possible absolutely

market - tough

only way i was able to survive was my expertise in search engine marketing

but possible yes and with very little overhead if you set it up right

[mzmolly]

2. Thanks, I am hoping to suppliment my income and work from home...

again, so I have some flexibility.

'search engine marketing' *sounds most important* :)

Any recomendations for education. I am interested in the graphic arts side as well as the technical side...

Thanks!

[matcom]

3. i would suggest concentrating on the technical side

a good Photoshop type program will aid your design skills greatly. MUCH more important for the technical elements IMHO. if you are developing business web sites, they need to be clean, quick loading and easy to navigate.

helps a TON if you have some marketing experience.

[mzmolly]

4. Sounds like great advice, thanks!

:hi:

[JailBush]

5. All over the map.

I haven't earned money from web design yet, but I'm hoping to launch a new business soon.

It sounds to me like it is possible, but there's lots to learn. You could purchase Microshaft's FrontPage, spend two days learning it, then try to sell your services - some people are apparently doing just that. But if you're looking for a real profession, you probably want professional web design software. Macromedia's Dreamweaver appears to be the standard - and it's expensive.

You need to learn Dreamweaver - or whatever program you use - and cascading style sheets (CSS). CSS is actually quite simple, and it's FREE. Still, it will probably take several months to become proficient with your software and CSS. I would advise you to join some forums/newsgroups that you can monitor for ideas while asking questions.

You also need to learn about web standards, accessibility and doctypes. You should know a little about JavaScript - at least enough to be able to implement scripts other people have made.

I studied web design full time for a year while I was unemployed, and I felt overwhelmed. Of course, I was also working on several websites, which ate up a lot of my time. Still, I think time is a major consideration.

Before you do ANY of the above, go back to square one and settle on an operating system. The three main choices are a PC computer running on Microsoft Windows (you probably want XP Professional), an Apple/Mac or Linux. Linux is by far the cheapest (and probably the most stable and secure), but it's also the most difficult to learn. Apple/Mac is reportedly the easiest to learn, but it's very expensive. Windows is the standard, but you might find yourself dealing with a constant stream of software bugs and viruses - not to mention the fact that you'll be supporting corporate criminal Bill Gates.

Many of the pros have two or more operating systems, so they can work with both Windows and Apple, or Windows/Linux, etc. There are various gizmos that will let you connect two computers to one monitor, along with other arrangements.

THE MARKET: I'm not sure what the propects are, but my perception is that the competition is fierce. Remember: The dot.com industry has been hit especially hard, so there are a lot of unemployed high-tech professionals looking for work. Also, I think web design has a reputation as a somewhat easy and glamorous job. In addition, anyone who owns a copy of Microshaft FrontPage can launch a business - and their are ignorant customers who will bite.

On the other hand, the field is very big and diverse, with all kinds of niches. You might find a market in your home town, or you might specialize in making political websites or websits that cater to a particular industry.

Good luck!

[mzmolly]

10. Interesting thanks!!!

I appreciate your comprehensive information. I had no idea that I could begin with Microsoft FP. I have Win XP currently, but would not rule out Linux...

I like the idea of a niche' just figuring out what that should be LOL.

[XanaDUer]

6. I'm one

can work from home, tough, tough market now. I don't see it getting better any time soon.

PS-do you know visual basic?

[mzmolly]

9. EEK, I don't know visual basic well...

but I studied it a bit last year. I know very little however ;)

[JailBush]

7. GRAPHICS

Adobe just came out with a "Creative Suit" upgrade - at $750! If you're buying it from scratch, I think it's about $1,250. If you can afford it, Photoshop is the industry standard. Adobe's suite also includes Illustrator, which will let you work with SVG images. I haven't done anything with them yet, but they intrigue me.

Macromedia's Studio MX suite includes both Dreamweaver web design and a graphics program called Fireworks. The studio costs $1,000 or more, or you can buy Fireworks separate for maybe $500 or so. From what I've heard, Photoshop is generally rated a little better overall, but Fireworks is said to be better at optimizing images for the web.

If you're set up with Linux, you can find FREE programs that are said to be quite good. I think the Photoshop equivalent is called Gimp. I believe Sodipodi is the program used to work with SVG images.

Again, do some research on the Internet and join a few newsgroups to figure it all out. Another tip: Apple was long the standard operating system for working with graphics, and I believe Photoshop has generally been tailored for Apple. On the other hand, I've been told that Dreamweaver is optimized for Windows - but the difference in performance may be negligible.

[MojoKrunch]

8. Market is suck.

From the graphic designer perspective anyway.
The more coding you can do, the better off you are.

For graphic design learn Fireworks, Freehand and Flash.
I would only go the Adobe route if you planned on doing 2d/paper design as well... Adobe is *the* industry standard for that, but Macromedia is the industry standard for web design.
Stay away from MS FrontPage unless you can get it for free or someone hires you to learn to use it.

For web design know XML, PHP, ASP, Cold Fusion and Flash ActionScripting.

It is possible to work from home.
Look at ELance.com for some idea of what is going on.

Buy the Macromedia MX 2004 Suite, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, Freehand.
Look for education copies.
Amazon has it new for about $850 and used for about $450.
If you wanna "try before you buy", there is always Kazaa.

Learning to code is the quickest way to get work.
Everyone and their brother can operate Fireworks/Photoshop and do crappy graphcis.
Learn to do concise, eye-catching, compact graphics.

Flash is *the* program for animation oriented sites and with Cold Fusion, the direction the web is going, so the more you can learn about it, the better off you will be.

Learn to sell yourself.

Good luck.

Mojo

[JailBush]

11. Are Cold Fusion and Flash really the way?

I certainly hope not! Flash sucks; about 90% of the Flash pages I've seen are reminders to NOT USE FLASH.

Although I love Dreamweaver, I'm a little leery of Macromedia; they're a little too "corporate" for my tastes, and I have the perception that they're in bed with Microsoft.

For similar reasons, I would like to steer clients away from .asp to .php. I want to learn .php first, and may not bother with .asp and Cold Fusion at all.

It's my understanding that SVG images are somewhat comparable to Flash and may eventually give it competition - especially since SVG is supported by the W3C. But you never know - Microsoft will probably purchase, bribe or destroy W3C.

[matcom]

13. forget FLash EMBRACE Dreamweaver

nothing better than Dreamweaver

FLASH is/was a "Flash in the pants"

corporate web sites (most of them) not only do NOT benefit from it, MOST are hurt by it.

search enginges IGNORE Flash (can't read it)
people look at it as a HINDERANCE

VERY few instances BENEFIT from a Flash intro, VERY few

[MUAD_DIB]

15. Forget Dreamweaver

use BBedit for html.

I agree on flash, though. There are too many sights that are using poorly thought out flash and what you get in return is slooooowwww choppy bandwidth.

Use flash sparingly if at all.

[MojoKrunch]

21. Forget BBedit, use a *PENCIL*!

Disconnect your computer from the phone jack and read a book instead!
lol

Don't knock Flash because of bad Flash designers.

Mojo

[MojoKrunch]

20. Flash will save the world!

Ok, maybe not.
But that stuff about search engines is bad web design, not Flash.
How are corporate sites "hurt" by Flash?
Can you give me some examples?

The only real problem is one of bandwidth and bad design.
Designers get caught up in the gee-whiz factor and forget most people are still on dial-up.
Who the hell wants to wait for a 30 second intro to download?
I know I don't.

But I can make sites just as lean as anything HTML using Flash and do everything HTML does, only quicker.

I'm no coding genius, but the upside of Flash via Actionscripting is astounding.

Mojo

[sendero]

17. I agree...

... while this is not always true, most Flash sites are a perfect reminder that just because you can do something does not indicate that you should.

Only about 1 flash site out of ten is what the surfer wants, the rest are what the designer wants. :)

[MojoKrunch]

19. Yes.

The Flash/ColdFusion combo is flexible, robust and getting stronger.

I certainly hope not! Flash sucks; about 90% of the Flash pages I've seen are reminders to NOT USE FLASH.
Bad design.
The "gee whiz", 30 second long intro I can do without as well.
Given the amount of interactivity available to Flash sites via ColdFusion, however, this is where it is going.

Although I love Dreamweaver, I'm a little leery of Macromedia; they're a little too "corporate" for my tastes, and I have the perception that they're in bed with Microsoft.
"Too Corporate"?
As opposed to who?
Macromedia is the industry standard.
They do an excellent job of udgrading their products from user imput and acquiring/incorporating new tech.
I'd take them over Adobe to do webwork any day.
And I do.
:D

Their only competition is Adobe and Adobe is one step behind at best.

For similar reasons, I would like to steer clients away from .asp to .php. I want to learn .php first, and may not bother with .asp and Cold Fusion at all.
Certainly your perogative, from what I hear ASP is on the way out.
I'm just giving you my opinion.

It's my understanding that SVG images are somewhat comparable to Flash and may eventually give it competition - especially since SVG is supported by the W3C. But you never know
SVG is Adobe reinventing the wheel.
Flash files *are* scalable vector graphics.

- Microsoft will probably purchase, bribe or destroy W3C.
Who cares?
Seriously.
People build web pages using non-MS software and OS's.

I'm no fan of MS, but if you wanna build your pages using the Adobe suite on FreeBSD, hell, don't let anyone stop you.

Mojo

[mzmolly]

12. Thanks again, sounds like the consensus is to focus on the 'technical'

so many choices out there!

[Champion Jack]

14. First thing to remember....

No matter how high tech the world becomes...


You will STILL pay a plumber $75. an hour
If you can find a plumber that is.

[welshTerrier2]

16. My two cents

I'm concerned that most of the responses I've read put an excessive focus on using specific products to build web pages ... but if you don't know what you're trying to accomplish, the best tools in the world aren't going to help you accomplish it ...

I've been a software engineer for more than 20 years and I've been building web sites for about 6 years now ... many people I've worked with are unable to write clearly, have a terrible time learning what is really needed, don't understand what a "good user interface is", lack an understanding of what a business is trying to accomplish on their website, don't know how to build secure web sites, have no idea how to design a database to support a web site and on and on ...

What's my advice? Learn lots of stuff and see where it leads you ...

it's been a tough road for many in the high tech world the last couple of years ... it's unclear whether the job market will recover for this industry ... it would be nice to have a broad education so that you don't have all your eggs in one basket ... and, if you can find a job building web sites, your broad education will serve you well ...

Best of luck ...

[sendero]

18. good comments....

... I'm also a programmer (C++,OOP,Perl) who is finding programming work hard to come by. I've worked at home for over a decade and never have I seen such a down market.

I've been playing with web sites, learning Photoshop (which I love, and feel like you can do *anything* with that and Imageready) learning PHP (which I also love because it's like the web marriage of C and Perl :)) and just learning general webmastering.

I love doing it but finding a way to cash in does not look easy.

But the tools you use are almost irrelevant. For example, I refuse to use wyswyg web tools (like Dreamweaver or Visual Studio) because they all insist on screwing up the formatting of the HTML so that manual edits are a pain in the backside. And you *always* wind up editing the HTML to get the last details right. After trying these tools out a while - I just found it easier to do the whole thing in a plain editor. Of course, being a programmer might be the reason :)

But while the exact tools you use will not make you or break you, it is very important to master whatever it is you decide to use.

[MojoKrunch]

22. For you programmers out there...

Dreamweaver incorporated the Homesite editing software into the MX version.
I always work split screen to keep track of what is going on.
The upside is that unlike some other editors, Dreamweaver doesn't add shit to the code.
It can be as clean as using NotePad.

Photoshop absolutely rocks, but you might want to give Fireworks a run for your web graphic work.
Making roll-overs is a snap.
It now supports .psd files, too.

Mojo

[WWW]

23. the market is good, but really boring

I pretty much just do technical manufacturing sites. For a long time I was doing China business sites and then got a china/German site and then a US/french site. The translations of whatever the main language is into English will drive you to suicide as will the ad copy. "A revolutionary way to keep your industrial battery running like new is finally here."
I just got a job yesterday promoting a Chinese band that does Jimi Hendrix music.