dan2

I would suggest asking yourself one question - 'What can I achieve in 10 years?' I know many graduates, some are in the jobs that they planned to be in. Like a girl who spent 7 years at uni for a £42k a year job. Over those 7 years, things changed - cutbacks, funding issues etc. She went in earning 12k, and now is on 22k a year 10 years down the line. Then there are the ones that have never found employment in their chosen career. Two of which are still driving taxis - when they left, it was a numbers game. Lots of uni kids were passing and fighting for limited jobs. The longer they searched, the more 'out of date' their degrees became. From the employers point of view, it is all good! Don't have to worry about the normal young party lads you have to drum life skills into - with so many graduates out there, you can have a field day - as long as you pay basic wages, or put them on an 'apprenticship', they don't have to pay their loans back so they are happy too. Grads are required for road works, dustbin collection, all sorts - and the £80/week government grad apprenticwship scheme for 5 years is a joke after x years at uni! Thirty odd years old until you get to earn a similar wage as a burger flipper at the takeaway! You could always work your way up, prove what you are worth, gain your skills and knowledge and build yourself a name or business. You could have a team working for you in 10 years, and pull in 120k a year...who knows? The government are getting alot of flack over student fees - but they really are missing the point and taking it too personally. There are TOO MANY grads and NOT ENOUGH jobs for them to go to. This means they are taking unskilled positions to get by - and the unskilled stay on the dole - which costs money. That is what it is all about, putting the employment market back into balance. Choice is yours - where can you be in 10 years???

Bit too late really, because I bought one, Just wondered how peope have got on with them long term, and if there are any issues - apart from getting used to the layout! Seems to be OK, comfortable and hopefully stop the wrist ache! Interestingly, purchased cheaper in a local computer shop, than the main stores, and even online.

As a businessman, I would advise you to concentrate on your work. You could always do an offer or similar to boost your portfolio, even offer to do some basic charity sites for a very low cost or similar.But this has to be a limited offer - and advise not taking on unsuitable clients. If you specialise in certain sites - offer those trades the offer. What you have to remember with cheap sites designers is, they have a quantity budget clients, that just want a basic operational site with little knowledge about web design themselves, seeing their business on screen is good enough. That is the psoitive side - you may end up having people who have paid £350 for a site - and moan constantly. Is that worth the hassle? Everyone has to start somewhere - as are these designers. But start as you mean to go on. I would concentrate on quality clients, quality websites that return great results. You may have to do a few on the cheap, but that builds up the figures - set yourself a standard and stick to it! You will then end up being known as a good designer, and not a bulk designer. You don't want to be in the answer to the question 'Does anyone know where I can get a cheap website?' as all your base will be cheap. Set the pace, lead the way - it will pay in the end!

I would specify office contents insurance if you are not working from home, or let you home insurance company aware if you are working from home. Maybe some public liability if you have clients visiting you (just in case they trip on a carpet etc) other than that I wouldn't have thought so!

I am no expert, so can only give you the view from a 'customer' point of view. I agree the circles at the top could be smaller, to allow you to see that more is below - or more inportantly, the navigation buttons below (I think it leads you to scroll down) Other that that, absolutely cracking site! Looks modern, clean and fresh. Doesn't batter the eyes and is laid out great. As I say - that is the view from a 'Customer' prospective. I am not a designer or expert critic! (But i know what I like)

You sound as if you are where I was 6 months ago. I run a handful of businesses, and having had problems with updating sites from a web company (always a fight!) I wanted to pull away from it. I looked at Moonfruit, Blue Voda (easy to build) and even Microsofts Office based web builder - all free to download. However, as I researched more and more, it dawned on me that many of these sites are actually US based and push you to host with them as a package. If the search engines see your company is 'based' in the US, will that effect your customers finding you when they search for you service in their area? I have been told that it does make a difference. You then have to look into the advertising that will be on your page (they have to pay for these sites somehow!) and you will have no control over that. You really don't want competition thrown up as advertising on your own page! As i kept thinking about these worries, I decided that the best way to do it, was to learn coding and do it myself - at least I would be able to build and maintain the site off my own back - which would mean less aggro, getting the standard I want (or am capable of) and save on the hours calling a web designer to try and get him to add updates to the site (2 years of calls last time!) The coding is simple enough - you should get the hang of it quickly if you stick with it.

I have looked at my website, which is xhtml, and the meta tags are closed. Not sure what your doctype is, but it may help! (only learning myself, so don't want to teach someone to suck eggs ) My website was done by a professional designer, not me! Google lists the meta data ok!

Welcome! I can only say, that the members are very good on here. I am only learning, and they have been welcoming and helpful! Maine Coon cats? I sound like the people that look at our dog and say 'Glen of Imaal?' I shall have a look in a moment and see what they are about. Cats and bombs are definitely hobbies worthy of dicussion.

I know this one ....and it is as above. XHTML docs must be closed, this enables allow mobile internet (phones etc)to read it. HTML can remain open, but will only be readable by computers, rather than small internet devices. So I guess it is down to you, and if you want the site to be open to all users, or just computers. (I am only learning - so if I am wrong, do say!)

I am in the same boat, being new to it all. I must agree with w3c schools as being very good and easy to use. Start from the beginning and work your way through, the coding is surprisingly simple to get the hang of. Once you do each section, they have quizzes to test yourself - these are handy as they do point out anything that you may be weak on. I also suggest going back and retesting whilst you are doing other coding, as I noticed that when learning other codes, I was forgetting what I had previously learnt on some aspects, so good to have a re-cap! Good luck!

Ideal! Thanks Warren - I know what you mean with experience over qualifications! I own a few companies, so will have plenty to practice on. I need to replace one of the companies websites quite quickly as it doesn't do much, and I cannot access it. I did notice that some of the newer code is not supported by all browsers yet, so would I be right in thinking it better to use older versions of the code (html4), so that IE8 can read it or just stick with XHTML as a matter of course? It is a little more secure as well i beleive.....daft questions i know, never had a newbie quite so new to it all eh? Thanks again

I have been happy with Norton, I know it has bad reports etc but the 360 has been fine for me. It just sits there sorting everything out. Kapersky is very good too, but is quite enthusiastic so stops and checks everything, so it ends up slowing things down. Moreso on boot-up. A friend who is a computer geek in the purest form uses AVG, and swears by it. The stuff he downloads and keeps on his computer you would not believe! So that must be ok.

Cheers guys! Current going through CSS, Seems to have got html's xhtmls sorted and they seem easy enough. That was quite a surprise as I never was much of a computer geek, though I did used to enjoy sitting for hours tapping in programs when I was a kid (texas ti994a days!) just to watch something stupid like a frog jump accross the screen! How things have changed - you never know, I might have an inner geek trying to get out (hopefully!)

Hi all! Name is Dan, I have just joined to get a little more info about web design. It has been decided as the career move, and so far will just be picking brains and learning whilst you all talk! Currently in the middle of choosing courses - seem to be quite a few out there, so do need advice on what actual qualifications are worth anything, and what isn't etc. In the mean time, I have been sitting on w3c schools and working my way through that, which so far seems quite simple and picking it up ok(ish)whilst I decide/investigate what courses are good for what.