ErisDS

I'm with the big boys (and girls).
 
IE 6 is part of your job, deal with it or get a new one that doesn't have any irritating aspects...

The simple answer is no, there aren't any "web developer" qualifications.
 
If you are interested in getting a role as a web developer as opposed to a web designer, you'll find that a lot of people have computer science or interactive media qualifications.
 
Also a lot of people have fine art or graphic design degrees much like yourself.
 
In order to convert your degree into one that looks good for a web development role, you need to have good (self taught) knowledge of lots of different web technologies.
Some examples: HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, Flash, Actionscript, CMSs and frameworks (like blueprint for css, jquery for javascript symfony for PHP) and API's (twitter, flickr etc). The more technologies you can say you have knowledge of/dabbled in the better.
 
You then also need to be able to demonstrate this knowledge, both through including live links to projects you have worked on in your application and by answering technical questions (or completing a test) during the interview.
 
As a beginner/trainee, just having one or two demonstrable links (home page/portfolio/something you built just for fun) will be fine to get you to interview, then you just need to be able to talk the talk.
 
FYI my company is hiring and advanced PHP Developer at the moment. Our job description (which is in the looking to hire section) makes no reference what-so-ever to qualifications, only skills/technologies you must be familiar with. Although when we look through CVs we do ideally want to see a good degree, it's not essential in the slightest and doesn't matter what it's in!
 
However, if you really want to do a qualification, the main on people look for is Zend Certification, and that's something I am hoping to do this year. It's basically the PHP exam written/managed by the people who write/maintain PHP.

As I said to you in a PM, it's very hard to explain how it all works to you when you have absolutely no CMS starting point to explain from.
 
Get stuck in, have a go with a basic theme and once you have Wordpress setup and doing something like what you want it to you will begin to understand what Wordpress is capable of and how.
 
Whether you start by building a theme, or start by playing with someone else's it doesn't really matter, the first thing you need to do really is actually install Wordpress and take a look at the software itself!
 
At the moment you're kinda asking how to make spaghetti bolognaise before you've figured out what a saucepan is!

I have confidence in myself that I can fix anything Magento throws at me. But I also know there are plenty of people out there that know it better than me and will happily take my money if I were to get stuck.
 
I don't imagine it would ever happen, and I certainly am not going to spend hundreds or thousands on an insurance policy! I'm a dev, I solve problems, it's what I do!

Unless your clients earn mega-money I'd take the risk and if something goes that wrong you can always find and pay some Magento-specialists to sort it out!

Magento is, in my opinion, by far the best e-commerce platform out there. Hotscripts is in no way a good measure of whether an application is any good.
 
Magento comes in two versions. The free community version, or the fully supported enterprise version which costs something like £12,000 a year.
 
I use the free version. It is quite tough to setup, but very, very, VERY powerful.

replace
 

echo single_cat_title() . '|' . wp_title('');
 
with
 

echo single_cat_title(' | ', false) . wp_title('');

Stupid question, but has the page actually got a category?
 
Can I take a lookie?

So the problems are that in this situation:
 
1. single_cat_title() spits out the title of the post
2. the_category() spits out a html list (although not sure why mind as I use it to spit out a link)
3. get_the_category() returns an array
 
so I have done the following:
 

elseif( is_single() ) { $cat = get_the_category(); echo $cat[0]->name; echo wp_title('|'); }
 
It's not pretty, and it's not clever but it should do what you want.

In the modern web you cannot be jack of all trades. Therefore if you want to be truly great, pick an area and run with it.
 
Maybe you're a great graphic designer, an accomplished copywriter, a fabulous front-end developer or a brilliant back-end developer. You may be more than one of these, but never all.
 
Surround yourself with people who are great at those areas which are not your forte, and you are bound to go far, together.

The global variable $post refers to the current post / page / attachment that you are viewing.
 
One of the things you are trying to achieve is custom titles for your contact pages.
 
Now I have assumed that the page names are not "About Me" and "Get in Touch" ( it'd be easier if I could see the site and not make assumptions * ) so you need to test for the pages text title so that you set the meta title. The only way to get at this info is via the global $post variable.
 
It's used almost everywhere, but you can only use it if you declare you want to.
 
<?php global $post; ?> declares that you want to use the variable.
 
Put it anywhere in your header file above the block of code you're working on - so before the <title> tag is best.
 
*If my assumption is in correct and the text title of each of your pages is actually About Me and Get in Touch then let me know and I'll provide different code

<!-- < HTML comments nothing to do with PHP
I placed the client name in the right place for you - so you can just copy and paste the whole code block and it should work - I just added the comment to explain what I had done and why
 
the "Client Name |" is just plain content in HTML inside the <title></title> tags so if you ignored or removed the if statement all together you would have:
 
<title>Client Name |</title>
 
Granted, I had put HTML comments inside of php - so I've changed those

Remember that commercial web design is a business and your job is to create a website that gets your client results (mostly more cash) - it's not about expressing your artistic flair and massaging your ego. Design has a job to do, it's not art - don't get sucked into believing all the "web designers are God" hype.

Tip:
 
Version Control
 
Subversion, Git, whatever, learn how to use it and just use it.
 
Get into the habit
 
ErisDS has created a relative thread here

In the modern web you cannot be jack of all trades. Therefore if you want to be truly great, pick an area and run with it.
 
Maybe you're a great graphic designer, an accomplished copywriter, a fabulous front-end developer or a brilliant back-end developer. You may be more than one of these, but never all.
 
Surround yourself with people who are great at those areas which are not your forte, and you are bound to go far, together.

My tip:
 
Become a sponge.
 
Whenever you find yourself exposed to anything to do with web sites try to appreciate it's design, how it's made and how you could improve it - and absorb every bit of information you possibly can during your day to day life. In my day job (I work in insurance) I use lots of websites but am constantly viewing the page source to see how things are done, in my lunch breaks I get my laptop out and watch tutorials, and I practice coding whilst sitting at my desk. Maybe I'm a bit obsessed...
 
Vague advice I know, but I think its worth saying

Nope!
 
I've only been doing it for, oh I don't know, 10 years? I can't remember all of it by heart! That's what Google is for! I remember lots of it, but I often forget too... especially when you consider that everyday I'm working in HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP and SQL and then you have to add on extra bits for frameworks be they CSS, JS, or PHP frameworks. If I knew every function, every classname, every variable, I'd be.... well... Google ?
 
The only thing you have to remember is the approaches you take to solve individual problems. You don't have to remember the exact code, just have a rough idea of where to go to find that solution, or how to start solving it.
 
If you code a menu one week, you don't recode it the next - you copy and paste the code you wrote last week and modify it so it solves the new problem.
 
Therefore, the way to learn is to find new problems to solve! Set yourself a task (like coding up a Photoshop design you've made) and as you set about completing it you come across a set of problems that need solving.
 
How to best structure your HTML? How to best structure your CSS? How to code the menu, how to make the columns sit side-by-side etc.
 
The more you have done, the more problems you will have, and the less you will need to remember.

I just want to second this, Sorry Wickham you seem to have been confused by Ajax & JQuery.
 
People have only just started to realise how powerful a language Javascript is. There are many flaws in the design of the language that have tripped people up, but nowadays "best practices" have been established, such that the bad parts are ignored and the good bits (which are truly great) are being use to more of their capabilities. Javascript is a bit like the human brain, we've only been using 10% of it's potential! Currently the web is exploding with applications as it's true power is harnessed.
JQuery is a framework, like Prototype or YUI. A framework is a set of tools written in a language to make the language easier to use, or to make frequent tasks easier to use. So most frameworks abstract out things like the differences between browsers so you only have to write a piece of code once & you know it will work on every browser because the framework does the hard stuff for you. AJAX is just a clever use of Javascript + XML or JSON to send requests to a server without having to refresh the page. That's a simplification but a basic explanation.
 
One of the reasons why Javascript is now so popular is that it is portable across computers and mobile devices such that an app written in Javascript can be run anywhere.
 
So Javascript is definitely a technology to harness if you can. But to get back to the original topic - focus on writing HTML & CSS first! When you're proficient you'll have an idea of where you want to go next

Erm... -1 for me and Traxor for some reason?? lol

Spacing.
 
Someone said look at broadsheets which is great advice. Also look at magazines. Learn how to use typography & negative spaces properly to create rhythm and guide the eye.
 
Take a look at some sites that you think look "professional" then analyse them to find out what it is that makes them feel this way. Is it:
 
1. use of white space
2. use of colour
3. use of typography
4. smart graphics
5. excellent content
6. structure
7. all of the above
8. something else intirely
 
Have a go at creating some mood boards. Take screenshots of page "components" (headers, navigation, footers, sub-menus, adverts, pings, graphics, widgets, form elements etc) that look good and put them together in a scrap-book style, then isolate what the overriding rules are for creating "good looking navigation" or "a great footer" etc.
 
Most of all practice, practice, practice.

Spacing.
 
Someone said look at broadsheets which is great advice. Also look at magazines. Learn how to use typography & negative spaces properly to create rhythm and guide the eye.
 
Take a look at some sites that you think look "professional" then analyse them to find out what it is that makes them feel this way. Is it:
 
1. use of white space
2. use of colour
3. use of typography
4. smart graphics
5. excellent content
6. structure
7. all of the above
8. something else intirely
 
Have a go at creating some mood boards. Take screenshots of page "components" (headers, navigation, footers, sub-menus, adverts, pings, graphics, widgets, form elements etc) that look good and put them together in a scrap-book style, then isolate what the overriding rules are for creating "good looking navigation" or "a great footer" etc.
 
Most of all practice, practice, practice.

I want to add the following to this discussion:
 
1. There has been a very recent (Today I believe) update to Wordpress to fix the XSS security hole.
 
 
It should be run as a matter of urgency by anyone maintaining Wordpress Sites.
 
Thanks,
 
Eris

I want to add the following to this discussion:
 
1. There has been a very recent (Today I believe) update to Wordpress to fix the XSS security hole.
 
 
It should be run as a matter of urgency by anyone maintaining Wordpress Sites.
 
Thanks,
 
Eris

i just think ur talkin crap sayin that u could design and code that in 10 hours. thats all. i have asked on a another design forum (which has a much higher standard of design as this place) and they have replied with sayin u should be asking for as much as €3000 for such a site. "A €450 designer probably doesn't know what he/she is doing, probably using a WYSIWYG editor, no thought about things like usability, accessability or findability. i suppose you usually get what you pay for (or in a lot of cases, less)"

ah god. im not gonna get into this. ur design skills dont look up to much so if u think u could design my site in 10 hours all i can say is fair enough. maybe u could code a couple of pages in 10 hours but u wouldnt be able to design it