ThomasJ

That's exactly what I did, Lovelock! See my last post.

Thread revival! So, I think I'm beginning to get it. I've since delved into some Javascript and it was instantly apparent that I am MUCH more of a dev person than a design person. I must admit I haven't got much outside of the console yet, but the prospect of moving toward development is definitely appealing. I think I'll leave the design side to the professionals! That being said, I've been trying to put together a site using what I've learned up to now. What I'm wondering is whether the level of HTML/CSS I'm using would be an acceptable level to move on to Javascript and the back-end stuff. I don't much enjoy the front-end stuff, and I don't think I'm really very good at it so I don't want to dwell on the HTML/CSS any more than I really need to. I'm certainly no designer, or UX expert, so take that side of things with a pinch of salt, but I'd appreciate some feedback on whether I'm heading in the right direction with the code side of things. As a side note, it's just an imaginary project, not for any real-world client. Also, I wanted to try a responsive site, but I'd started with the old 960 grid, so I modified that to be responsive, and it kinda seems to work, I certainly learned a lot converting it rather than just starting with a RWD framework. http://www.tomliveshere.com - (site in question is linked on front page). Thanks!

Thanks guys, good to hear it's not uncommon! It's more frustrating because I'm aiming to ultimately focus on development, progressing onto Javascript and then PHP/Ruby, but I feel I should get a good grasp of HTML/CSS first by building some sites. And as I've discovered, coding them is the easy bit for me!

Hey guys, I'm currently on my quest to change careers and become a web designer, I posted a thread a while back about starting my journey and got some great advice and generally things have been going well since then. I've got to grips with HTML/CSS and really enjoying it. Problem is, I've hit a bit of a wall; I'm really struggling with 'coming up with ideas'. I'm confident with all the technical stuff, whether that's actually coding stuff or even things like using Photoshop/Illustrator (which I'm fluent in anyway due to using it for my current job - 3D artist) and despite being pretty new to writing HTML, that's not the bit I'm having problems with. I want to start building personal project sites to build a portfolio, but I get stumped at how to actually design the page. For example, I thought I'd try and build a site for an imaginary cupcake shop, not hugely original I know but I thought it would give me a nice little project as a starter. I came up with the name and planned out the site content / site map, and then drew a blank when it came to actually designing the site. I just had no idea what to do! Changed up my concept a bit and thought maybe I'll try a simple, executive layout for a law firm or something, and the same problem... all out of ideas on how to actually design the page. I suppose this is probably what it known as designers-block, but for me, it's not that the ideas have just stopped, they haven't even started yet! Do you guys have any tips/advice/articles/resources for generating ideas or coming up with designs? I know I could just stick with the coding and focus on the development side, which is something I do plan to do, but even then, I want to actually have some built examples of what I can do to put in a portfolio. Thanks!

Thanks. It's not so much the ideas or design I'm struggling with, I've got a few ideas I would like to try, it's more the making it happen. Like, I can make a nice looking PSD, but then it's getting all that and turning it into a site.

Checking back in with an update here and to ask a bit more advice! I've dug into some HTML/CSS stuff and breezed through it. Really enjoying it and picked it up pleasingly quickly. However, I'm at a bit of a stumbling block as to how to make stuff that looks good. Right now I can structure a page and get the framework in place, but it all looks very 'web 1.0'. I'm not quite sure how to go from this, to the contemporary stuff you see on today's websites. Stuff like slicing PSD's / using grid systems etc are going right over my head. Does anyone have any book or web recommendations that cover this stuff. Maybe some sort of 'complete build' tutorials would help me understand the process. I've found the stuff on tuts+ is a bit light on beginner stuff, even on the complete builds they use all kinds of text expander style plugins that I'm sure are invaluable to the experienced designer, but make things difficult to follow for us mere beginners. Thanks, Tom

As a follow up question, what kind of projects should I be aiming for on the backend and development side of things? Say I was building a portfolio to find work (wither freelance or otherwise), what kind of things would be good to put in as a developer? Not that those are things I plan to be tackling anytime soon, but it's nice to have some goals to work towards. For example, on the HTML/CSS front, it's quite obvious, but I'm not sure about the development side.

Excellent, thanks so much everyone. It's great that such a community exists; already I feel inspired to get stuck in just from the initial encouragement here. Plenty of great stuff to get stuck into now, I'll report back in due course. Thanks again

Glad to hear it's good! Also, for the HTML stuff, I was thinking about picking up this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML5-CSS3-Visual-QuickStart-Guides/dp/0321719611/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349986023&sr=8-1 Which appears to be this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML-XHTML-CSS-Visual-QuickStart/dp/0321430840/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1349986039&sr=8-3 but revised. Is that any good, or would I be better sticking with Treehouse for the basic stuff too?

Ok thanks guys. As for where I was planning to learn, I was thinking http://teamtreehouse.com/library#topic-group-9 or https://learnable.com/courses?category=web_development.

Thank you! I'll look forward to having a good read through those links. So is PHP a good language to start programming with period? What I mean by that is whether it will give me a good base in the concepts of programming in general? For example, will Javascript be easier to get to grips with if I have a good basis in PHP?

Thanks guys. Renaissance - Yes speculative work is unfortunately very common, in fact I'd say almost standard in this industry; more so with the current state of things. It's refreshing to see the design business is taking a solid stand against it. Porkchops - Great tips, many thanks. I suppose I hadn't considered graphic design as a potential outlet alongside the web stuff. I'd say websites are at the heart of my interests, I like the idea of making interactive things, but other fields may certainly be worth exploring as a side project, as you say. Webdesigner93 - Thanks for the comments. It seems PHP is commonly recommended as the language to learn. I do see a lot of Rails stuff too, is PHP likely to remain as prominent, or are there other languages that may gain increasing popularity?

Hi there, I've got a few questions regarding the web development and design industry (I'm aware they are different things) and was hoping you guys in the business can offer your thoughts. I'm a 27 year old architecture graduate, and have worked in the architecture industry for the past 5 years or so. Whilst I've never really thoroughly enjoyed it, it's been ok. However, the industry has suffered horrendously through the current economic situation; the company I work for has cut its staff almost in half over the past 18 months or so, and I'm now on a much lower salary than I probably hoped to be on when I started. I appreciate that almost all industries have suffered a similar fate, but I've seen a lot more new websites go up over the past 6 months than new buildings. With that said, I've felt for the past few months that now might be a good time for a career change, or at least a good time to start looking into one. This is where we get onto the web stuff. I've long had a great interest in graphic design - web, print, all aspects. I actually did some graphic design during college, but never followed it through any further. I've kept up to date with design trends simply because I enjoy it as a spectator, but I think it may be something I'd actually like to get into as a career. I'm not currently sure whether I'm leaning more towards design or development, but let's say at this stage probably a bit of both. At least initially. I'm more technical than I am creative, but I do like to get the crayons out every so often, so to speak. So, after that unnecessarily long intro, I have a few questions. 1. Is web design and web development a career choice likely to hold opportunity into the foreseeable future? I know nobody has a crystal ball, but just hypothetically, is one likely to be able to find jobs are available, either freelance or in-house. 2. How long, typically, would be a realistic amount of time to set myself to aim for employment (again, either freelance or in-house). 1 year, 2 years? I suppose it is very much a subjective question, but assuming I learn at a reasonable pace and spend a good amount of time actually doing it. 3. If you were starting from scratch, would you recommend design or development as a more viable career path? And finally, the most important question: 4. What kind of 'roadmap' would you recommend for a beginner to take. For example, HTML+CSS + General Design > JS/Rails/PHP > ?? I think it's safest to say I have zero experience. I did actually explore HTML and CSS a long while ago, and built a very very basic page using it when I wanted to try to set up a portfolio site. This was back in the 2.0 days, and I've probably forgotten 99% of what I learned. That said, I do still understand a lot of the core concepts of HTML/CSS. So, with that in mind, where would you recommend I start? It's probably worth mentioning that I'm not concerned with the technicalities of things like software or design fundamentals. I've used Creative Suite for many years anyway, and things like design fundamentals and user experience I like to read up on in my spare time. I should also add that I'm not in this for money. I just want an enjoyable, rewarding career that pays the bills and supports my family! I also want to help rid the web of the awful examples of web design that seem to still remain all too familiar. So, thanks for reading this mammoth text and I look forward to your comments. Thomas