Hi everyone,

 

Im currently enjoying learning web design but feel every corner you turn there is more to learn. I just wondered how many areas people work in and what thier jobs are.

I am currently aiming to do development, graphics design and hosting for my sites ,be a bit of a one man band. Do people tend to work at being very good in one area and have other people work on areas that you are not so hot in?

 

Natty

Hi everyone,

 

Im currently enjoying learning web design but feel every corner you turn there is more to learn. I just wondered how many areas people work in and what thier jobs are.

I am currently aiming to do development, graphics design and hosting for my sites ,be a bit of a one man band. Do people tend to work at being very good in one area and have other people work on areas that you are not so hot in?

 

Natty

 

Im good at 2 areas, the programming and design but would be nice to have another programmer or designer on my team.

1. HTML & CSS is a must - be it really is a game of patience, there's nothing technical about it really, I was coding it at 14 years of age.

2. To go with the above, a decent graphic design skill set is required. I mean really decent.

3. jQuery, almost a must these days. People want fancy effects, and we don't want them falling for Flash anymore.

4. The most important step in this list; learning to theme a chosen CMS. I suggest Wordpress, or Drupal. No-one wants static sites anymore. 1-3 are almost pointless if you cannot do this.

 

That's it for 'designers'. I know very few true designers who simply design a mockup and pass it on - especially if you're working as a freelancer. If you want to go further...

 

5. PHP would be your next step, but make sure you 'learn it right'. Start with OOP in a general sense, then look at the PHP syntax.

6. MySQL databases / SQL syntax is likely to be your final step. Very simple, so long as you've tackled PHP in decent depth.

I do web design, xhtml/css layout, logo design, Flash animation and work in team with developer (php, perl, lotus, asp, jsp and so on - it depends on project).

Thanks for your replys. It's good to know where to aim for without thinking you have to learn everything.

I do php/mysql/jquery and javascript

I currently only design, I'm learning how to code as well.

I'm in the marketing industry but am learning html and some photoshop. Need to learn the latter two more.

I starts with programming HTML, ASP, ended up in PHP. Now also do CSS and JQuery. We do site development, and very little web design.

Anybody work on thier own making websites as a business ? Or do you tend to team up?

Been developing Websites for over 10 years. My observation of designers is:

 

I've found that most designers understand front end technologies sufficiently (html/css/js) (years ago it was a lot worse - thinking a sliced photoshop image was a ready to run web page).

Most only understand backend development to a basic level.

Very few have any experience of more enterprise/big site development.

Most only understand basic sys admin (enough for shared hosting).

 

I think its good to dip your toes into many different technologies, even if you don't become an expert, it helps to gain an understanding when you have to work with others in those technologies.

 

It is possible to spread yourself too thin, I struggle to keep with technology within my specialism (current employer 9 years now), alone other related technology.

I have always favoured trying to gain more generic skills when looking at things at as a beginer, than finely tuned ones, which have transferable skills. E.g. understand Ajax in general rather than jquery specifically.

 

If you need additional skills, don't forget you can always outsource/sub-contract elements.

 

Cheers, Nick

Edited February 2, 201115 yr by N1ckR

Well, i can design but i cant code, so 1 area..

 

nextweek im going to a new school learning Webdesign

so i hope i can do both in a few months !

Specialise is key, you have highlighted 3 very different areas IMO. Stick to two; Development and hosting seems logical.

I do some SEO, sales and marketing,blogging and learning basic photoshop.

This is pretty much everything I do:

 

- Pre-sale prototype

- Website planning Structure

- Website design

- Front end web development

- SEO on site optimisation

- Client management

 

Rinse & repeat.

1. HTML & CSS is a must - be it really is a game of patience, there's nothing technical about it really, I was coding it at 14 years of age.

2. To go with the above, a decent graphic design skill set is required. I mean really decent.

3. jQuery, almost a must these days. People want fancy effects, and we don't want them falling for Flash anymore.

4. The most important step in this list; learning to theme a chosen CMS. I suggest Wordpress, or Drupal. No-one wants static sites anymore. 1-3 are almost pointless if you cannot do this.

 

That's it for 'designers'. I know very few true designers who simply design a mockup and pass it on - especially if you're working as a freelancer. If you want to go further...

 

5. PHP would be your next step, but make sure you 'learn it right'. Start with OOP in a general sense, then look at the PHP syntax.

6. MySQL databases / SQL syntax is likely to be your final step. Very simple, so long as you've tackled PHP in decent depth.

 

 

You da man! +1 from me G.

Yeah +1 AndyL; Nail on the head.

I don't really have a proper job title, I guess it would be 'freelance web developer'. Basically I do outsourced development for web design/new media companies who take on projects that may require some kind of server side interaction. My advice is to do one thing and do it very well, you'll pick up working knowledge of other things as you go. The jack of all trades in this industry tend to be low paid and churn out absolute muck, they can usually be found bidding against projects on freelance websites for the price of a loaf of bread.

 

If I look at some PHP that some crossover designer has coded, it looks like spaghetti, its inefficient, insecure, patternless, not rational, etc. Likewise if I designed a logo, I'd probably use comic sans and my mum would want to stick it on her fridge. Therefore no-one is going to hire me to design their website, and if they did they'd probably only want to pay £50 for it. That said, I do need a working set of photoshop skills should I ever need to make a quick change to something, or when the designer only leaves enough room for 'May' in the month button.

 

So the moral of this rant is to specialise in one area and learn working skills in others and most importantly realise your boundaries.

Edited February 7, 201115 yr by Jock

Design + HTML/CSS.

Willing to get some results at PHP

used to be a php developer, now just do a bit of web design as a hobby

Personally i'll split it in to categories for ya...

 

Enjoy doing:

HTML, CSS, Wordpress, Opencart, Jquery/javascript dreaming up things, helping others

 

Don't enjoy but like the outcome or feel it's necessary:

Copy writing, SEO, ASP (don't really bother with this now)

 

Things i do but wish i was better at:

PHP, DB's, Design

 

 

Things i wont touch due to not having sufficient skill set:

Security (databases etc)

I would not accept payment for this as i do not believe i could deliver a sufficiently secure enough system to warrant it.

 

I have a close network of friends who work in other areas such as illustration, marketing, video production etc so we often call on each other for things out of our own league.

We're teaming up for the first time ever as a whole group to create and run an internet video/magazine on fashion soon, obviously i won't be consulted on any 'style' issues.

Edited February 15, 201115 yr by MikeChipshop

In a similar vein to Mike ^ I have a loose network of folks who can plug the gaps in my knowledge should I need them. Other than that, my areas of expertise are:

 

Very good:

copywriting

xhtml/css

wordpress

 

Not bad:

Layout & typography

php

SEO

 

Need to improve:

javascript

graphic design/ illustration

Edited February 15, 201115 yr by notbanksy