help for a junior web designer?

[DrTeapot]

Hi there, a friend and I recently started a web site design business. Neither of us can do much advanced stuff at all, so we have just been doing local business websites. all basic stuff. I feel kind of like a lost kid when i think about all of the stuff i dont know. I was wondering there were some peopel out there who could give me some advice as to what type of training/cert/schooling to go for first, and how to get more clients? my website is http://eyelingo.com. Anyway, is IWA/HWG a good resource for courses? what do you guys recomend? i'm kindof grasping at straws anywhere i can to learn more, but i dont really have a lot of direction in my efforts. bot my buddy and i are 18 years old, for now just making some extra cash to put towards courses and training so we can know more what we're doing and really build a company doing this kind of thing. thanks for any help you can offer!

[Iturea]

Go to Barnes and Noble and buy a book about PHP or ASP or whatever and practice building dynamic sites. Once you learn one scripting language the other ones come a lot easier. At least that is how it worked for me. I have been building web applications for years now for businesses. I learned HTML from viewing source files on different sites I thought were cool back in the nineties. I never even heard of Frontpage or Dreamweaver back then. I now have mastered XHMTL and XML and use them almost every day. I learned ASP and PHP from books I bought or checked out from my local library. I also check out w3c schools online for their free resources. Now I can pretty much do anything I want using a combination of PHP, or ASP and JavaScript. The sky is the limit and it gets really fun after a while...

Good Luck

[DarkStar02]

Umm, I think you're jumping into selling your websites a little early. Have you actually sold any?

Maybe you should wait until you get better.

My friend's website:

www.insomniac-labs.com

[Blazer06]

Originally Posted by DarkStar02

My friend's website:

www.insomniac-labs.com

AHHHH I HATE WEBSITES WITH SOUND!!

What you are looking for is a developer, rather than a designer. I do development. Try www.w3schools.com to get started.


-Blaze

[DrTeapot]

ya, we have done websites for companies in the area. i think like 6 done now, and workin one a couple other. just basic websites for local stuff. like used car dealerships and what not. that sort of thing. I feel the same way, like maybe i should do some schooling first, but it's working out ok for now. i just need to learn more...a lot more! http://eyelingo.com is our website. i wasnt sure if i could post it earlier, most people think when you first join a forum and include a link to your website in a post that you just showed up to spam or something. ne-way, i'll definately check out that website for resources. thanks! any more advice would be very helpful and appreciated.

[EXreaction]

Originally Posted by DarkStar02

My friend's website:

www.insomniac-labs.com

Tell him that he did a pretty nice job, the layout is awsome!

[[Cerberus]]

Originally Posted by Blazer06

AHHHH I HATE WEBSITES WITH SOUND!!

agreed, so anoying. i don't mind little clicks, but elevator music can get a little old

[theGlitch]

My advice to you is, if you know remedial web design (basic HTML) buy an XHTML cookbook. O'Reilly makes the best computer books in my opinion. DO NOT read it. Use it as a reference.

Then buy a PHP book. If you have basic programming skills (java, C, etc.) you should be able to breeze through that. ASP is nice, but it is dependent on Windows servers. PHP is platform independent (and therefore, in my opinion, better).

Then buy a reference book on mySQL. Pocket reference books go a long way when you need a quick look up. Also, simple Googling will help you solve any problem you may face. Not to mention source stealing. There is no point in reinventing the wheel. If a client wants something done that you've seen on a different site, look at their source and throw it into your site. Mozilla has some real nice web development plugins you can download for FireFox.

I started out just like you, designing small sites for small businesses. This formula has really helped me get to hone my skill. Now I'm working for a big corporation (no plug necessary). My last advice for you is to download the common web browsers, because if your code looks good in IE it may look terrible in FireFox or Safari...

[EXreaction]

Erm, I don't think they are still looking for advice on it after 3 years.

[theGlitch]

hmm... well then it's there for other junior web designers...