The term Web-Designer is quite possibly one of the more over-used & misinterpreted labels within the I.T. industry. For anyone looking to get into the market, an explanation of the distinctive aspects ought to help to de-mystify things. Web Design involves the 'technical' elements of a website and also the creative elements. The typical PC user thinks web designers determine how a site looks and 'feels'. Basically, they see web designers because artists on the whole. In spite of this, a commercial web-designer will in fact be as occupied with the 'technical' element of things as they are with the 'creative' side. We'll demonstrate this with greater clarity if we separate web design down in to its different parts.

The people that design & assemble the images and graphic symbols to go on a web page are known as graphic artists. They most often bring this about by means of graphic layout & animation software (like Adobe Flash & 'Photoshop'), & are not strictly web-site designers per-se. Most graphic artists went to college or university, and have a background in artistic drawing. This part is more about artistic expertise than anything else.

Site designers come next - they utilise design software like Dreamweaver to plan & design the visual aspects & 'feel' of the website. Using graphics from the graphic artist, they'll assemble the navigational structure of the website, working with the client to make sure the feel meets their needs. Many amateur web site designers put emphasis first on the format of the website, instead of it's function. In order to build a successful web site however, its crucial to first of all look at what you essentially want the web site to accomplish. This could be an online inventory of goods, or possibly it's an E-commerce web site which would need to be ready to sell straight from the page. Or potentially it'll consist of lots of video & heavy graphics. Then again it might be predominantly an information web site, where it is important to provide simple entry to appropriate pages of textual content. No matter what you want from a site, it must - at it's most basic level - carry out the function for which it is intended. There is little value in creating a visually interesting web-site that is extremely hard for anyone to get to where they want! A good web-designer must effectively develop a web based 'experience' that is both satisfying & intuitive for those visiting the web site - then they will visit over and over again.

The thing it's essential to realise is that no training course can make a web-designer out of you. The actual program will simply teach all the techniques and skills. Build as many websites as you possibly can whilst you work through your training course - the process will be invaluable & you will have something to show just what you can do. Create web-sites about your favourite hobby, your family dog, a favourite band or even Television show. You could even create interactive websites & get 'traffic' on them. All this will appear much more favourable on your CV, & in your Portfolio, than a qualification from 'Adobe' will!

Alternative skills that are highly relevant to web-designers in the professional market are a good grasp of e-commerce and project-management. 'Search Engine Optimisation' ('SEO') is another discipline that tackles how a web site is indexed with Search Engines - so it can be more easily found (this is sometimes an entire job in itself.) And of course, we mustn't overlook the web server administrators & installers who sit in the background ensuring everything works; although they usually come from a network administration background.

A lot of independent web designers can fulfil a number of these jobs themselves; indeed we work with a number who can quite frequently. Nevertheless, it takes time to develop that level of expertise. You'll need to be trained in several things on a commercially viable web-design training package: First, an introduction to basic web-design, followed by teaching in Adobe Dreamweaver and an overview of the main components of Adobe 'Flash'. This would then lead on to an understanding of 'HTML' and 'CSS', with some coaching in the field of e-commerce. To build 'dynamic' web-sites it's important to learn PHP, which is a simpler programming-language to start off in than ASP.Net. You also need a basic understanding of Databases and 'SEO'. All of this is basically to get to a standard of ability technically whereby you are able to cope with a wide enough variety of web-sites. The actual physical skillsets have got to be learned first of all, before you can fine-tune them to a more natural flowing style - just like the time you learned to drive your car. The majority of people can work through a variable program such as this within a yr - supposing part-time study and practice of about 400-500 hours. Detailed planning to obtain the right training course for you is a great investment of your time - experienced career experts can help you to sort the best way forward before you decide to start.

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