Learning web design can be quite challenging. There is a whole heap of technologies, frameworks and concepts to be learned. This can be quite overwhelming to learn and understand as there is too much to be assimilated in order to become a website designer. This article will guide you down the path to learning web design in a manageable way.
You will have to get up and get some work going on in order to get started. As many people put it, a long journey begins with the first step so that is where exactly you should begin.
Learning web design the hard way
This is something not many people are willing to do. Reading one book after the other on web design can be good, but actually getting to implement what you have learned on a web design project is quite different and requires more than just books.
Learning web design the easy way
The most amazing ways to learn web design in Los Angeles is to actually get your hands dirty doing something. If you combine knowledge from books and websites, then use this to create websites according to real world’s standards will give you a better understanding of how things work in the real world. You can begin by learning basic HTML. This will give you a basic understanding of markup tags and their functions. You can then proceed to HTML5 in order to understand the difference between the two.
Learning web design by analyzing templates
There are many website templates that are available for free on the internet. You can pick one based on HTML and CSS then break it down to see the code. This can be done in web development application, such as Dreamweaver, or even text editor. This will give you the opportunity to see how the various parts of a website fit in together.
Tools and sites to Help you along the Way
There are various tools and sites that can be of great assistance on your journey to becoming a Los Angeles web designer. These come in handy when you want to break down a site into the various components that it is made up of.
1. Firebug for Firefox
This is a useful debugging tool that comes as a Firefox add-on. It helps you to see the behavior of individual elements on a page and how things are the way they are. It also enables you to see how various styling rules in CSS work with each other to create the look of the page.
2. Google+ Communities
Communities on Google+ are a great way to interact with other people in the web design field and ask them questions. There are people willing and eager to answer your questions and share their experience with you. This way, you get to pick up on concepts much quicker. Getting involved in these communities is a great way to accelerate your learning and you get to know the relevant concepts.
3. Dreamweaver
This is a great code editor built with web designers in mind. With code completion and syntax highlighting, you get to code a site much faster and get to know the errors even before you view the site as the code editor has syntax checking which shows the syntax errors in code.
4. CSS3 Generator
This site is of great help when learning CSS. You simply need to feed in the parameters you would like to be applied to an element and the site generates the appropriate CSS code for you. This can then be copied for use in your own style sheets.
5. W3Schools
This site has all the information about web design packed in one place. This is great for learning how the code of a website works.
6. Treehouse
This is a website teaching web design, app development and coding. There are plenty of tutorials and quizzes on the site which go a long way in helping you apply your knowledge.
7. Lynda.com
This is a great source for video tutorials on web design. The tutors guide you through projects step by step to show you how things are done.
8. Learnable
This is another place to learn web design with the video tutorials made by web design professionals. There is a lot of learning material on this site and something new to learn each time.
In conclusion, learning web design can seem like a herculean task but in the real sense, it is not that difficult. Though you will not become an expert in a week, you can really learn a lot with the right dedication. Consistency is the key to learning web design and in time, you will be good enough to even work in a web design agency.