No doubt one of the most mis-interpreted & over-worked expressions in the I.T. sector these days must be the term Web Designer? For anybody seeking to get into the industry, some details about the distinct facets might help to de-mystify things. Web-Design incorporates the technical elements of a website in addition to the creative aspects. To the person on the street, a web designer is someone that creates the look and 'feel' of a site. Many individuals may consider a 'web-designer' a type of 'artist'. But in reality, within modern-day web-design it's getting more and more difficult to separate the 'technical' part from the creative element, because both of them are so inter-twined. If you break web-design down into it's component tasks, then it will become more apparent how each thing fits together.

First, we've got graphic-artists, who design and construct the graphic icons and pictures that you find on a web-page. They most often bring this about by means of graphic layout & 'animation' software (such as Adobe Flash and 'Photoshop'), & are generally not really web-site designers per-se. Many attended higher education, with typically a degree level art background. This part is much more about creative expertise than anything else.

Web designers are second - these people utilise design-software like Adobe Dreamweaver to create and design the look and 'feel' of the site. They use the visuals which are produced by the graphic artist, & talk with the client to start to develop the feel & 'navigational' structure of the website. An amateur web-designer often starts with the form of the website, instead of the function. However, to actually produce a useful web site, you have to begin with an understanding of what you require the site to really do. Is it principally an e-commerce web-site, that would need to be able to take payments securely, or is it perhaps a web-based product or service brochure listing? Or potentially it'll consist of lots of video & heavy graphics. Then again it could be predominantly an info web site, where it's essential to supply straightforward entry to relevant web-pages of textual content. Whatever you want from a site, it must - at it's most basic level - carry out the 'function' for which it is intended. A lot of websites look fantastic but are a pain to get around & find what you'd like - and so visitors give up and never return. The overriding purpose of all professional web-designers is to have people see their site on a regular basis - so it needs to be a happy and pleasurable experience.

Web developers are essentially the most technically trained of all. Not only will these people understand the languages above, they will also have mastered additional languages, such as C#, 'VB', 'PHP', Java, ASP.net and so on. And since most contemporary websites of any size 'store' their data using 'SQL' database technology, they are likely to have got a solid grip on this also. A typical E-commerce web site does not have a team of web-designers who have developed its countless web pages in lay-out format. What generally happens is a place-holder 'template' is created, & the details are automatically inserted from the Database to the web-site. This makes not only the construction, management & updates hugely more straighforward, it also makes for a far more consistent web site.

Of course you'll find cross-overs with many of these tasks - in-fact we have interactions with quite a few web-site designers who are proficient in a lot of them. Although that degree of understanding will take a while to master. A web-design program therefore that can prepare you to enter the workplace must consist of the following - A basic introduction to web-design, followed by how to use Adobe 'Dreamweaver' & have a basic understanding of Adobe 'Flash'. The languages of 'HTML' & CSS need to be covered next, with some e-commerce instruction included here. 'PHP' has to be mastered to ensure that 'dynamic' web sites can be constructed (ASP.Net is actually much more involved, & PHP is easier to get into initially,) & a basic idea of databases and SEO should be achieved. All this is simply to get to a standard of ability technically whereby you're able to cope with a wide enough array of web-sites. The physical skill-sets have got to develop first of all, before you fine-tune them to a natural and flowing style - much like the time you learned to drive your first car. Most students can get through a flexible course of this nature inside a year - based on part time study and practice of around 400-500 hrs. Careful planning to obtain the correct training course for your needs is a great investment of your time - knowledgeable training advisors will help you sort the wheat from the chaff before you decide to get started.

Other skill sets which are relevant to web-site designers in the professional market are a good grasp of E-commerce and project management. 'SEO' ('Search Engine Optimisation') expertise is also extremely valuable for web-experts - this deals with the skill of getting web sites to or near to the top of the Search Engines for frequently used search terms. And behind the scenes but hugely important we have the web-server administrators and installers who make sure that everything runs as it should. Technically these people are network administrator specialists though.

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