
How does a beginner start becoming a web design expert? - pashle

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Sam_Odio
A good way to start is to find some templates on <http://oswd.org> & modify
them. Then, once you can swing it, start building stuff from scratch.

Oh and find a copy of photoshop or a comparable graphics program. Gimp is good
(and free), but if you can find PS for cheap, go for that.

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jkush
I agree with Sam. I've long since decided that while I'm keenly interested in
how to build clean and very usable sites I just don't have the skills to
provide the level of polish I want.

If you find out that you don't have the eye for design, don't waste tons of
time (like I have), use an open source web design and focus on what you're
really good at doing.

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altay
Get familiar with FireBug, by far the best Firefox extension for web
development. ( <http://www.getfirebug.com> ) It's how I learned CSS. If you're
interested in the user interface/experience side of design, it'll help you
there too. It's got great Javascript tools.

There's a bit of a learning curve, but Firebug seriously changed the way I
design and code.

Other than that, do what you'd do to learn any other creative skill -- find
examples that you love, and dissect them. Figure out exactly what it is that
turns you on and incorporate those details in your own work. Good luck!

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agoge
Read A List Apart's articles, it's dedicated to people who make websites. This
is, "A Guide for New Readers":

<http://alistapart.com/articles/ALAprimer>

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jamongkad
Ooohh A List Apart, very good choice, I go there at times to get designs for
my websites.

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brianmckenzie
I wouldn't worry so much about graphics programs - after all, there are no
graphics on this site and you use it, right? Start by learning how to do valid
markup and get good at CSS. I second the recommendation of
<http://alistpart.com>

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lindsayrgwatt
A couple of good books to read too: 1) Don't make me think 2) Designing
interfaces (by Tidwell) 3) Defensive design for the web

Anyone have additional books that they've read?

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madanella
the Magic Ink article at worrydream.com/MagicInk is the best I've read on
interface design.

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cwilbur
There's a _lot_ more to being a web design expert than learning to code in
HTML and CSS.

So sayeth Jeffrey Zeldman:

Information architecture. Usability. Accessibility. Web standards. If you
don't know about these things, stop designing websites until you have learned.
Competence in graphic design is merely a baseline; it does not qualify you to
create user experiences for the web.

Every time I think I can stop talking about these obvious, simple truths, some
crazy bad 90s style train wreck hits me headlong and makes me weep anew.

(<http://www.zeldman.com/2007/04/18/cant-link-with-em/)>

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dottertrotter
Expertise in any artistic en devour, whether it be painting or chess is best
learned by studying the masters. So find the website designs you like and take
the time to try recreating them. If you need an design application I recommend
the GIMP.

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busy_beaver
I've often wondered how much of the explosion in web creativity can be
attributed to the transparency of HTML -- you can "view source" any page and
find out exactly how the designer created that cool effect. By comparison,
Flash is opaque. Yes, there are tools that let you dig in to the ActionScript
and whatnot, but you don't have the immediacy of seeing it right there in your
browser.

~~~
especkman
A whole lot of it. Consider the influence of GMail and Google maps as recent
examples.

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dhouston
for me it was the same way that i learned programming or guitar:

1\. start with tutorials or poking at an existing design until it does what
you want; learn the fundamentals of html and css from a dummies-level book or
tutorials

2\. find motifs or patterns you like, and reverse engineer (i.e. steal) them:
specifically, start with a canvas with the original image on the left and try
to create it from scratch on the right

3\. repeat 2 until you have a toolkit of techniques (e.g. web 2.0 motifs like
gradients, rounded corners, patterned backgrounds, reflections, all that
cliched shit :)) and can put together things from scratch

4\. integrate more formal theory (graphic design books, typography,
photoshop/illustrator technique, web design books, etc.)

your first few designs will suck, but you'll get better :) but definitely
learn by doing.

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especkman
To me, a web design expert needs intuition about usability, an eye for graphic
design, and the skills to use photoshop to create mockups and then turn them
into clean and robust CSS & HTML.

You can bootstrap some of those by starting out with someone elses attractive,
nicely implemented templates, but you'll still need some sense of typography,
usability & CSS/HTML skills to adapt them to your own app/site.

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dfens
I'm not a web design expert (or any kind of expert) but I would think:

1\. Read/observe.

2\. Design web pages.

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Tichy
One tag at a time?

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hello_moto
Use YUI CSS grid. It's like coding Java SWING Layout minus listener

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pageman
get someone to mentor you?

