What is "required" to be a serious web designer? Right now I know HTML and CSS and can do limited things with Javascript and php. What would you sugest I learn and once I learn that how do I decide what to charge for design?

I would maybe suggest taking a class or two on the fundamentals of good design. Not working with computers, but with paper and pencil the old fashioned way.

Originally Posted by Creaglcore

I would maybe suggest taking a class or two on the fundamentals of good design. Not working with computers, but with paper and pencil the old fashioned way.

I agree. HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, and PHP area all the tools you need to make it (minimum). But the design skills are the ones that you really need to make it.

The absolute ONLY thing you need to be a serious web designer is to know Photoshop. That's it. That's the only part that is actually "design". Splitting a design up into HTML/CSS is the first step of coding a site and many designers do this as well as the actual design, but it's not necessary.

In fact, as a hardcore coder, whenever I outsource design I ask for only the .psd file. Many other people looking to get a website made will seek you out as a designer, and you can definitely build a profitable business around coding the website, hosting it, and maintaining/updating it for them.

Many people are totally lost and want all that additional stuff. If you can do everything for them you have a vast market of computer illiterate business owners, heads of organizations, and individuals open to you.

But to be a "designer", you only need Photoshop.

But to be a "designer", you only need Photoshop.

Well.. or some other GRAPHICS program. Fireworks is targeted for web graphics and is very good at it, better than Photoshop in several areas. You could do equally well with PaintshopPro for 99% of your web graphics needs.

Well, I agree, but he said "serious" designer. You could run into problems being taken seriously if you say you are a designer but don't use photoshop. Personally I think the results are what counts, not the tool used to do it, but it is pretty normal for people to expect photoshop when working with professional designers.

You could run into problems being taken seriously if you say you are a designer but don't use photoshop

That might be true if you're talking about aspects of design BESIDES web design. The 'usual' stuff you need to design a web site really doesn't require PS and most people in the design community acknowledge that.

PS is THE gold standard, not doubt about it, but it's also expensive as hell, too expensive for most people and especially people just starting out.

I would say a good basis is playing with ideas and creating websites and designs building up experience and design knowledge. As you continue to develop your skills you will come across or people will request things that you are not sure of and you can learn and build on your skills through experience.


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Im not sure I put that the right way but ill try to refraise it. Im able to figure out how a site should look and im able to do the coding for it most of the time. I dont however have much skill in the actual creation of graphics. Like I know exactly how I want it to look I just cant always make it look that way. If someone were to ask me to do a really hard graphic Id probably have to ask someone else to do it. Is it posible to "design" web pages without creating all of the graphics by just figuring out how it should look and then coding it or is there really no need for that? If so I def. need to work more on my skills with tools like photoshop. Otherwise I might need to work on more coding related stuff.

When Im doing graphics I generaly use gimp and prefer it because, well, its free. Is gimp something I could use in web design or do I need to use photoshop?

First enhance your basic skill and be perfectionist in that like HTML, Java Script and Java Applets. And after that learn Front Page, Dream weaver, HTML, PhotoShop, Flash, Fireworks and ASP.

Well IMHO if you want to be a "serious" web designer then you need to be a good "content" designer coz that's the whole point, isn't? We design stuff around content. It needs to be accessible, readable etc etc. Firs thing i did was to understand how to use my page's space properly, understand basic typography, understand colors and then moved on with some navigation theory. Experimented alot with those terms and then started playing with some graphics program.

My choice was Photoshop not because it's the "best" out there, no doubt about that, i just had a legal copy of it. Gimp, Fireworks and so many other programs do their job just fine. As fas you know what you want to do, it's just a mater of learning the functionality of your program.

As i am one of those that believe a Web designer must have solid understading of frontend technologies i've tried (and still trying, nobody is perfect on that) to master as much xhtml, css, javascript as i can.