Hello all, I am a pc repair tech and I am seeking to launch a new career in web designing, I have built my own sites in the past but this was with the use of templates, I wish to learn web designing from scratch from the most basic things which I guess are maybe coding/programming of which I have no knowledge and I would like to ask for help in referrals which will allow me to do so.

Can you guys help me out by giving me the correct advice on how to get started the right way in web designing please? Thanks.

Hi Mike - you've started off on the right track by visiting this site. Read through the posts and absorb as much as you can.

If I was starting from scratch I would visit the following sites:

www.w3schools.com
Start with HTML. It is the language of the web - then get familiar with the basics of CSS. Once you can lay out a few pages using HTML and CSS you will be ready to move on to bigger and better things such as JavaScript, PHP maybe playing with MySQL - but those are for much later. Get the basics down first and you'll be in a great position to add on the other bells and whistles when the time is right.

Another place to play around with CSS would include:

http://www.glish.com/css/

Have fun.

That is a very nice link Seolman, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! Thought I was done with studying, I will go start losing the little hair I have left on my head now , will still welcome any other advice from you or anyone else.

You're very welcome. I still refer back to W3 schools from time to time - they have some great info on that site and lots of reference pages. I've already lost all the hair on my head - I'm not sure if that is a web thing or genetic...but I thought it only fair to warn you since you are moving into the web development world...

To be brutally honest, I have always tried to stay away from coding and programming but I have decided to tackle it head on as I wish to make a career out of working from my home pc since the "home" pc/laptop repair business is almost non-existant.

Well - grab a few templates and start dissecting - make a ton of mistakes and keep working at it until you understand why things happen. When you are finished you'll hate IE as much as everyone else for being a non-compliant browser and learn little "hacks" tp make things work. Keep your eye on the CSS forum (especially on Lady n Red, she's a CSS genius). Read the Sticky stuff at the top before you ask any questions and you'll do great.

I am going to start just the way you mentioned, with the 3schools HTML then CSS and so on, not moving on to another topic until I fully understand the previous. Appreciate your advice, will do the sticky, will let you know how I progress.

An advice I would add is, learn to outsource. Once you have some experience, you will realize that your talents lie in one place or another, meaning you will tend to be good at either the programming or the design side. Networking with other professionals or outsourcing things you are not efficient at, will save you considerable time and your customers money.

will make note of it, thanks.

Learn to code in Notepad and use div layouts.

Ok thanks, Now where shall I start asking questions? I have started with the HTML tutorial, should I ask my questions here in this thread or create a new thread? Should I ask in this forum or another forum please?

It's better to ask technical coding questions in the "Coding Talk" section, as there's more coders that pay attention there than here.

ok thanks, will place my questions there.

couple of useful reources
http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm (notepad plus - notepad is simple but limited: no syntax highlighting for a start!)
and the free TopStyle Lite http://www.newsgator.com/download/products/ts3lite.exe (http://www.newsgator.com/individuals...e/default.aspx)

Hi,

Here's few good resources for web design

Compendium of HTML Elements www.htmlcompendium.org
  HTML 4.01 Specification www.w3.org/TR/html401/
  HTML Goodies www.htmlgoodies.com
  HTML Writers Guild www.hwg.org
  Index DOT Html www.eskimo.com/~bloo/indexdot/
  html/index.html
  Introduction to HTML www.wdvl.com/Authoring/HTML/Intro/
  Learn HTML by Example www.ida.net/users/pbmck/learn/ 

I am having a very hard time finding the time to get to the 3school study course guys, here's one idea a web designer in Manhattan suggested to me so I wanted to check with you guys here to see if you all think it's a good idea?

He said that it may be best for me to take a "crash" course in web designing then start off taking small jobs just to get practical hands on experience and whenever I should need some help then come here for it. He also said that when you study all the basics which come with every detailed course that you will not use everything in the course when building websites so with the crash course you start with only the essentials like HTML and CSS coding for example then whenever you have some time you can always go back to the basics you had left out.

He also said that simply studying the entire courses is a turn-off for some so take some small jobs, get the actual experience and make some money at it while covering the basics whenever time permits, what do you guys think of this please?

Sounds like sage advice. I agree that you should try to make a bunch of websites for experience and for practice. By all means though, try to learn as much as you can before trying to tackle professional web design. When I first got started with web design, I read a couple articles on basic coding, and then Googled the rest. And that's what I recommend you do. But always keep in mind - that most of the simpler things that you need to know, and the questions that you need to ask are most likely right there on Google.

- Steve

I started with a book called Head First HTML/CSS and it pretty much starts you out at about as basic of a level as you are going to find and walks you through things step by step. Of the 5 books I purchased this is the one that helped me 'stick it out' and get me familiar with html/css and made it much easier to move on to the other books which I had time catching on to without first learning the very basics through that book.

http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596101978/

yeah Steve, I will purchase the crash course and move ahead with that, appreciate the advice.

OKI, thanks for the referral, certainly looks good, I will give that book a try.

http://www.w3schools.com/

Since no one said it already. My best advice to you is to start from scratch with basics and use notpad, not any other program to code for you.