So you want to be a web developer
So you want to be a web developer. You have made a couple of personal homepages in basic HTML and even added your own personal gallery. You even know some tags in your head without needing to look in a guide or book and most amazing you go to sleep and wake up with knowing that #cccccc means light gray.
So this is it, you are ready for prime time. It is time to show the world what you can do and make websites for real making money of your hobby.
I want to stop your daydream right here and instead take a realistic view of what it takes to make it in the real world of web design and web site making.
1. Don’t assume people will hire you just because you can code “XHTML strict”.
I am going to tell you a small secret. Almost all of my clients and large corporation doesn’t have the slightest interest in what kind of technique I use to make their web site a reality. If that means that I should make a site in XHTML strict and CSS valid and then debug cross browser hell for several late nights when I can make a quick table based layout in Dreamweaver in two hours, then the choice is easy to make. Depending on the target audience and what the customer wants to get out of the website. Never expect to sell a website on technology alone. What’s under a sites look and image won’t sell any products, a good looking site with a design that fits the intended market will.
2. Don’t expect to make it on HTML alone
Using Dreamweaver of Frontpage anyone can make a quick webpage that can look respectable. The difference between a respectable site and a professional site is small but very important. HTML is a solution for making static web pages. Static web pages is what is called the first kind of web pages that emerged, the second kind was when static pages got images and the third is web pages with dynamic content. In order to know how to make a dynamic web site you need to learn ASP and or PHP and a database system like MySQL. Don’t expect to be successful only knowing ASP and MySQL, there will come a time when you will need to know PHP to. However ASP and PHP is in some cases similar so you shouldn’t feel too uncomfortable if you are more into PHP for example than ASP.
3. Don’t expect it to make it on HTML, ASP/PHP and MySQL
The web evolves at a high pace. In order to being able to offer the best services you should always try to self educate yourself in areas you feel are beginning to become asked for.
4. Don’t think you are the best just because you have secured some contracts
One of the dumbest arguments on the net is that Flash is bad. Another is that web pages with graphics are unnecessary and that web sites looked better in 1995. It is easy to think that you are a better web designer than anyone else when you have got some small work assignments, but the reality is that you suck, really bad! So don’t try to hide the facts about your ability to make web sites by making these idiotic comments on the net.
5. Don’t expect to learn how to make a selling site in school
It is one thing to take a three month long class in web design and then pretend to be a web designer. It is another thing to be involved with making web pages all day, all week, all month and all year round. As with much knowledge areas in computers and surrounding technology learning something often requires full time dedication and addiction to become really good in that area.
6. The “I still code all my pages in Notepad because it gives me more control” argument
This one is for all the newbie’s. Don’t listen to posters on forums where some big bearded, fat, web-guru with an anime character as his avatar claims he codes all his sites in a pure text editor like Vi and recommends everyone to do the same “because you will learn the right way then” and “it will give you more control”. If you need more control go to code view in Dreamweaver, and stick to a graphical HTML-editor because Dreamweaver and Frontpage are not made for you to cheat and make a cool looking web site in a weekend with no knowledge. They are made to make the task of making a professional web site easier and faster for a web developer. You don’t have to email me and tell me there are occasions when a text editor will be fine. I am not dumb and I know that but for most general web site development a graphical development package is a time saving tool, and time is money.
7. Don’t be afraid of ‘stealing’ others ideas
Many times you are stuck on an idea, for example you may have secured a small job of designing a site for a company. Just surf the net, do a Google search on the same subject the company works with. I promise you that you will find sites that will impress you and get you motivated. It is one thing to steal a design of another page, it is a different thing to find inspiration in other pages and improve the design in you own initial Photoshop design for your client.
8. Show source is your friend
Whenever you find an interesting site you can left click the page and select Show source. This way you can check out the code of the page to understand how the site has been built. You can take this step one inch further. If you are really interested in a site and want to know how the site has been built and structured you can download the complete site with the help of a program. The site downloader will make an identical clone of the site on your harddrive. Keep in mind that some sites are based on dynamic content and won’t be completely downloadable.