Classes and Portfolio Questions

I am not asking about photoshop help but help in a more general area of website creator.

I am going to be going to college soon and am going to enroll in classes pertaining to website design, creation etc. Are there any specific classes, programming languages pertaining to website creation I should learn and any helpful advice in this area.

Also about portfolios, should I start working on it as soon as possible? What should I include in it and should I make it for off and online as well. Once again any advice on this area would be appreciated as well.

Thanks

You should learn HTML/CSS, probably some Javascript. Then photoshop and all of the design programs. But design theory is a lot more important than learning how to push buttons in a program that will have completely changed and be obsolete by the time you graduate. So in my opinion it is much more important to take classes on typography, design theory, color theory, etc rather than Photoshop 101. Programs are easy to teach yourself or learn from a book, design is not.

If you are interested in doing development as well as design, you can learn Java, PHP, or something similar as well as databases.

You can start working on your portfolio as soon as you want, but as you progress and improve you will probably want to start to remove some of your earlier works, as I'm sure they will not be as good as your newer work as you progress through school. Most colleges will actually have a whole class towards the end of your degree that will focus on creating a professional portfolio.

I never found a printed portfolio to be that valuable for a web designer, but if you are doing print work as well as web design, it couldn't hurt.

I would say start from the beginning... And learn HTML... It's really simple, and will provide a good foundation.

There are programs available these days, such as Dreamweaver, that will create all the HTML code for you... but it is very helpful that you know how HTML works... Designing sites in 2006 really means you have to also know CSS and a bit of DHTML, and as deker says Javascript would also be useful, even if it only to edit the plethora of existing scripts that are freely available and customise them for your own use.

actaually, i'd say forget all that and learn design before anything else

color theory, principles of design, etc., are invaluable, but a lot of places dont really even teach that. anyone can be a software operator and you can learn most technical things on your own with books and websites, but it's a lot harder to actually learn design.

I do have the basic understanding of html but not the advance use of tables and splicing (although that can be done in image ready).

I also have a little experience in design as I attended the art institute of Seattle for a year until I realized that I didn't want to be a "graphic artist" per se for a career but a website designer.

Yeah I was thinking advanced HTML, XHTML, DHTML, Javascript as well as at least learning php... for a good generalized base.

Thanks for your guys advice

ok, i'm curious how you're separating the different fields here exactly. if you're designing websites you ABSOLUTELY are a designer. if you're talking about wanting to do website development that's something else entirely, you'd be working with a designer to create the site.

What I meant by graphic artist was the magazine prints, commercial stuff.

What I want to do now is kind of the same thing but with websites...two sides of a coin but diffrent media. Should of made myself more clear. I wanted to learn php for myself and not necessarily for designing websites which would be my main focus.

By learning good design techniques and theory, the media doesn't really matter. If you are creative and know how to apply that, you can do web design/print design/motion graphics, etc. Photoshop and other applications will change every year, the versions you learn in school will be obsolete by the time you graduate. In 10 years they will be completely different. But good design training will last you your whole life, no matter if you're using Photoshop, Flash, Maya, or a paper and pencil.

Unfortunately, most design degrees I've seen lately basically just teach you to be a software operator. They teach "web design" by giving you a crash course in Photoshop and Microsoft Frontpage. My favorite class in school was Typography. We rarely even touched the computers, instead studying the history of type, and learning how to lay it out appropriately, etc. The stuff you learn in a class like that can be applied anywhere. Not just to Frontpage 2002 or whatever the current version is.

I think the point Fig was trying to make is that Website creation has specialized into two seperate professional areas. Some people possess skills in both areas, but especially with larger companies and firms; the two jobs are seperate.

One is a Web Designer. He (she) is responsible for the 'look' and graphical feel of the website. The other is the Web Developer. He is responsible for the coding... the guts, database, workings of the website. For design, learn good design skills, Photoshop, and maybe a WYSIWYG (like Dreamweaver). For developer, learn HTML, CSS, PHP, .Net, SQL, Java, etc.

color theory, principles of design, etc., are invaluable, but a lot of places dont really even teach that

Usually the only theory you'll learn is the C.R.A.P rule, which is basically "crap" because it barely scratches the surface of visual design. Your also usually left clueless to anything beyond that rule.

I just want to backup the thread and say learn whatever design theory you can. Even if you can't find good classes, there's a lot of information on the web (and i dont mean tutorials).

Knowing what your doing and why your doing it (theory), but not how (software) is easier than knowing how to do something but not knowing why your doing it!!! The 2nd is a much bigger hole to dig yourself out of.

Also don't be put off the the word "theory" (or principles etc). Design is actually a lot of fun when you start to understand how it works.