It is fair to say that one of the most widely interpreted and improperly understood terms in I.T. is the expression 'Web-Designer'. In truth, web-design does contain a lot of distinctive aspects, & so it may well help to explain things when we break it down. Essentially, there are two main sides to web-design; the creative element & the technical side. The typical PC user thinks web designers are responsible for how a site 'looks' and 'feels'. Which means a web designer is fundamentally an artist who has had some technical training. The truth is every web-designer's occupation is an 'inter-related' blend of 'technical' expertise and design creativity - and the two things are becoming quite hard to separate. It will become a little more apparent how things fit together if we break the profession up into it's component parts.

People that design and put together the images & graphic symbols which go on a web-page are referred to as graphic-artists. Most often they make this happen by making use of graphic layout & animation software (like Adobe Flash and Photoshop), and aren't strictly site designers per-se. The majority of graphic-artists have been to university or college, and have a background in artistic drawing. Most importantly, this work calls for a strong artistic skill.

Site designers come second - they work with design-software like Adobe Dreamweaver to plan and design the visual aspects & feel of the web-site. By employing artwork from the artist, they'll put together the navigational structure of the web-site, working together with the clients to make sure that the 'feel' meets their needs. A lot of inexperienced site designers focus to begin with on the 'format' of the site, as opposed to its 'function'. However, you should essentially start with an understanding of the 'functions' it's required to perform to build a truly productive website. It may be an on-line inventory of items, or possibly its an e-commerce web-site which would need to be able to sell directly from the web page. Perhaps much like this web-site the main function is straightforward access to pertinent info, or it could be it'll be a showcase for products and services through video & a heavily graphical inter-face. Regardless of what you need from a website, it must - at its most elementary level - carry out the function for which its designed. People will leave a web-site & not come back if it's too difficult to 'navigate' - however pretty it looks at first glance. The goal of any reputable web-designer is to first and foremost design an experience that people enjoy and are happy with - so that they come back again & again.

Extra skillsets which are very useful for professional web-designers are an understanding of project management & E-commerce. 'SEO' ('Search Engine Optimisation') know-how is very valuable for web experts - this is the skill of getting web-sites to or near the top of the Search Engines like Google for commonly used search phrases. And even though they generally originate from a network-administration background, we mustn't forget the valuable function of the web server administrators and installers, who keep the whole thing working in the background.

The design-environments utilised by web-site designers are their most important tools. Adobe Creative Suite 4 is really the most commercially accepted in the market these days (as of 2010). The software program that builds web sites is Adobe Dreamweaver, and 'Adobe Flash' gives access to 'graphical' content material which can be animated & interactive. 'Dreamweaver' could be considered a glorified Word Processor in a great many ways. Graphics & text can be placed (within certain parameters) and then a basic interactivity can be established via page linking. As with other web design environments, Dreamweaver produces the program code 'HTML' behind the scenes ('HTML' is short for 'Hyper Text Markup Language'). Effectively, this language of web-browsers is actually a 'script' that 'draws' and controls the web page being viewed. Along with HTML are the layout tag languages - such as CSS & XML. As these tag 'languages' are standardised, the streamlined and rather more efficient outcomes work effectively on a number of different platforms. The idea is that the web page will appear exactly the same on any browser, be it 'Mozilla Firefox', 'Internet Explorer', Safari, Opera or whatever. As a result the graphic-blocks you are laying & the text you are including is being converted into coding behind the scenes by 'Dreamweaver'. If you're going to be a commercially viable web designer, you'll have to have an in-depth knowledge of these types of 'languages'.

Many of these tasks can & do crossover obviously, we are involved with several free-lance web designers who all can handle a lot of the above tasks. It takes time however to create such a variety of professional skill-sets. A web-design training course then that can prepare you to enter the work-place must encompass the following - Firstly, an introduction to basic web design, followed by teaching in Adobe 'Dreamweaver' & a synopsis of the main elements of Adobe Flash. The languages of 'HTML' and CSS should be taught next, with a certain amount of E-commerce instruction incorporated here. To construct dynamic websites it's important to learn PHP, which is a less arduous programming language to start off in than ASP.NET. You also need a basic knowledge of databases and SEO. Grasping these abilities will give you the ability to start working on a very good cross-section of web sites. Much like learning to drive, you have to first learn the physical skill-sets, before you effectively progress beyond them & accomplish an element of 'finesse'. Most trainees can work through a manageable program like this inside a yr - supposing part-time study & practice of about 400 - 500 hours. A skilled advisor will be able to assist you to plan your way through this quagmire of professional training, & we highly recommend that you allow time to plan your route carefully before you start your training.

Web-developers are essentially the most technically trained of all. These people will not just understand HTML, CSS and 'XML', but they will have learnt more official programming languages like PHP, ASP.net, VB, C#, 'Java' and the like. And because most modern websites of any size store their information using 'SQL' database-technology, they are likely to have a strong handle SQL too. In reality, it is unlikely that a large E-commerce site has been put together in layout format by a bunch of web-designers. Instead, a place-holder 'template' will have been developed, and the contents will be 'dynamically' fed from a database. So as well as significantly larger efficiencies with the website build, this process also makes for an infinitely more consistent look & 'feel' as well.

It's vital to realise that even the very best web-design programs can only teach you the methods & processes - none of them will be able to convert you in to a bona fide web-designer. During your training and study, it's essential to apply yourself to building & developing as many websites as you possibly can, to prepare and assemble your portfolio. A pastime or interest can be a very good place to start, or maybe your favourite dog or cat, or a holiday-resort you particularly enjoyed. Start to build interactive sites and create 'traffic' on to them. This will all look more constructive on your CV, and in your portfolio, than a qualification from Adobe will!