Web Design Courses for Free
A Web Hosting Article Contributed by Jamie Wilson
Web Design Courses for Free
When I took my first web design course, I learned the basics of HTML and web design in about four hours for free.
Courses in Html for Web Design
The first step in learning good web design is a course in HTML. Hypertext Markup Language is the foundation of the Internet, and in order to understand how a web page is put together you really should understand HTML.
You can go to a number of places for structured courses. At webdesign.about.com, you can have weekly HTML classes mailed to you. If you're disciplined enough to schedule time for HTML, http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/teachingtool/index.html is an excellent source, teaching you exactly what you need to know to get started in a very informal manner.
After you learn HTML, you can still use Microsoft Frontpage or Dreamweaver or another easy-to-use program, and edit pages created in them.
Courses to Design Graphics for the Web
Most people designing their own graphics for use in web pages use Paint Shop Pro. A very good course for PSP can be found at http://www.grafx-design.com/psp_tut.html; this will teach you all the most commonly-used tricks, such as 3-D buttons and shapes and creating metallics, one of the hardest visual effects to pull off online.
If you prefer Photoshop to design your graphics, try the tutorial located at http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/. Among the effects addressed by this site is retouching photographs. It's easier than you think to give your photo a few tweaks -- get rid of that blotch, darken your hair, repair those crows feet.
Graphics creation does you no good unless you understand how to use graphics on the web. Always create your graphics in the size you want to use on the page. Choose color themes and stick with them (an easy theme chooser that puts colors that look good together side-by-side is http://css.geckotribe.com/colorwheel/; the top number beginning with # in each color rectangle is the name of your color). Don't ever go overboard on graphics; on the internet, less is usually more. Excess wears people out and they'll leave your site for a less intense one.
Put It Together: Web Design Course
For a harmonious course that pulls HTML, layout, and graphics together, try http://webdesign.about.com/od/webdesigntutorials/. You can find a variety of tools here that will help you teach yourself how to create great looking, content rich web sites.
There are a couple of other things to remember. No matter how stupid or redundant it seems, always give alternate text to display for any images. Bobby, found here, http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp, can make certain your site is handicapped-accessible -- and yes, that's important. Never make the viewer work harder than he or she has to; always provide an email portal rather than a link that leads back to the viewer's own email program.
And don't expect perfection overnight. Learning web design takes time. But being able to control your own web site makes it more than worth it.
