How long does it take to learn web design???

[Kerchang!]

............how long is a piece of string, yeah, I know!

I'm totally new to webcreation, but just wanted to know from experienced folk what the realistic time frame would be from total beginner to knowing enough to create & set up a website - 6 months, 2 years, a lifetime?? , as this will probably be an opportuity for me at work soon.
I have the advantage of knowing Photoshop/Illustrator etc, and am visually literate, so the graphic content isn't an issue. What is, is learning enough to design a well functioning site, with downloadable content (movie clips, forms, images etc), online shopping, and all the technical stuff behind getting it up & running, being effective in the marketplace & with search engines etc, and anything else (which no doubt is loads!)
Any advice would be welcome, especially guidance on what software to use, (I'm assuming dreamweaver??? but am open to ridicule , other suggestions etc) & the best way to get trained, publications to read etc.

Cheers

 

[olieog]

Hey Kerchang,

I found a really helpfull site full of tutorials is http://www.pixel2life.com/, and i reckon if you have a good knowledge of photoshop your well on your way. I would say if you spend a few hours a week combing through the tutorials on begining HTML, you should have a decent looking webpage up in a couple of weeks. I have a webpage (although it needs a lot of updating and TLC) which i did after a couple of weeks. Its called www.bobbymurdoch.com and is about my football supporters club.

Enjoy the Web Adventure!

olie

 

[Kerchang!]

Olie

Just had a quick look at that site - fantastic! cheers mate, loads of help there.
Had a look at your site too - you did that after a few weeks!!! nice one!
Thanks for your help.

Rene

 

[ian]

It all depends on how much time you spend learning, your ability to grasp concepts, etc as to how long it takes, and you never stop learning. Web design itself is only a very small portion of the things that you need to learn.

 

[Kerchang!]

Web design itself is only a very small portion of the things that you need to learn.

Could you please enlighten me a bit on that score Ian? That's the kind of experienced input I need.

Cheers

 

[StephanieCordray]

I'm not ian but I can input a little here... Given what you stated in your initial post I can give you an answer: Your lifetime and beyond. Learning web technology is a never ending process... One you'll learn that you'll never learn fully. Most of us tend to pick an area and perfect that area while we are basically just familiar with other areas.

Web design, as ian said, is only a small part of a whole picture which is called Web Development but even that term is misleading because it leaves out a whole lot of things that are also vital to the internet. Under web development you'll have such things as: javascripts, asp, php, cgi, html, xml, css, shtml, and more than I could possibly list in this post. As I said before, it's a neverending learning process.

What you will see is that the more you learn the better your websites will become over time because web design is a fluid process that changes frequently.

 

[SiteExpress]

Learning to do it, will always be dependant on what you consider web design.

Example: If all you want to do is creat a very basic website, that does not have a lot of things like forms, images, and fancy flash, then you can learn what you need in just a week or so.

If you want to build websites for a profit, then you will never "learn" it all. You will just learn more, and make better sites.

 

[tfgames]

Hey kerchang ive only been learning about 2-3 weeks. You should take a look at this link it helps me alot.

 

[ian]

Well too many people concentrate on web design, seeing it as the be all and end all.
I will readily admit to not being good at web design, graphic design or programming. I simply dont have the time to learn in depth as much as some people.
Basically the best looking site and best designed site is nothing without visitors and traffic. For me I can easily pay someone to help in those areas where I am not that strong.
My area of expertise is in other things, studying those things that are and are not working on the internet. Learning what people use the internet for, which areas are the most profitable and building pages in a format which is friendly towards search engines.
Most of my work has been done before a web site has even commenced the design stage. I work full time, so I dont have anywhere near enough time to fully develop the projects that I have in the pipeline.

 

[StephanieCordray]

But you do beautifully with what you do ian, make no mistake about that.

 

[ragupathi_ece1]

Normally 1 Week

HAI,
IT WILL TAKE NORMALLY 1 WEEK..

 

[kidalex]

You can learn the very basics within a few hours and have your first site live and uploaded for all to see... after that it's just a case of perfecting your skills for the rest of your life and always trying to become better!

 

[veggie1232]

Well too many people concentrate on web design, seeing it as the be all and end all.
I will readily admit to not being good at web design, graphic design or programming. I simply dont have the time to learn in depth as much as some people.
Basically the best looking site and best designed site is nothing without visitors and traffic. For me I can easily pay someone to help in those areas where I am not that strong.
My area of expertise is in other things, studying those things that are and are not working on the internet. Learning what people use the internet for, which areas are the most profitable and building pages in a format which is friendly towards search engines.
Most of my work has been done before a web site has even commenced the design stage. I work full time, so I dont have anywhere near enough time to fully develop the projects that I have in the pipeline.

i love that u said that because i have a theory and you just proved it

poor people are more artistic then rich people because rich people can pay people to be artistic for them

i hate people with money

 

[Kiwiberry]

love that u said that because i have a theory and you just proved it
poor people are more artistic then rich people because rich people can pay people to be artistic for them
i hate people with money

Not to drag this thread on, but I think you're taking it a bit out of context. I believe the point is that no matter what you do you'll never be great at all things in Web design / development, so a lot of people stick with a niche and work on perfecting it, and you can always find help in other areas whether you pay for the help or not.