We respond to the latest questions from the mailbag.

This post is part of our Mailbag Q&A series where we answer reader-submitted questions related to web design, development and online marketing.

If you would like to submit your own web design, development and online marketing questions to be answered, please email us at:

Question:

-Rafael, San Diego, CA

Answer:

Hi Rafael,
Thanks for emailing us. I think it’s great that you have taken an interest in web design. I started over 10 years ago with nothing but a browser, text editor and dial up modem, and have progressed over the years to designing and developing rich internet apps, mobile apps and websites of all types. It has been a great ride and a very prosperous career.

You have a few options: web design, web development or both. The Art Institute is a great place to study web design. I am sure you are familiar with the standard tools: Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, etc. Take web design courses and start designing as much as possible. Have your professors or others with web design experience critique your work so that you know where to improve. Remember that you are designing both a user interface and also visually communicating. Take a look at the best sites on the web (www.apple.com is pretty damn good) and also read up on web usability (Jacob Nielsen is a great author).

For web development, you can start with simple HTML and gradually progress into your language of choice (PHP, Ruby, Python, etc) as you go. A great way to learn is online by following tutorials. WordPress is a great content management system and blogging platform written in PHP. It is open source, so you can modify or add onto it in any way you wish. Start by following the installation guide, and then put together your first site. As you go, you’ll learn more and more about PHP, especially when you start to modify it beyond the default.

You can also go for a degree in computer science. I majored in computer science at UCSD. My only concern is that in the computer science department, they did not emphasize web programming languages. Instead, we programmed in C, C++ and Java for a majority of the courses. This gave me a very strong foundation in computer science, algorithm design and building software. I do use it for developing on the web, but it was definitely not a requirement for becoming a web developer.

You can get by just by taking a few web programming courses at the local community college and polishing your skills through projects and work experience. I recommend getting involved in open source software projects. The people you will work with can teach you some amazing things and you’ll get the chance to work on a large project.

I hope this is helpful in your quest.

Sincerely,

Daryl Auclair
Web Developer / SEO Guru
Rio Online Development, Inc.