INTRODUCTION In 1989, whilst working at CERN Tim Berners-Lee proposed to create a global hypertext project, which later became known as the World Wide Web. During 1991 to 1993 the World Wide Web was born. Text-only pages could be viewed using a simple line-mode browser.[2] In 1993 Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, created the Mosaic browser. At the time there were multiple browsers, however the majority of them were Unix-based and naturally text heavy. There had been no integrated approach to graphic design elements such as images or sounds. The Mosaic browser broke this mould.[3] The W3C was created in October 1994 to “lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability.”[4] This discouraged any one company from monopolizing a propriety browser and programming language, which could have altered the effect of the World Wide Web as a whole. The W3C continues to set standards, which can today be seen with JavaScript. In 1994 Andreessen formed Communications Corp. that later became known as Netscape Communications, the Netscape 0.9 browser. Netscape created its own HTML tags without regard to the traditional standards process. For example, Netscape 1.1 included tags for changing background colours and formatting text with tables on web pages. Throughout 1996 to 1999 the browser wars began, as Microsoft and Netscape fought for ultimate browser dominance. During this time there were many new technologies in the field, notably Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript, and Dynamic HTML. On the whole, the browser competition did lead to many positive creations and helped web design evolve at a rapid pace.
Design Is Key Part of Web Design
Object obviously, is a key part of “web design.” What does this mean exactly? Design includes both the principles of design — balance, contrast, emphasis, rhythm and unity — and the design elements — lines, shapes, texture, color, and direction.By putting these things together, a web designer creates websites, but a good web designer understands not only the principals of design but also the constraints of the Web. For example, a successful web designer will be skilled in typographic design principals, while also understanding the challenges of web type design and specifically how it differs from other kinds of type design.
In addition to understanding the limitations of the Web, a successful web professional also has a firm grasp on the strengths of digital communication.
Web Design Has Many Different Roles
When you work as a web designer, you may be tasked with creating (or working on) entire sites or just individual pages and there is a lot to learn to be a well-rounded designer, including the following:
- HTML: This is the structure of web pages, creating the foundation of all websites.
- CSS: This is how web pages are visually styled. CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) handles the entire look of sites, including layout, typography, colors, and more.
- JavaScript: This governs certain behaviors on websites and can be used for a variety of interactions and features.
- CGI programming: CGI, and the next few entries (PHP, ASP, etc.) are all different flavors of programming languages. Many sites do not require any of these languages, but sites that are more feature-rich will certainly need to be coded using some of these languages.
- PHP, ASP, ColdFusion scripting.
- XML.
- Information architecture: The way a site’s content and navigation is structured and presented helps make for a successful site that is easy and intuitive to use.
- SEO: Search engine optimization ensures that websites are attractive to Google and other search engines and that people looking for the products, services, or information features on that site can find it once they look for it online.
- Web strategy and marketing: Having a website is not enough. Those sites will also need to be marketed with an ongoing digital strategy.
- E-commerce and conversions.
- Design: Creating the visual look and feel of websites has always been an important aspect of the industry.
- Speed: A successful site is one that loads quickly on a wide variety of devices, regardless of a visitors connection speed. Being able to tune the performance of sites is a very valuable skill.
- Content: People come to websites for the content that those sites contain. Being able to create that content is a critically important component in the world of website design.
- A free text editor
- A free grid framework (recommendation in the course)
The Internet is everyone’s go-to source of information in today’s world. Businesses, public figures, publications and everything in between all have a presence on the web; and the more professional their website looks, the more successful they tend to be. Web designers are more in demand than ever before, and the profession is constantly changing along with the web itself. This course aims to teach the most up to date fundamentals of web design from scratch.
Learn Web Design from Scratch
- Understand the basics of CSS and HTML
- Learn about current web designing trends and developments
- Gain an insight into web development, debugging, etc. as well as design
- Build your own portfolio website
Web Designing for Beginners
This course has been developed for both complete beginners and those who already have a limited knowledge of web design. Apsiring web designers, web developers who want to understand the design side of the business, and graphic designers – as well as those from completely unrelated disciplines – will all be more than capable of handling the content of this course.
With over 34 lectures and 7.5 hours of content, it will take you through the fundamentals of web design from scratch. That means getting to grips with HTML, CSS and Foundation Grid Framework; working with images, webfonts and sprite sheets among other elements; understanding grids and responsive design; and achieving flawless layouts, eradicating bugs, and more.
Throughout the course you will work towards designing and developing a colourful, modern and responsive portfolio website. By the end of the course you will have this website completed, and can use it when starting out on your career in web design.
About HTML and CSS
HTML, or Hyper Text Markup Language, is the code used to define colours, graphics, hyperlinks, paragraphs, and other simple elements of a website. It was developed by the founder of the web, Tim Berners Lee, back in 1990.
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, define the more advanced aspects of websites like fonts, background images, positioning and much more. It is a style language that defines HTML layout, so the two are intrinsically linked. Both form the basic frameworks for all websites on the internet.
SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES :
Marketing and communication design
- Marketing and communication design on a website may identify what works for its target market.
- This can be an age group or particular strand of culture; thus the designer may understand the trends of its audience.
- Designers may also understand the type of website they are designing, meaning, for example, that (B2B) business-to-business website design considerations might differ greatly from a consumer targeted website such as a retail or entertainment website.
- Careful consideration might be made to ensure that the aesthetics or overall design of a site do not clash with the clarity and accuracy of the content or the ease of web navigation,[9] especially on a B2B website.
- Designers may also consider the reputation of the owner or business the site is representing to make sure they are portrayed favourable.
Page layout
Part of the user interface design is affected by the quality of the page layout. For example, a designer may consider whether the site’s page layout should remain consistent on different pages when designing the layout. Page pixel width may also be considered vital for aligning objects in the layout design. The most popular fixed-width websites generally have the same set width to match the current most popular browser window, at the current most popular screen resolution, on the current most popular monitor size. Most pages are also center-aligned for concerns of aesthetics on larger screens.
Typography
Web designers may choose to limit the variety of website typefaces to only a few which are of a similar style, instead of using a wide range of typefaces or type styles. Most browsers recognize a specific number of safe fonts, which designers mainly use in order to avoid complications.
Font downloading was later included in the CSS3 fonts module and has since been implemented in Safari 3.1, Opera 10 and Mozilla Firefox 3.5. This has subsequently increased interest in web typography, as well as the usage of font downloading.
Motion graphics
The page layout and user interface may also be affected by the use of motion graphics. The choice of whether or not to use motion graphics may depend on the target market for the website. Motion graphics may be expected or at least better received with an entertainment-oriented website. However, a website target audience with a more serious or formal interest (such as business, community, or government) might find animations unnecessary and distracting if only for entertainment or decoration purposes. This doesn’t mean that more serious content couldn’t be enhanced with animated or video presentations that is relevant to the content. In either case, motion graphic design may make the difference between more effective visuals or distracting visuals.