How to Become a Website Designer

"I am interested in becoming a Web Designer. Where would you recommend would be the best place or way to begin?" -- Harry Charalam

The field of website design has grown rapidly to the place that now most website design shops employ several specialists, such as a programmer to work with JavaScript and CGI programs, a designer who lays out the website, an HTML programmer who takes the design and turns it into HTML, and a salesperson who works directly with clients. It's not common to find all these skills in a single person, though there are many excellent single-person website designers.

Experience is a great teacher. Get your own website at Yahoo! GeoCities http://geocities.yahoo.com/ where you can experiment. You can learn HTML from a book or a community college course. One of the most popular beginners' books is HTML 4 for the World Wide Web: Visual Quickstart Guide, by Elizabeth Castro (Fourth Edition, Peachpit Press, 2000). http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201354934/wilsoninternetse A helpful book from the aspect of artistic design is Web by Design: The Complete Guide, by Molly E. Holzschlag (Sybex). http://amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0782122019/wilsoninternetse

Once you've mastered the basics of HTML, take a webpage that you admire, and try to recreate it on your website with your own graphics. You'll learn a great deal this way. Volunteer your growing talents to a non-profit organization to build their website, and try to get an internship or entry level job at a local website design shop to gain experience. Then plan to keep learning; the field changes rapidly.