Beginner webdesign courses

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Hi,

I have a goal this year to create two websites for business i own. I wish to train myself in webdesign so I can create/change as I wish (basically I'm a control freak)

Anyway I don't have the time to spare on extra study already doing an A level and N+ course so wish to attend a short course or evening course in London to help provide me with an intensive push towards creating these websites. Just wondered if folk that have been through this sort of thing can advise what courses are best to attend and if possible cost and locations around London.

Cheers,

D

 

Thanks for the reply I would love a complete course that will enable me to produce great websites including flash topics, seo optimisation etc. Unfortunately as I'm a beginner my knowledge of what I need to study is still quite limited.

 

You won't become a proficient web designer in a week, topics you need to learn will be HTML5, JQuery, Flash, CSS3, AJAX, XML, SEO, for most sites also some sort of back end technology like PHP, ASP.NET etc. You may be able to use a CMS to cut down on the back end work if your sites are fairly boilerplate.

Some web designers are actually pretty cheap, if you're serious about business you will realise when its time to allow others to help out in areas where you are weak.

 

Personally speaking I would probably have a look at the blogging\crm providers like WordPress and Joomla, I created a website for my home based Computer engineer (Home - Your PC Problems - Fixed) using Serif WebPlus x4 back in 2009, in all honesty it's a horrible design (at the time I really liked it) that took me a couple of weeks of design and testing to deploy. Move forward a year and I started playing with WordPress for my blog (I was going to use Serif WebPlus x5 that I purchased) but actually managed to get WordPress up and running on my hosting provider without any fuss (Everything Virtual). There are thousands of different templates that making sure your site is unique is fairly easy, added to that you don't need to know HTML or any other webdesign software (WebPlus x4 and x5 are not straight forward) and in addition you can use Microsoft Live Writer to update your blog\site whenever (I have even updated my blog using the iPad with the WordPress app).

Just my 2p as you have also expressed interest in attaining your N+ and you don't want to have too much on the go.

 

I would agree with SimonD here.

In December I started looking at niche websites and markets, Wordpress is so good to launch sites whatever their audience. Within a week I had my site up and content rolling.

Personally I use a free theme, but spent some money on Elance to get some unique changes. Plugins give you loads of customisation and SEO options.


Oh, the biggest bonus is: Google Search Loves Blogs!