Web Design certification

Discussion in 'New Members Introduction' started by Nanootrev, Jul 25, 2008.

  1. Nanootrev

    Nanootrev Bit Poster

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    Hello,

    I am new here and i am looking for advise. My wife is looking at studying web design. Her back ground is only the basic ability to use a pc.

    She is creative and we think its a great idea to start studying web design.

    Which Certificates should she go for? (The higher the better - Not mickey mouse NVQ's)
    Which course or books?
    She would prefer to self study, is this feesible?

    Which are the best languages?
    Where can i find those books?


    All advice and tips welcome.

    Thank You
     
    Certifications: None Yet
    WIP: A+
  2. hbroomhall

    hbroomhall Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    Hi and welcome to CF!

    Web design is a very over-full profession. Your best bet is to start designing and build up a portfolio. That will do far more than any certs to bring in business.

    Harry.
     
    Certifications: ECDL A+ Network+ i-Net+
    WIP: Server+
  3. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    Web Designing is more based on a portfolio that she designs on sites she has created more the certs. I would suggest you get her a good html and css book. She needs to start with the basic and have a good knowledge of the basics. Then honestly, instead of sinking money into training, I would suggest adobe web premium software and let her take the self study path.

    http://www.amazon.com/CSS-Missing-Manual-David-McFarland/dp/0596526873/ref=pd_sim_b_1

    tripwire45 recommended this book in his book review.
    http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-HTML-Reference-Ian-Lloyd/dp/0980285887/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217027539&sr=1-7

    And if your wife does decide to go the dreamweaver route I can push dreamweaver missing manual. This is the one I am using. It is wonderfull.

    Maybe you could have your wife sign up here too. Maybe we could learn togather. Welcome to CF Nan.
     
    Certifications: Microcomputers and network specialist.
    WIP: Adobe DW, PS
  4. Kitkatninja
    Highly Decorated Member Award 500 Likes Award

    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    Hi & welcome to CF :)

    I agree with both Mitzs & hbroomhall, however if your wife wants to study for certs in the web design field, you may want to look at the following certs:

    W3School, CIW, and/or ACA (or iTQ with ACA integrated).

    One thing that I would like to point out that NVQ's aren't mickey mouse quals. There are various things you need to take into consideration, the area that the NVQ is in and the level, see here.

    NVQ 1 is GCSE level grades D to G
    NVQ 2 is GCSE level grades A to C
    NVQ 3 is A Level
    NVQ 4 is equivalent to a HNC to BSc (depending on NVQ)
    NVQ 5 is Post-Grad level (Master to Doctorate depending on NVQ)

    -Ken
     
    Certifications: MSc, PGDip, PGCert, BSc, HNC, LCGI, MBCS CITP, MCP, MCSA, MCSE, MCE, A+, N+, S+, Server+
    WIP: MSc Cyber Security
  5. Nanootrev

    Nanootrev Bit Poster

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    Thanks guys your info is valuable.

    So is it Software packages or Language learning that is most vital for learning this?
     
    Certifications: None Yet
    WIP: A+
  6. Nanootrev

    Nanootrev Bit Poster

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    Hi Mitz

    Thank you for your reply. Actually we are both here using this same username.
    She is Nanoo and I am Trev.

    She is about to start out it IT, and we are gathering information for her to find a worthwhile path to go down. All is she currently knows is basic email and internet use and a little bit on word.

    I am an unqualified Pc Tech who is now trying to whizz through the A+ self study book in order to get a certificate to match the years of knowledge and experience i have built up by teaching myself.

    I think PC technician might be a bit too much for her, so as she is very creative, we thought maybe web design. Or is there something else anyone can recommend?

    She hasn't quite got onto this forum idea but when she studies she may start here.

    Thanks
     
    Certifications: None Yet
    WIP: A+
  7. greenbrucelee
    Highly Decorated Member Award

    greenbrucelee Zettabyte Poster

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    Your wife could look at graphic design. I work for a newspaper and we have lots of people who creat the adverts etc for the newspapers we produce. They use applications such as Photoshop, quark experess and Adobe indesgn.
     
    Certifications: A+, N+, MCDST, Security+, 70-270
    WIP: 70-620 or 70-680?
  8. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    If she wants to get into web design she needs to learn the basics first. She can use dreamweaver first but even as great as it is there may be times when she will need to hand code something. She needs to learn html and css first. It is no different then working on computers if you know how a computer works and run you know how to trouble shoot it. Well if a website looks funny or somthing isn't where it should be if you know the code you have an idea where to look to see what is missing or needs to be added and so on. There are even several books out now that teach html and css with dreamweaver. Then there are people that don't use dreamweaver at all and just code everthing by hand. I use to be like that but I had a chance to get dreamweaver and was happy I did. Dreamweaver will help you produce websites alot faster then you can by just hand coding everthing. As she learns there will be other languages to learn like javascript that will take her coding to another level. Web design is a really fun field and there are just so many different directions that she will be able to go.
     
    Certifications: Microcomputers and network specialist.
    WIP: Adobe DW, PS
  9. Nanootrev

    Nanootrev Bit Poster

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    Mitz

    Thank you.
    I was told by a mate that Html is old. Is it still relevent?

    I have heard of Php and Css replacing it?
    Is this gospel?

    I appreciate your advice so much
     
    Certifications: None Yet
    WIP: A+
  10. MLP

    MLP Kilobyte Poster

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    Hi There

    CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is a used alongside HTML, not instead of it. The idea is that the HTML markup is used to display content, and the CSS is used to describe formatting of that content.

    PHP is a scripting language, rather than a markup language, to generate dynamic content as opposed to static web pages. Again, it is used in conjunction with HTML. An example of its use might by a web page, written in HTML and styled with CSS. PHP scripts are then used to generate the parts of the page (HTML code), to read data from say a database, and also to handle user actions. Just like this forum (I'm guessing that cert forums uses PHP; many forums do).

    What I'm trying to say here is, in order to learn and use PHP, a good understanding of HTML is a must.

    For a better idea of the various web technologies, and how they work together, try http://www.w3schools.com/.

    Hope this helps.

    Maria
     
    Certifications: HND Computing
  11. Nanootrev

    Nanootrev Bit Poster

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    Maria

    Wow! Thank you for your information. This is exactly what i need to know.
    Thank you
     
    Certifications: None Yet
    WIP: A+
  12. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    Umm, do us all a fav and don't let your mate help your wife with this ok?
    There are old tags in html just like anything and they have been replace just like anything else. Like MLP and I were saying she must know html. Or maybe the correct one is xhtml, I am just use to saying it the other way, sorry. Look at this way. html is your foundation. Everything will build on top of that. Just like cement is the foundation of your home. Let us know how it goes and get her posting. One of the best resources she can have is sites like CF they go beyond the books and classes and there is a wealth of information to be learned from the more experince people here. Not to mention the positive support when you feel like banging your head against the wall because something is not working right.:biggrin
     
    Certifications: Microcomputers and network specialist.
    WIP: Adobe DW, PS
  13. Mitzs
    Honorary Member

    Mitzs Ducktape Goddess

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    Had to give you reps for that Maria, you explain it perfectly. :)
     
    Certifications: Microcomputers and network specialist.
    WIP: Adobe DW, PS
  14. MLP

    MLP Kilobyte Poster

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    Mizts: Much appreciated. Thanks
     
    Certifications: HND Computing

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