Creating layouts and using Photoshop Elements for graphics

Comments

• Troglin

  October 2012 67.148.60.5

  Graphic and web design do not happen overnight. There is no shortcut, there is no magical way. The only way to pursue web and graphic design is to be motivated to try, fail, and eventually succeed. <br><br>For web design, you should start with the basic HTML. You will want to make sure that you are up to date with standard coding practices, as unstandardized code will result in your designs looking different (usually for the worst) in other browsers. Typically web designers will use FireFox, Safari, and Chrome to test out the functionality of their designs. Internet Explorer is a terrible browser for designing, as it does not follow many web standards.<br><br><a href="http://www.lissaexplains.com"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://www.lissaexplains.com</a><br><a href="http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp</a><br><br>Those are two of the many helpsites out there for you to learn code, and there are thousands of coding/design books available. As long as you can be a self-learner and a self-starter, they'll pay off. My younger brother works for a top company as a professional programmer. He has no college degree. He's completely self-taught, and he started learning the basics at lissaexplains. Just goes to prove that hardwork and dedication is necessary to succeed.<br><br>Once you've got a firm understanding of HTML, you should move onto cascading style sheets (CSS). This can be as simple or as complex as you desire to learn. CSS affects the beauty and functionality of web elements (colors, links, headers, etc.). Again, there are hundreds of websites and thousands of books available to help you learn CSS.<br><br>Keep in mind that web design is only possible by learning coding languages, which can be just as difficult to learn as a 'regular' language. It will get frustrating. The learning process can be really slow and there will be times that you get completely stumped. If you are truly serious about web design, you will have to put time and effort into it. <br><br>As far as graphic design goes, again, you will need to work at it. You will not instantly produce fantastic images, and quite honestly, your initial work is going to be of poor quality. I'm not saying this to be rude or cruel. When I first started messing around with banners, I thought I was pretty good. My friends and family would always tell me that I was doing well. A few years later, I stumbled across my beginning work, and I was completely horrified at the messes. Point is, you do have to believe in yourself, believe that you will get better, and go for it. <br><br>I personally love Photoshop Elements, and while it doesn't have the wide range of tools that CS has, you'll still be able to do wonders with it. I recommend looking up tutorials, such as those listed on <a href="http://www.deviantart.com"; target="_blank" class="bb-url">http://www.deviantart.com</a>, just to get an idea of how people go about creating their own masterpieces. <br><br>Take your time learning the program. Make sure you play around with all of the tools and get comfortable with them all. If we tried to teach you the function of each button, it would take hours to explain, when it just takes a moment to play around with it.

  
  On an indefinite hiatus.
• Silverwolf99

  October 2012 69.166.74.180

  Thanks! Also, there are some HTML cheat sheets out there. Does anyone know of some good ones? Should I beware?

  
• Troglin

  October 2012 67.148.60.5

  An HTML cheat sheet is simply a list of common HTML tags and their purposes. Eventually you'll have to learn what it means, without using one. It might help you remember, but it's not going to teach you everything you need to know. It's kind of like this;<br><br>dos - two<br>por favor - please<br>huevos - eggs<br><br>You can see what the words (tags) mean, but you won't know how to put them together in a sentence (code). If you try putting code together the wrong way, things will go south really quickly. Again, nothing is going to work overnight, and the only way to learn is by working hard. If you're trying for shortcuts, your results will reflect that, and nobody will want it.<br><br>Also, I don't recommend downloading any sort of "cheat sheet" or help file, so if a site tells you to download their cheat sheet/whatever document, you really shouldn't. Even with virus protection, you never know what you might get from a bad file. It is common sense, but I figured I'd mention that, as I noticed a few "cheat sheets" are supposed to be downloaded.

  
  On an indefinite hiatus.
• Silverwolf99

  October 2012 69.166.74.180

  Thanks. I'm actually taking Spanish now, so I can relate to that. Kind of like conjugation? Do you think you could help mentor me?