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Learning web design

Anything considered a "hustle" and not necessarily a CENTS-based Fastlane

EliE77

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This week I've put in 30 hours so far.

I come home from work, take a shower, eat and go straight to my computer, from 6pm to 10pm.
I've removed all distractions, ( Netflix, Youtube, mindlessly scrolling through Instagram, etc..),
and I must say, I'm pretty proud of myself because that's all I've been doing after work for as long
as I can remember. Now It's only been a week, and I already cringe at all the times I've wasted..

I am currently taking a 25 hours course on webdesign, just listening and taking notes, and I'm
wondering if this is the best approach to take, I want to speed up the process.

Should I spend all my time taking courses, or should I start practicing instead ?
If I should start practicing, what should I start with ?

Any good courses or tutorials you could recommend ?

Thank you ;) :thumbsup:
 
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JHZ

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Personally, the difference between project based learning and textbook/course learning has been enormous. I've always found that I learn the most while working on building something, and also, the time spent building something tends to be much more enjoyable and rewarding than the time I spend reading and watching courses. But again, that's just me.

If this is your first time ever coding, I do think is good that you first get a sense of what is what, watching a course and taking notes can be a good way to do it. However, I strongly encourage you to start building some project on the side parallel to your learning, you will find that putting all that knowledge to actual use will help you tremendously. It doesn't matter if you get stuck (that's something that you will need to get used to in programming), the important thing is practice, and getting experience. Frontend Mentor | Front-end coding challenges using a real-life workflow. On this page you can find lots of (front end) projects to practice.

Regarding courses/tutorials, I used freecodecamp, "The web develeper bootcamp" course by Colt Steele, and building personal projects.

Seems you are off to a good start, keep it going!
 

EliE77

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Personally, the difference between project based learning and textbook/course learning has been enormous. I've always found that I learn the most while working on building something, and also, the time spent building something tends to be much more enjoyable and rewarding than the time I spend reading and watching courses. But again, that's just me.

If this is your first time ever coding, I do think is good that you first get a sense of what is what, watching a course and taking notes can be a good way to do it. However, I strongly encourage you to start building some project on the side parallel to your learning, you will find that putting all that knowledge to actual use will help you tremendously. It doesn't matter if you get stuck (that's something that you will need to get used to in programming), the important thing is practice, and getting experience. Frontend Mentor | Front-end coding challenges using a real-life workflow. On this page you can find lots of (front end) projects to practice.

Regarding courses/tutorials, I used freecodecamp, "The web develeper bootcamp" course by Colt Steele, and building personal projects.

Seems you are off to a good start, keep it going!
Thank you so much !

I'll get started right now :thumbsup:
 

Andy Black

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mjb234

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May I suggest your goal isn’t to “learn web design”.

Find someone who needs more business, and offer to help them with their website?

> You don't need to be an expert

This so much.

When I first started learning web design I wasted so much time and money learning stuff I never really needed to know.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to build great websites for businesses with little or no coding knowledge. From html theme templates to wordpress page builders, you no longer have to learn how to code to make in impact.

Go ahead and learn the very basics of html and CSS (this doesn't need to take more than a few days) and then go out and find someone to build a real website for. Preferably someone who could really benefit from a new website (i.e. has a sales/business problem a website could solve).

Once you start doing that, you quickly find out what you actually need to know to make it happen.
 

EliE77

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This so much.

When I first started learning web design I wasted so much time and money learning stuff I never really needed to know.

You'd be surprised how easy it is to build great websites for businesses with little or no coding knowledge. From html theme templates to wordpress page builders, you no longer have to learn how to code to make in impact.

Go ahead and learn the very basics of html and CSS (this doesn't need to take more than a few days) and then go out and find someone to build a real website for. Preferably someone who could really benefit from a new website (i.e. has a sales/business problem a website could solve).

Once you start doing that, you quickly find out what you actually need to know to make it happen.
Right, I've heard that it doesn't take much to get started with web design, But I've also heard the exact opposite, I don't know what to think LOL.

A friend of mine asks me to build his website, We'll see how it goes.
 

mjb234

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Right, I've heard that it doesn't take much to get started with web design, But I've also heard the exact opposite, I don't know what to think LOL.

A friend of mine asks me to build his website, We'll see how it goes.

It's great that you already have someone to help.

In that case, a decent strategy to get you moving as fast as possible would be:

1. Find out exactly what your friend needs from the website. I don't mean the technical or design aspects. What results will the website help him achieve? What problems will the website solve for him?

2. Once you've figured that out, then figure out what is the MINIMUM you would need to learn to build him a site that gets him those results.

Again, I can't emphasize this enough: there are so many prebuilt options that will allow to you make a great website without a ton of technical knowledge.

I suggest looking into HTML templates or a page builder like Elementor.

This helps both you and your friend. He gets a website quickly and you find out how to create a website efficiently.

3. Build the site, get it online, and learn from it.

The fact of the matter is you wont know how effective something is until you put it out there. That's why I dont recommend putting a lot of time into learning to code and building a custom solution.

You want real world feedback as fast as possible.
 
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Einfamilienhaus

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Right, I've heard that it doesn't take much to get started with web design, But I've also heard the exact opposite, I don't know what to think LOL.

It depends on your goals. If you want to work as a freelancer or your bigger goal is to build up your own company, than you don't need much knowledge about about HTML/CCS. The basics should be enough. Also the basics of all kind of CMS.

If you want to work as a web design employee than more knowledge is required.

I would recommend you start finding your first client as soon as possible. You will gain much bigger progress than just making notes.
 

EliE77

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It depends on your goals. If you want to work as a freelancer or your bigger goal is to build up your own company, than you don't need much knowledge about about HTML/CCS. The basics should be enough. Also the basics of all kind of CMS.

If you want to work as a web design employee than more knowledge is required.

I would recommend you start finding your first client as soon as possible. You will gain much bigger progress than just making notes.

But how can I possibly stand out from all the competitions on Freelance platforms if I only know the basics ? Can I satisfy any clients with the basics of coding and some HTML templates ?

It's great that you already have someone to help.

In that case, a decent strategy to get you moving as fast as possible would be:

1. Find out exactly what your friend needs from the website. I don't mean the technical or design aspects. What results will the website help him achieve? What problems will the website solve for him?

2. Once you've figured that out, then figure out what is the MINIMUM you would need to learn to build him a site that gets him those results.

Again, I can't emphasize this enough: there are so many prebuilt options that will allow to you make a great website without a ton of technical knowledge.

I suggest looking into HTML templates or a page builder like Elementor.

This helps both you and your friend. He gets a website quickly and you find out how to create a website efficiently.

3. Build the site, get it online, and learn from it.

The fact of the matter is you wont know how effective something is until you put it out there. That's why I dont recommend putting a lot of time into learning to code and building a custom solution.

You want real world feedback as fast as possible.

Thanks a lot ! ;) I'll do exactly that.

I'm halfway through the freeCodeCamp tutorials, and I don't know if this is because it's just the beginning, but I think I like coding.
 

Odysseus M Jones

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Learn & do.
I learnt HTML in 24 hours, ok 24 one hour lessons from a book over 24 days.
At the end of each chapter I practised what I learnt.
By the end I'd got a website, consolidated & put into action what I'd learnt.

But how can I possibly stand out from all the competitions on Freelance platforms if I only know the basics ? Can I satisfy any clients with the basics of coding and some HTML templates ?
Of course you can, a website is a tool for businesses to snag customers & orders.

Plain simple & effective wins.
Bells and whistles not required.

Remember, you're approaching customers whose problems you know you can solve.

It puts you streets ahead of the competition.

Freelancer sites are for backup.

Go out & get those local businesses we talked about.

Believe in yourself.
 
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Einfamilienhaus

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But how can I possibly stand out from all the competitions on Freelance platforms if I only know the basics ? Can I satisfy any clients with the basics of coding and some HTML templates ?

Not everybody who calls himself a Professional Web Designer with 7 years of experience in HTML/CCS, Javascript and a master degree in UI/UX is one.

Make a research for real businesses with a bad or not existing website. Write them or better call them. Make a website for free with the agreement that you can insert a Created by with a link to your website.

Use this website as a reference that to find new customers.

The goal is not to make this website primarily, instead finding a solution for them. Depends on the industry and the expectations of your client you can offer several paid services. Like installing Google Analytics and deliver monthly reports to find out which visitors are potential customers. So you can optimize the website step by step and turn visitors into buyers. Which will cost let's say 300$/months.

The payment for a website could be just 1000$. Your solution will bring you 3600$/year.

Back to your question if the basics are enough? Yes, they are. Most of your clients dont understand much of web design. This is the reason why they pay you to get this job done. If you have a problem with the code, you can hire at any time a freelancer who can fix this problem for few bucks.

For every 1000$ your clients are paying, they expect to get 2000$ back. As long you can help to make your clients more money they will love you and in the best case they will recommend you to more interested clients.

Learning is in general a life time process. Not just a 3 years education like at the college. You will never have the feeling of knowing enough and you shouldn't definitely gain this attitude.

Instead of focusing too much be better in coding, you should learn how to make money with a website and sell this solution.
 
Last edited:

EliE77

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Learn & do.
I learnt HTML in 24 hours, ok 24 one hour lessons from a book over 24 days.
At the end of each chapter I practised what I learnt.
By the end I'd got a website, consolidated & put into action what I'd learnt.


Of course you can, a website is a tool for businesses to snag customers & orders.

Plain simple & effective wins.
Bells and whistles not required.

Remember, you're approaching customers whose problems you know you can solve.

It puts you streets ahead of the competition.

Freelancer sites are for backup.

Go out & get those local businesses we talked about.

Believe in yourself.

Got you. Basics are enough to get started, that is good to know.
I was planning on getting started 5 months from now, I though it was the amount I needed to get good enough and be confident in my skills to get started.
You guys saved me a lot of time :thumbsup::thumbsup:

Not everybody who calls himself a Professional Web Designer with 7 years of experience in HTML/CCS, Javascript and a master degree in UI/UX is one.

Make a research for real businesses with a bad or not existing website. Write them or better call them. Make a website for free with the agreement that you can insert a Created by with a link to your website.

Use this website as a reference that to find new customers.

The goal is not to make this website primarily, instead finding a solution for them. Depends on the industry and the expectations of your client you can offer several paid services. Like installing Google Analytics and deliver monthly reports to find out which visitors are potential customers. So you can optimize the website step by step and turn visitors into buyers. Which will cost let's say 300$/months.

The payment for a website could be just 1000$. Your solution will bring you 3600$/year.

Back to your question if the basics are enough? Yes, they are. Most of your clients dont understand much of web design. This is the reason why they pay you to get this job done. If you have a problem with the code, you can hire at any time a freelancer who can fix this problem for few bucks.

For every 1000$ your clients are paying, they expect to get 2000$ back. As long you can help to make your clients more money they will love you and in the best case they will recommend you to more interested clients.

Learning is in general a life time process. Not just a 3 years education like at the college. You will never have the feeling of knowing enough and you shouldn't definitely gain this attitude.

Instead of focusing too much be better in coding, you should learn how to make money with a website and sell this solution.

Thank you so much ! Very insightful

I wouldn't have found thoses answers anywhere else on the internet, this forum is goldd.

Tomorrow I am going to start working on a friend's website, he's starting a plumbing company so nothing too complicated but I have no idea where to start.

If that's not too much to ask, could you tell me exactly what should one need to learn in order to get started and take on clients ?

Css basics, html basics, wordpress, javascript.... ??
 

Einfamilienhaus

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Tomorrow I am going to start working on a friend's website, he's starting a plumbing company so nothing too complicated but I have no idea where to start.

If that's not too much to ask, could you tell me exactly what should one need to learn in order to get started and take on clients ?

You did the right first step. You found someone who needs your help. So you now you should ask yourself how you can help friend to get the clients he is looking for? What kind of services he is providing and how you can help his potential clients to get in contact with your friend as fast and easy as possible? How about installing a phone-call Popup at the right bottom of the website? So the visitors can call your friend with just one button click and ask for the service. You can also install an appointment booking system, when some people feel uncomfortable to call.

I'm not a friend of professional company websites with no faces behind. So you can also make this website look more as a "family business". Like the friendly plumber from next door. Show the people the face who they are going to work with. In this case you can easy take some photos of your smiling friend. Let him stand next to his "plumbing Car" for example.

You could also do some pictures of him how his is doing his work. Next to these pictures you can put a text and explain more about the service his providing. When people see a picture "in movement" they feel easier to be in movement too. It is our natural behaviour to imitate the things we see. Especially when we feel the need to have something from it. What I try to tell you is, when you use pictures of movement, some visitors will feel comfortable too to take action and maybe contact your friend. You see, there is somekind of psychology hidden in your web design. But this is too complicated to explain. When you will gain some experience you will follow your own methods naturally.

For the beginning it is the most important to pay attention for the following things:

1. Let the visitors understand within 3 seconds what this website is about. Put into the header in big letter "Fastest Plumbing Service in Town" (just an example) So the visitors who are searching for it will stay longer on the website.

2. Dont overexplain what kind of service your friend is offering. People who are searching for a plumber already know what they need or at least they know why they are searching for plumber and they need a fast solution. Like "After ordering my Service X I will fix your problem within Y hours"

Also make a short overview which service is helpful in which case. This is something you have to discuss with your friend.

"Service X is helpful for people who have the following problem:

- XX
- XXX
- XXXX

Call me now and I will fix the problem in Y hours."

3. Make the visitors buy the service as fast as possible. Install a call Popup and a appointment booking system like I explained before.

No matter what kind of template you choose, your website should be easy to handle, easy understandable and fast to buy.
 
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EliE77

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May 26, 2020
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Paris
You did the right first step. You found someone who needs your help. So you now you should ask yourself how you can help friend to get the clients he is looking for? What kind of services he is providing and how you can help his potential clients to get in contact with your friend as fast and easy as possible? How about installing a phone-call Popup at the right bottom of the website? So the visitors can call your friend with just one button click and ask for the service. You can also install an appointment booking system, when some people feel uncomfortable to call.

I'm not a friend of professional company websites with no faces behind. So you can also make this website look more as a "family business". Like the friendly plumber from next door. Show the people the face who they are going to work with. In this case you can easy take some photos of your smiling friend. Let him stand next to his "plumbing Car" for example.

You could also do some pictures of him how his is doing his work. Next to these pictures you can put a text and explain more about the service his providing. When people see a picture "in movement" they feel easier to be in movement too. It is our natural behaviour to imitate the things we see. Especially when we feel the need to have something from it. What I try to tell you is, when you use pictures of movement, some visitors will feel comfortable too to take action and maybe contact your friend. You see, there is somekind of psychology hidden in your web design. But this is too complicated to explain. When you will gain some experience you will follow your own methods naturally.

For the beginning it is the most important to pay attention for the following things:

1. Let the visitors understand within 3 seconds what this website is about. Put into the header in big letter "Fastest Plumbing Service in Town" (just an example) So the visitors who are searching for it will stay longer on the website.

2. Dont overexplain what kind of service your friend is offering. People who are searching for a plumber already know what they need or at least they know why they are searching for plumber and they need a fast solution. Like "After ordering my Service X I will fix your problem within Y hours"

Also make a short overview which service is helpful in which case. This is something you have to discuss with your friend.

"Service X is helpful for people who have the following problem:

- XX
- XXX
- XXXX

Call me now and I will fix the problem in Y hours."

3. Make the visitors buy the service as fast as possible. Install a call Popup and a appointment booking system like I explained before.

No matter what kind of template you choose, your website should be easy to handle, easy understandable and fast to buy.
Great advice ! You pretty much did the work for me, I feel like paying you right now LOL

I'm going to start working on it pretty soon, I'll let you know how it went.

Thanks a lot :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 

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