Bridging the Gap

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Hi,

I've worked in the IT field for over 15 years, been in web design for almost 2 years and finding I am getting stuck fairly often. I did build a few sites.

In IT land, done a lot of networking, troubleshooting, and I know my way around an OS. Worked with some scripting languages. I usually can figure things out. When it comes to designing sites, I find there is certainly a gap. HTML, XMP, PHP, javascript, CSS, and more. Feel like there's a lot to learn!

It's going slow. I can set up a database, work with FTP sites and I know HTML somewhat.

Being overseas, in Laos - no access to Barnes and Nobles - can anyone recommend some good tips or sites to ramp up my skills and improve my web design?

 
TheRealSean replied on at Permalink Reply
TheRealSean
I'd take a look athttp://www.nettuts.com they run some good tutorials across the board, and also a FREE "learn jquery 30 days course" which is excellent.
http://net.tutsplus.com/articles/news/learn-jquery-in-30-days/...

You could also try
http://www.Lynda.com - video tutorials, I started out with the PHP ones
http://teamtreehouse.com/ - similar to Lynda (not tried these but they look the part)

There are a couple of sites that I frequent that have some nice tips and tutorials
http://css-tricks.com/
http://boagworld.com/
http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/
VidalThemes replied on at Permalink Reply
VidalThemes
Hi,

There is plenty of resources out there, some of my faves when I started out were:

Both good for beginners
http://htmldog.com/
http://www.w3schools.com/

Good but tend to be a bit too specific at times, like, we will show you how to solve "A" by using "B" kind of thing.
http://net.tutsplus.com/
http://css-tricks.com/

Heavy reading but good, plenty of code examples and user comments.
http://php.net/manual/en/index.php...
http://jquery.com/

For designing and sharpening photoshop skills:

http://webdesign.tutsplus.com/
http://abduzeedo.com/

These are just some example of whats out there, there is a lot of stuff out there.

I found the best way to learn, was to do, getting in plenty of practice, look at what code does how it reacts when things are changed, is probably the best way to learn.

In my opinion design is something you never stop learning, there will always be new trends and techniques that appear, again just doing it really helps, also dont limit yourself to designing with a software program, keep your mind fresh, sketch, take photos, get out and about and look at the world around you, plenty of inspiration to be found outside the screen.
pranaman replied on at Permalink Reply
Thank you guys. Both replies seem to have a lot of information.

That will keep me busy for a while.

Off to reading.