Hey guys I'm really interested in web design and animation. I have two questions. I wanted to know where could I go to get some basic tutoring without coughing up big bucks?
2. What are some good programs that I could by that would help me get started?
Comments
There are two ways to do web design. One is by coding the pages manually (not my cup of tea) and the other is to use a graphical program. Dreamweaver is the most widely used of these. Another option is Adobe GoLive, which is included with the Creative Suite 2 Pro (not the Standard version).
If you go with GoLive, a good place to start is the GoLive Classroom in a Book (the same goes for all the Adobe programs). If you go with Dreamweaver the Dreamweaver H.O.T. (Hands on Training) book is pretty decent.
Macromedia Flash is really the only option for web animation and the Flash H.O.T. book is great.
Another issue is graphics, no matter what you do you will need a program to edit and compress images. I prefer Photoshop/Imageready. But Macromedia Fireworks is also an option and Dreamweaver, Flash and it are all included with the Macromedia Suite.
If you are serious about it, I would either go with the Adobe Creative Suite 2 or Macromedia's Suite. However, as someone who uses the Creative Suite but also Dreamweaver and Flash, I am concerned about what is going to happen now that Adobe has just purchased Macromedia. We will have to see what happens, but for now I think Im going to hold off on the Macromedia Suite and learn GoLive.
Books tend to be expensive and instantly out of date.
Plus Adobe bought Macromedia and potentially books now will be even more useless 6-12 months from now.
Anyway don't learn "commercial programs" more than "programming".
No one will hire you for "knowing DreamWeaver" if you don't know the underlying HTML/CSS/JavaScript coding concepts.
The programs are niceties, tools to make your coding easier. But they can't/ shouldn't do the coding for you. They seldom can. First thing that gets broken you are screwed. Or if a client wants a fancy feature added that your Adobe/MM program can't do, you're stuck.
Try making your first experimental websites using nothing else but a simple text editor. Then once you have some understanding of XHTML and CSS, I'd begin using something like Dreamweaver.
As for animation - I don't know.