Member Avatar for NewOrder

i am interested in graphics and webdesign.

i am currently studying dot.net and java.. is it worth studying both..or is it a bad idea for me to study graphics now/?

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Putting visual design and programming together is a practical, long-term advantage. For , the useful split is between learnable skills you can apply tomorrow (visual hierarchy, basic front-end implementation, prototyping) and deeper platform/stack knowledge you can pick up as needed. and touched on team vs solo roles — the short version is: you gain more control and faster iteration if you can turn a mockup into working UI yourself, but you do not have to become an expert in every backend technology to be effective.

Priorities and where to spend time:

  • Design fundamentals: layout, typography, color, user flows, and quick usability testing. Read concise UX primers like those at the Nielsen Norman Group.
  • Front-end craft: semantic HTML, responsive layouts (Flexbox/Grid), and interactive behavior with modern JavaScript. Build things in the browser and use the developer tools to debug.
  • Tools and workflow: learn a design/prototyping tool (Figma), version control (Git), and how to produce a deliverable that developers can implement.
  • Accessibility, performance, and SEO basics — they matter to almost every client and make your work professional.

Concrete next steps (practical week-by-week plan):

  • Week 1–6: small exercises (typography, one-page responsive layout, simple interactive widget).
  • Week 7–12: a complete mini-project: brief, wireframes, high-fidelity mock, coded prototype, and short usability notes.
  • Ongoing: publish three case studies that show process and results — screenshots alone won’t sell your skills.

Authoritative learning hubs: MDN for web fundamentals (MDN Learn), WebAIM for accessibility (WebAIM Intro), Figma resources for design-to-prototype workflows (Figma Learn), and practical front-end tutorials like freeCodeCamp and web.dev for performance and modern practices. Focus on shipping polished projects rather than chasing every new language or framework.

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Member Avatar for teedoff

Depends on if you're gonna freelance or work for a webdesign house. If you work for yourself, you might need to know a little of everything to successfully design a website from start to finish. Working for a webdesign company usually means tasks are broken up into sections. They may have a Graphics section, html/CSS section, programming section.

Member Avatar for NewOrder

oooh , i got it.

so to work as a freelance, i need to know a bit of everything. is java necessary for webdesign?

Member Avatar for almostbob

.dotnet, Microsoft servers, such a very small %age of clients possible, but many of those clients are large and require large maintainence contracts, because the type of product they are, but the larger they are the more likely they are locked into maintainence agreements, proprietary codebase -more difficult to outsource
java a slightly larger %age of customers

Apache *n?x (Linux Unix PosIx all the possible combinations) php RoR a very much larger %age client base, often of smaller clients who each require smaller amounts of maintainence
large resource availablility, can integrate into finished work

sql, as mssql mysql sqllite PostgreSql needed for all

.dotnet and java alone, unless you are real good, and real lucky, starvation status

Re: Teedoff's post below server use list Aug 2010

Edited by almostbob because: n/a
commented: What he said :P +1
Member Avatar for teedoff

I think Bob is right. Google "servers" for popularity, as well as server side languages such as PHP and Coldfusion and see how much of the market utilizes these. Most medium to large size companies utilize PHP or CF and databses such as MSSQL and MySQL.

Member Avatar for NewOrder

alright, i understand only half of what you have explained to me. but i feel that it was helpful.

thank you.
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