Training In Web Design Examined

Posted on 20. Apr, 2010 by Jason Kendall in guest, training

For almost all web designers, Adobe Dreamweaver is the starting point of study. It’s reputed to be the most utilised web-development platform globally.

It’s also recommended that students get an in-depth understanding of the full Adobe Web Creative Suite, including Flash and Action Script, to be able to use Dreamweaver professionally as a web designer. Having such skills can take you on to becoming an Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) or Adobe Certified Professional (ACP).

Building the website is just the start of the skill set required though – to create traffic, maintain its content, and work with dynamic database-driven sites, you will need other programming skills, namely ones like HTML, PHP and MySQL. A good web designer will additionally have a working knowledge of Search Engine Optimisation and E Commerce.

Many students come unstuck over one aspect of their training usually not even thought about: The breakdown of the course materials before being couriered to your address.

Individual deliveries for each training module one piece at a time, as you complete each module is how things will normally arrive. While seeming sensible, you might like to consider this:

What would their reaction be if you find it difficult to do each and every exam at the speed they required? And maybe you’ll find their order of completion won’t fit you as well as another different route may.

In a perfect world, you’d get ALL the training materials right at the beginning – enabling you to have them all for the future to come back to – whenever it suits you. This allows a variation in the order that you attack each section if you find another route more intuitive.

Be watchful that any exams you’re considering doing are recognised by industry and are current. The ‘in-house’ certifications provided by many companies are generally useless.

From the viewpoint of an employer, only the top companies such as Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe or CompTIA (as an example) will open the right doors. Nothing else makes the grade.

The classroom style of learning we remember from school, involving piles of reference textbooks, is an up-hill struggle for the majority of us. If this sounds like you, look for learning programmes that are on-screen and interactive.

If we can get all of our senses involved in our learning, then the results are usually dramatically better.

Fully interactive motion videos involving demonstration and virtual lab’s will beat books every time. And you’ll actually enjoy doing them.

You must ensure that you see examples of the study materials provided by your chosen company. It’s essential they incorporate video demo’s and interactive elements such as practice lab’s.

Select CD and DVD ROM based physical training media where possible. This then avoids all the potential pitfalls with broadband outages, failure and signal quality issues etc.

Don’t accept anything less than an authorised exam preparation system included in the package you choose.

Steer clear of depending on non-official exam papers and questions. The type of questions asked is often somewhat different – and sometimes this can be a real headache when the proper exam time arrives.

Always request some practice exams so you can test your comprehension along the way. Practice exams prepare you properly – then you won’t be quite so nervous at the actual exam.

(C) Scott Edwards 2009. Look at This Site or www.WebDesignTraining4IT.co.uk.

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