I was recently asked a question about the future of web design:

I have a short general query about the Future of Web Design: do you think that we are going towards a trend where, particularly with the use of Web environments like WordPress or Joomla, programming skills will be more and more oriented towards updating and customising plugins?

My answer:

I have been a long time believer in this strategy of using a CMS as the basis of almost all your web design projects. I wrote about this back in 2010, talking about the ‘Wordpress Web Designer‘.

I use Wordpress for my web sites, but Drupal and Joomla can do a great job too. You just have to figure out which one suits you best.

Learning PHP and JavaScript:

Since Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress are built with PHP and JavaScript, it makes sense (if you really want to learn how to use these tools to their fullest,) that you should learn at least a little programming. You don’t have to become a full-blown nerd coder, but you should be able to write simple scripts and modify existing PHP and JavaScript code. It will make your life so much easier.

For a more detailed discussion, watch my video below:

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

As predicted, Flash has now gone HTML5 – yes, you can now export your Flash work to HTML5 using the new Flash CS6.

I haven’t had a chance to look at it, so I have no comment with regards to how well it works. Nonetheless, this is more evidence that HTML5 is going to be huge in the future of web design and web development – if it isn’t already!

Flash CS6 basically uses the CreateJS open source framework, to output animations in Flash. I don’t know how powerful this conversion process is yet … we will soon see how complex the Flash projects can be and still be able to output them via HTML5.

Whatever the case, you should still be learning HTML5 and JavaScript.

I created a video blog on this:

Stefan Mischook

Hi,

I just released a video where I discus the growing importance of HTML5 in web design and web programming. Some of the highlights:

• HTML5 is now supported in all the major browsers.
• HTML5 was built from a pragmatic point of view – this means it’s really functional!
• HTML5 has made JavaScript a much more important language to learn.

The video:

If you are a total HTML beginner, you will need to learn that, before you can tackle HTML5. You can learn JavaScript with either my written introduction to JavaScript or my super fantastic JavaScript basics video tutorial.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Hey,

Anyone who has read anything I’ve written (or watched my video blogs,) knows that I can’t stand academics. I was particularly vocal against the Web Standards zealots of the early 2000’s, wherein reality was pushed aside in favor of code purity.

These nerds would ignore reality – for example:

• They would ignore how the most popular web browsers would interpret HTML and CSS code – which often times, was in a method contrary to their nerd wet-dreams. As such, they would come up with harebrained hacks to jam in their ‘compliant’ code … hacks that eventually broke in many cases, defeating the supposed original purpose of the Web Standards movement!
• They would also obfuscate what the actual browser use was in terms of real people surfing the Web. They would come out with numbers that did not reflect the reality they were desperately trying to ignore: that the vast majority of people surfing the Web were using web browsers (Internet Explorer) that did not play nice with their ideas of how a web browser should read code.

… It gets even more stupid: even the basic web design cycle seemed to be ignored, where their recommendations would actually get in the way of productive web design and development. I am convinced many of the big names in this movement barely created websites in, or for the real-world – they were academics.

HTML5 and the Rise of Pragmatism

Just like with Java, the client-side web nerds finally got their act together, and started to pay attention to reality when putting together the HTML5 specification. Much to the displeasure of the aforementioned Web Standards zealots (I’m sure), academic purity was replaced by pragmatism: HTML5’s specification was heavily influenced by the browsers being used and by the way people where actually building web pages!!!

…. They realized that the true ‘validator’ of web pages, were actually the browsers people where using and not some piece of software on the W3C’s website that only academics cared about. Nobody surfs the Web with the W3C code validators!!

They even took a step further, where they actually scanned millions of random web pages and based on those results, HTML5 tags and behavior was engineered. Again, what a concept!

HTML5 is Important

Even beyond what I would have ever thought, HTML5 has become super important today ( most likely for years to come) where you see it being deployed for desktop browsers and on mobile devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android devices and even now, it’s built into the core of Windows 8. This is a testament to pragmatic design.

If you are a web designer or programmer/developer, you need to learn HTML5.

Thanks for reading.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Just about every small business owner knows that they have to have a website. What many don’t know, is that they also have to have basic web design skills … yes, even learning the dreaded code behind the pages: HTML and CSS.

Why do you need to know HTML and CSS?

For a few reasons:

1. To be able to make small changes to your site, without having to call your web designer every two minutes!
2. To be able to judge (to a certain extent) how long it might take to make a change to your website.
3. To know what your options are regarding a website.

… Let’s tackle each of these:

MAKING SMALL CHANGES TO YOUR WEBSITE
Websites are in constant need of updates, no question. It could be some new text you want add, corrections, adding a new image or even a new page. Many of these jobs are actually pretty easy to do with even a simple understanding of HTML and CSS.

So rather than having to reach your web designer, waiting for he/she to get back to you, just learn some basic web design and you will save a lot of time, headaches and even some money.

BEING ABLE TO JUDGE THE TIME AND COST OF WEB DESIGN
This is a common complaint I hear from small business owners … they have no idea how to judge what the fair price is … to do a job. This is no fault of their own: often times things that seems simple to do, are hard and sometimes things that seem hard, are actually simple.

Being an old time web-nerd, it never failed to amaze me how often my clients had no idea where the true cost were in a given web design project. In fact, they often thought cheap things were expensive and vice-verse!

Knowing a little HTML and CSS comes with general web design knowledge baked-in: you will have a much better feel about the process (on the whole) which frankly, will keep you from getting ripped off by some less than honest web designers.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR WEB DESIGN OPTIONS
Again, the general web design knowledge that learning basic HTML and CSS will give you, opens your eyes (nerd-eyes) to some of the options that are out there regarding your website.

You will soon discover that in the web world, there are many competing options, each having their advantages and disadvantages. When dealing with web programmers or professional web designers, you will be able to speak their language and ultimately make everyone’s life easier while saving you money.

Your Web Design Learning Options

Yes, I am talking my book and this article may seem a little self-serving; nonetheless it is accurate. So, here are some of the options that we can offer to make learning HTML and CSS fast and easy:

Option #1:
My beginners web design course – for total beginners. By the end of the course, you will have built a simple website by hand. This is a course that you can download or have it mailed to you on DVD.

Option #2:
Our Web Design Video Library. A huge collection (over 1000 videos and growing) that teaches everything from basic HTML, CSS, design concepts, to shopping carts and HTML5. A subscription based system (like Netflix) that cost $8.25/month … with a 1 year subscription.

Option #3:
Our new interactive training system: Killersites University. Yes, we have courses on HTML and CSS but delivered in a game like environment with quizzes, interactive code challenges and scoring.

Thanks for reading,

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Everyone has their own style of learning, and because of this, we’ve provide a few different ways for you to learn web design and web programming:

1. Buy a video package that you can take home and own – for example:

www.killervideostore.com/video-courses/complete-web-designer.php

These are video courses that you can either download or have a DVD shipped to you.

2. Subscribe to our big library of premium content:

www.killersites.com/video-library/

This is a subscription service that works a lot like Netflix, where you can access our entire collection and watch as many videos you want. We have a standard and a premium subscription where with the premium subscription, you have access to all the videos, sources files and we give you one year access.

3. And of course, the KillerSites University where you get the interactive video training experience:

killersitesuniversity.com/

You can either buy individual courses or subscribe to access all of the training courses. KillerSites University is an interactive learning system, where you are quizzed and code challenged, while you watch videos that teach web design and web programming.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Hi,

I got a good question from someone wanting to learn web design:

… if I buy your videos on how to construct a website, do I not also have to purchase the software to actually make the website, such as DreamWeaver or some other software?

My answer:

Hi James,

To create web sites, you don’t have to buy the expensive commercial packages like Dreamweaver. There are many free alternatives that work great and in fact, we include one in this package:

Complete Web Designer

That said, we teach with the popular commercial products because they are popular. But once you learn to work with say Dreamweaver, any web design program you use will be easy because they are work in the same way.

.. Like driving a car, it doesn’t matter which car it is you are driving.

I hope that helps,

Stefan
killersites.com

I really like the style of the Head First series from O’reilly – they’ve managed to create a style of nerdbook that looks more like a graphic novel, than a tech book.

Let’s start with the verdict for this particular title:

Head First HTML5 Programming is a good book if you know HTML, CSS and at least a little Javascript.

Some details …

Basically it covers many of the big features in HTML5 and the surrounding technologies. The authors make heavy use of graphics and storylines to make the book more entertaining. If you are more of a beginner when it comes to programming or web application development, then I think this presentation style will be great for you.

If on the other hand, you are a hardcore grizzled nerd programmer, the wordy, graphic and puzzle rich book might annoy you a bit. That’s OK, because O’reilly has their more traditional style of book for you.

Some of the topics covered:

• Canvas: drawing with HTML5
• HTML5 video
• Web Storage – savings files to client computers – much better than JavaScript cookies!
• Web Workers – threading with HTML5!! Yea, this particular HTML5 capability freaked me out.

There’s more topics covered including some quick introductions to JavaScript and Dom scripting. Again, if you are new to programming, I think these sections will be a little too much to handle. That’s OK, you have our super fantastically easy KillerSites JavaScript video training to cover you there.

Being a shameless self promoter that I am, we also have our own HTML5 interactive video courses you can learn from. It’s all good, depending on how you like to learn.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com
killerphp.com

Hello Everyone!!

Once in a while I use an email conversation as a blog post – I get good questions from people all the time. So, in this email, someone wanted to know about software used in building web sites – check it out:

… This is the 60 thousand dollar question that no one I ask seems to be able to answer. What programs do you need to be a functioning professional web designer? (Adobe, Dreamweaver,etc.)

And do you know price ranges? I want to have the programs before I get the program so I can hit the ground running.

Thanks,
Jimmy

My answer:

Hi Steve,

The answer to the $60 000 question: You don’t need any!!!

Yep, once you start learning (video #1) you will see that you can build websites with a simple text editor like notepad!! Programs like Dreamweaver can speed up the process … but these days, they are far, far less important than they used to be.

In the first course of the Complete Web Designer package, I demonstrate building a site using notepad and textedit (for Mac people) … and I also include a free web design program that does a lot of what Dreamweaver does.

… You have many options.

Image Editors

In terms of editing images, there are cheap and free alternatives to Photoshop that will do everything you need – web image editing isn’t that complex. The Gimp and Aviary come to mind.

That said, we teach the techniques with Dreamweaver and Photoshop since they are the industry leaders. But the skills you learn there are 100% transferable to the free alternatives I mentioned.

… For the purpose of learning, just download the FREE 30 day trials of Adobe Dreamweaver and Photoshop … more than enough time to learn. Once you have the know how, you can jump to any of the free alternatives or go for the Adobe products.

I hope that helps,

Stefan

It seems that Google and Youtube are moving quickly to replace the Flash video player; they just released a new HTML 5 video player for Youtube that does a bunch of things:

• enable annotations and captions
• copy embed code and URL
• native full-screen support for Firefox and Chrome
• 480p and 1080p options

Read more: Youtube Upgrades HTML 5 Player.

I know the Flash people are going to be pissed at me (again!) for suggestion the obvious: Flash is quickly moving into obsolescence.

From PC Mag:

Adobe confirmed Monday that it will release one more version of Flash Player for the mobile Web to accommodate Android 4.0, but that will be the final update.

“Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android 4.0, and one more release of the Flash Linux Porting Kit—both expected to be released before the end of this year,” an Adobe spokesman said via email. “After that time, Adobe will continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates.”

Occupy Flash!!

I’m all for advancing technology, but this is really vicious!! We now have a group who is actively looking to kill Flash:

Occupy Flash has stepped into the breach with an ambitious goal: “To get the world to uninstall the Flash Player plug-in from their desktop browsers.”

Read more: Occupy Flash has stepped up.

Final Comment:

I was one of the first users of Flash in the world – back in the 1990’s when it was called Future Splash. But being a nimble nerd who is language/platform agnostic … I’ve learned to move on from fading technologies, not wanting to fade right along with them. In biology they say the most successful species are the most adaptable; we web nerds have to be ultra nimble too.

Though it will probably take a few years for Flash to fade away into a niche, Killersites has always been about PRACTICAL web training and not getting stuck on a technology. The writing is on the wall, even Adobe is adopting HTML 5 and CSS 3.

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com