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

Every so often people ask about building a CMS (content management system) and so, I decided to included a snippet from an email I recently sent. One point I want to make clear; you can build a CMS using any server side programming language (PHP, Ruby, Java etc …) I just recommend PHP because I think that for most people out there, PHP makes sense.

From the email:

Before you can Build a CMS, you need to understand PHP basics … I would recommend either you get some of the basic PHP courses or you get our Complete Programmer package:

http://www.killervideostore.com/video-courses/complete-web-programmer.php

… I can almost guarantee that PHP and JavaScript will sink in after doing these courses. We don’t have the fanciest graphics but we do have the easiest courses to understand out there.

To be clear, to tackle the CMS course, you don’t need to do everything in the Complete programmer package … these should get you there:

PHP Basic – 274min
PHP Misc. – 141min
PHP and MySQL Basics – 105min
PHP CRUD + Pagenation – 90min
Beginners Javascript – 301min
PHP and Javascript Form Validation – 60min

… And that is probably overkill. I just want to be sure.

It may seem daunting, but you will find that it moves fast once you get into it. And of course, we have our active web community ready to help should problems occur.

Stefan
killerphp.com

I get this all the time:

Stef,

You’re a nerd and professional web designer, what computer would you recommend for someone wanting to get into the web design or web programming business?

My answer:

Being a professional nerd presents many challenges, and one of them shouldn’t be fighting with your computer, viruses or installing hardware!

You also need something very fast and what most people don’t know, a huge part of a computer’s speed is not found in the processor (everyone just thinks processor!!) … no, the biggest bottleneck these days is disk access. Or as we hard-core nerds like to call it: IO.

What is IO?

IO is short for: input / output

… It is the speed of sending and receiving information to and from your computer hard disk. Hard disk speed is huge!!

So what computer has the best IO out there?

MacBook Air

Buy it and be amazed at how fast a computer can move!! Check it out:

http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

PS: I am not a Mac/Steve Jobs fan-boy … I have an Android phone!!

Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com

Hey Nerds!

This just out: Android Market Share Doubles, iOS Drops In Q3

Android’s share of the worldwide smartphone market was 52.3% for Q3, double what it was a year ago, according to fresh data from Gartner. Apple’s iOS dropped on a year over year basis to 15% market share for Q3.

The culprit for Apple’s drop? The iPhone 4, of course. People were waiting for the iPhone 5, or as it turned out, the iPhone 4S.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/android-market-share-2011-11#ixzz1dmzpfS6Y

I’m no Android fan-boy and I happen to like Apple products a lot – I think the the Mac Air is the greatest computer ever made. But as a practical web designer and web programmer, you have to be mindful of what’s going on in the real world. It is clear that Android is and will be the dominate player.

So web designers and developers (programmers) have to learn HTML 5 and CSS 3 since they both run fine on Android and iOS.

Stefan Mischook
www.killersites.com

Well, it seems that the combination of Steve Jobs + HTML 5 = Flash is Dead.

… No, the above is not a great sentence but it does tell the truth: Adobe’s decision is a death-sentence for Flash – a soon to be forgotten technology in the ever growing bin of dead and dying technologies:

• Cobol
• Macromedia Director
• Java Applets

… And many, many more.

Adobe Officially Kills Flash

Adobe Systems Inc halted development of its Flash Player for mobile browsers, surrendering to Apple Inc in a war over Web standards as the company surprised investors with a restructuring plan.

While the matter might seem like inside baseball for the average person, it is likely to improve the browsing experiences of tens of millions of iPhone and iPad users, who have trouble accessing sites built with Flash.

That is because Adobe’s decision means Web developers who currently use Flash tools to produce Web content will likely move over to the newer HTML5 technology, which Adobe embraced on Wednesday.

Yes, Flash will still be used here and there for gaming web sites … at least for a little while, but soon enough HTML 5 and CSS 3 development tools will replace everything that you do with Flash.

Seeing the writing on the wall, I stopped any further development of Flash related training video courses.

Bonus: Video Blog on the Flash:

UPDATE and clarification:

In a nutshell, I think that mobile devices will very quickly be the dominant device used to surf the Web and as such, most developers (in time) will choose to develop on the universal platform (HTML 5, CSS 3 and Javascript) rather than Flash.

That all said, I bet that Adobe will turn the Flash application into a powerhouse HTML 5 and CSS 3 creator.

I hope that clarifies my position.

Stefan Mischook

It has been a while since my last post … just busy with things.

Ok, let’s get to it. What are the top 3 reasons why Google+ is better than Facebook?

Here you go:

1. Privacy
2. Privacy
3. Privacy

Facebook is pretty much in the game of selling all your information to anyone. They (in my opinion) are doing whatever they can to mine your personal data and more importantly, I think they are purposefully trying to make as hard as possible for you to have any privacy.

Just look at their privacy system, it is set up in such a convoluted way, that they are either:

1. Total morons.
2. Trying to make it hard for you to be private.

… I give them the benefit of the doubt and believe they are not total morons.

Fake Complexity is a tactic

My 20 years of business experience has taught me one very important lesson: when a contract or deal is made to be very complex, it is typically done so, to HIDE things that people might not want you to see.

For example: credit card companies will bury all kinds of hidden traps and gotchas in the contract you sign when you get a credit card, even though (if you think about it) it should be pretty simple and could easily be handled on one page.

Another great example of this nefarious tactic (unnecessary complexity) was found in the Wallstreet banker mortgages with their deceptive teaser rates and other sneaky things they did to make crappy deals look fantastic. Not only did the Wallstreet banks screw the borrowers, they shafted other banks and financial institutions by selling them the crap mortgages; painting them as good investments. In the normal business world, we call that fraud … and fraud is a form of theft.

… The point is that Facebook’s privacy mechanism is probably designed to be hard to use, so that people will not be able to figure out how to make private their personal information. Google+ makes that much, much easier.

Who cares about privacy!!

Well, Facebook profiles have been instrumental many divorces, people getting fired and in my case, having major fights with now ex girlfriends over a perception of what I was doing.

… But that’s another story.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com

Statement from Apple:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

As a nerd entrepreneur and a recent Mac user (just the last few years) I have to say we lost one of the true business leaders and innovators of our time. Unlike the crony capitalist and Wall Street dirt bags who still walk this earth, Steve Jobs died decades too soon.

An interview with young Steve Jobs:

Stefan

What is the best way to learn web design?

Well, I’ve learned over the years that the best way to learn anything is to just do it. I would say that the theory-to-practical mix, should be say 20% theory and 80% practical.

Yep, academic shills (regardless of profession) are not only useless, they’re down right dangerous!! To avoid becoming an evil useless shill, you need to step it up and actually build websites, write code, make mistakes and learn from it.

We build our courses with that in mind.

If you check out our growing collection of web design training courses, you will notice a few things:

1. They are very tasks oriented – you learn by doing.
2. They are very practical – you learn stuff that people actually use in the field!
3. The teachers are ALL experienced web designers and programmers – no academic shills here!!

Conclusion:

Yep, I’m shilling for our courses, but why not?

Besides, people like our stuff, check out just a small sampling of the emails we get:

www.killertestimonials.com/

Thanks.

Stefan Mischook

Hi,

I know you’re busy, so I will get to the point: if you are having problems building your website or, you are thinking of building a website for say, your small business and you have questions, then a great place to go is the online forums.

Besides being a place frequented by web nerds of all skill levels, the forums are also a treasure trove of information on web design and web programming. We have forums on subjects like:

• HTML and CSS
• PHP and Javascript
• Dreamweaver and Photoshop

Best of all, our video tutorial authors frequent the forums – so you can talk to the experts directly. Check it out:

Killersites ‘Killer’ Web Design Forums

Final comment: if on the other hand, you are ready to start learning, then check out our collection of fine video tutorials.

Stefan Mischook
killersites.com