KillerSites Blog

The technologies you need to master to be a complete web designer.

September 18, 2007

Web design has been transformed over the last many years. In many ways, the skills a web designer needed in 1996 are totally different from the skills you need in 2007 … and the foreseeable future.

I won’t go into what you needed in the past, because it matters not. So let’s talk about what you need to know today, to be a complete and competitive web designer.

The Web Designer’s Study Guide:

  1. HTML
  2. CSS
  3. PHP
  4. Javascript

Comments:

I think the first two on the list would make sense to most. But #3 is probably confusing the heck out of some of you, so let me make a few quick points.

WHY WEB DESIGNERS NEED TO LEARN SOME PHP

In a nutshell:

  • Most web projects will require some basic dynamic functionality that PHP makes easy.
  • Blogs and CMS software – read below.

Today, it is becoming more and more common that web sites are based on a blog or CMS package. For example:

  • WordPress
  • Drupal
  • Mambo

To take full advantage of these, you should be able to dig into the code so that you can make the changes for your clients particular needs. Not all blogs/cms are written in PHP .. but many are, including the ones listed above.

I go into more detail about php for web designers on my dedicated PHP site for web designers:

www.killerphp.com

Thanks,

Stefan Mischook

www.killersites.com