LenaCa

I'm sorry I meant my ad banner in the sidebar! I was going to line it up with my newsletter on top. Here's my code I have now that doesn't work: In css: a .srbanner { padding-left: 5px; } In sidebar.php: <a href="link URL" target=_blank><img class="srbanner" src="URL with jpg" alt=""></a>

Please forgive for a rookie question. I haven't been doing much CSS stuff in the past year. I really am not sure how to target my banner in CSS? Website is navigate into joy dot com I want to position the web banner better, but I'm not sure how to target it, when writing CSS code. Help is much appreciated!

Thank you! I think I have another like 10 years to go before I have this stuff down lol

I have a question about PHP videos on Killersites University and I figured I would ask in the forum, so that others can read about it too. I finished basic PHP videos and now I'm wondering which PHP videos to watch next? I mean, what order to watch them in, like in the order that they appear on the site? Also, my ultimate goal right now is to design my own Wordpress theme and I've been told that it's helpful to know PHP in order to tweak Wordpress themes. How much PHP should I learn before moving on to my project with Wordpress? Thank you!!

Just to let you know, I chose to subscribe because well, I was interested in different types of videos.

Ant, I'm a beginner, so I just wanted to pop in and say I love your design and you can tell, that you know what you are doing there. Web Design is partly about creating the design, you know, so I'm sure you could help beginners like me with the design end of things. Oh, and I'll let experts comment on your code though Oh and just curious, did you make a Photoshop mock-up before you started?

Thanks for playing everyone. LSW: I will explore web design student blog idea. I just don't want to be stuck being a student forever. It seems a bit contradictory, like what I really want to do is to have clients, who take me for a professional, and on the other hand, I'm still learning and still a student, and will be for a while probably, but I do want some clients along the way too. Yes, I agree a nice intelligent blog would be nice, where I write articles, that move people, not just about my daily adventures into how it took me a few hours to get PHP running and how I spend 1/3 of my day changing diapers. DrPPC: That's a very good point. Whatever I choose must have a heart and a passion for me. Andrea: You are right. I don't doubt that I want to learn WordPress, but I don't need to set up an actual live site or a site with any kind of meaningful content, in order to learn it. So I guess, then I need to figure out if I want a blog. I guess what I was asking was really this: Would a blog help me to learn WordPress better than just playing around with it? And also, would my own blog help me to get clients, even though I don't have a portfolio to show off yet? There is another question hiding in there too, and that is, do I want a blog for its own sake, not just for learning? I'm not asking anyone specific, but that clarified it for me. Kyle: I was just worried that my learning right now is not much of anything interesting, since it's so simple, like I started with PHP a few days ago, but I don't feel like I would have much to report on it right now ha ha I'm just watching Lyn da.com video and following along, not that exciting! I'm enjoying it, but somehow I don't think that web development is something I'm strong at or something I could be great at. I think I could become good enough. I love CSS, on the other hand, but that's probably because it's so tied into the visual design and lay-out of the site. That was a long side note.

So I don't really have a portfolio yet. I don't even have a logo, even though I did make one, I don't like it enough to use. With all of that said, what is there for a brand new beginning web designer without clients to do??? I have a friend (sort of non-paying client ), who wants to be able to manage her site easily and so I offered to integrate CMS into it, and decided on WordPress because I read it's easiest for people without technical experience. I also have another personal project for a social site, that I'd really like to do, but it seems too complex for my skill level at the moment. So to practice, I figured I would make a WordPress blog, except I'm stumped on what topic I want to write on. I don't want just a generic personal blog, as that sounds way too boring. Any ideas? So primary goal is to learn WordPress and making or at least customizing themes. This is just for fun, so if you want to play along, I would love any fun and creative suggestions. Some of my ideas so far: Blog about being a web design student Blog about dreams (I'm interested in psychology, symbology and spirituality of dreams) ... Ha ha They say to blog about what you are an expert on, but I don't really feel I'm an expert on anything at the moment.

Yep, that's how I was understanding it too. It's definitely nice that it's inexpensive to subscribe for 3 months, but then if I stop subscribing, there won't be videos to reference. It's a toss-up

You have Complete Web Design and Complete Web Development available for purchase. Do you have access to this same content, when you subscribe to three months or a year membership? Maybe I didn't read carefully enough.

Stef, thanks for an encouraging video! I sometimes think I'm 27 and I'm getting into this way too old. I'm taking a programming class at a community college and there are plenty of really young guys, who know a heck of a lot more than I do. Also, there are so many options on the web now. For example, you can design a site in Photoshop and have it converted either to CSS or even WordPress blog. What do you think about those services? Also, there are WordPress themes all over the places, with some being free and some offering pretty nice packages and services. Anyway, just some of my thoughts on the subject. I got into this because I really wanted to find a way to be home with kids majority of the time, but of course just playing with this stuff is fun, as it offers a combination of creative and technical.

Thank you for those recommendations. I almost posted a separate thread about web design education, before I saw this. So do you recommend getting a college degree as well? Is there anything to certificates and getting certified? Is there some kind of common certification system?

Yes, Kyle, I really hope that for the sake of future web development, there will be actual web development and web design people teaching classes. In reality as it is right now, you can only expect so much from a community college though...I'm sure university is a little different, at least in some aspects. Can you imagine if someone will good web skills would actually sit down and develop a curriculum for a degree or a certificate?? That would be awesome. Does anyone know of good education programs? Are online classes or certifications any good?

Actually, I was saying that rather than a smooth educational experience, it was several different disjoined classes. In Graphic Design class, we didn't cover web site design, just basic design concepts, which was totally cool on its own, of course. Then in Dreamweaver, we covered how to build pages, but it was all technical software stuff, not actually making nice looking websites. In HTML class, we covered (I must say really outdated) HTML, although I studied more current CSS practices on my own, but our class was taught by a math teacher. I guess what I mean is I wish there was an in-between class, where we would have an actual experienced web designer, showing us how to take a project from beginning to end. For example, in my Dreamweaver class, it would be nice to cover some of the design aspects of it too. I did Photoshop class, but it really was very non specific intro to Photoshop, not in any way applying it to the Web. In short they took a few classes and called them Web Design Certificate. You are very kind, thank you!

Yes, that's very true. I guess my question was how do I go about best developing my skills? It's true, there are lots of directions to go from here. I think I'll concentrate on a few projects I have in front of me now and also go see if I can find some local help to keep learning this stuff. Then I'll look around and see if I can find options for a degree either in computers or graphic design. I have a feeling I would prefer to go the graphic design route, but I would certainly love more technical knowledge too, although my java class makes my head spin. Thanks for your take on Wordpress and Joomla. I think I will go with Wordpress for my friend to make it as simple as possible, although I would prefer a more simple project with Wordpress for a start, instead of trying to create my own theme. I'll be learning PHP next, so that'll probably help with that. Thank you two for helping me think through this. Sometimes I think I think too much and would benefit better by working on projects

Kyle, I certainly agree that a college degree would be much better. I'm considering doing that as well, when I find the right opportunity. It's just that this certificate was $35 per semester (with financial aid) and the only university to go for a degree would be hour and a half away, so not yet practical for me, with two small kiddos. Kyle, thanks for confirming this for me. I thought about doing this as well, just figuring out the right way to approach someone to ask for mentoring help. You are lucky to have your boss and good luck with your studies I will take up on your offer for help for sure. Thank you!

Hello everyone. First, I'd like to introduce myself real quick, and then I have two questions. I'm getting a web design certificate from a local college, but it's so narrow in scope. While on my last class, I feel like I need someone to sit me down and show me what to do. I also tried a couple of books on my own. I find I'm not that technical, while I do enjoy playing around with this stuff. My last class is Java, PHP and Flash and I'm supposed to finish up my Java midterm this week, and then on to PHP next week. I mostly learned to use Dreamweaver, learning some CSS on my own. My question is where do I go next? Do I find myself a mentor and if so, how? I wished so many times I knew someone who has been through this stuff and would show me how to do certain things..I somehow didn't find that in my classes. For example, I feel like my Dreamweaver class just covered the software and my Graphic Design class covered design, but it was hard to put them together. My second question concerns this website I made for a friend: w ww.celestine center.com/ Any comments are, of course, welcome. It's the most basic version of it, that we wanted to launch quickly, and my intention has always been creating a more appealing design for it. Now, it was right before having my second baby and I got really busy with him. My friend wants to be able to update her website on her own and I want her to do so too. She is very nontechnical. So I started thinking just a couple of days ago about using CMS, maybe Wordpress or Joomla. I have no experience, but I feel like from what I read that would be a good choice for her. So my second question is do you recommend any particular CMS? Seems like Wordpress would be the simplest one for her to edit, but I'm a bit afraid I won't be able to customize the look of it the way she wants? She and I both like very feminine circular design, if you know what I mean. Just look at her logo. I also don't want overcommercialized look for her. Could I do that in Wordpress? I appreciate any input, thanks! P.S. Just read the thread about spam and added spaces in website address