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Why do I want to get involved with web site design?

I know the basics of web site design as I hope is apparent by the presence of this web site. I didn’t say I was gifted in the craft, but I do hope to improve both from experience and from study. As I am sure you can deduce, I suffer from MS which, thankfully, does not impair my functioning too greatly at the moment and I still hold down a job as a VB Developer. I am fortunate in having a very understanding employer in IT Solutions who allow me to work from home the majority of the time. However, as with any job this could change at any time. I have an interest in web site design and through study hope to become a Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) which should bring prospects of future work which I can continue to do from home. This factor is important to me as I don’t believe my health would allow me to return to an office based job.

The nuts and bolts of web site design HTML, XHTML, Javascript and PERL are not too daunting to a seasoned programmer in other languages. However as an engineer, the aesthetics and look and feel of a web site are somewhat alien concepts. This is where I need to learn and improve. Colours, graphics, navigational niceties and of course search engine optimisation (SEO). The latter is, in my opinion, the major issue, as there is no point in being able to design the most wonderful looking web site, if nobody knows about it, or visits it.

Search Engines are strange creatures, and a law unto themselves. You have only just decided you know what makes them tick and seen your pages indexed and ranking well, and then the same pages start dropping out of the index for no apparent reason. Is it insufficient content? Is it lack of regular updates? or Is it just plain damned bad luck?

Anyway, I seem to have lost the plot here a bit and wandered off the track. It might be the MS or it might just be my age! I shall put up another page or two shortly to keep you abridged of the training course.

This page, and the rest of the site, uses CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) perhaps not to their full potential, but I discover more uses for them every day.

2 Aug 2006

Well I have re-assessed my position and unless I take a course in graphic design, I will never succeed as a Web Site Designer. It is a highly competitive field and the margins are tiny.

I have nearly completed the CIW course but, I have lost the motivation. The understanding employer, I mentioned above, went bust but I managed to secure some contract work with their sister company.

I still intend to dabble with Web Sites, but for my own amusement and perhaps a little pocket money.