Re: Web Design

Cris <dream(at)nwlink.com> wrote:
[snip]
>What is important to know in the web design
>business? Should you stick to graphics and HTML or is it important to learn
>shockwave, DHTML, javascript, etc. What about HTML 4.0? Should I be
>learning that right now, or should I stick with HTML 3.2?


Well, to play devil's advocate (because I know that nobody else will say
this), I don't think you really need to know any of the above.

To create web pages, your most important skills are how to write, how to
create graphics, how to lay-out pages, how to structure hypertext, or some
combination thereof. The rest of it is unimportant.

Why do you need to know the nuts-and-bolts of HTML? If you were designing a
paper-based publication, would you learn the underlying file formats of
Word, or Quark, or whatever? I don't think so (although that stuff is kind
of interesting in its own right).

We have a huge number of GUI web authoring tools and site management tools
available to us. Purists will scoff at their handling of HTML (stand up and
be counted, Harold Driscoll!), but they do the job adequately and you need
zero knowledge of HTML to use them. There are no equivalent tools to hide a
deficit of writing/drawing/designing skill.


--
David Meadows [ Technical Writer | Information Developer ]
DNRC Minister for Littorasy * david(at)heroes.force9.co.uk
"Imagination is more important than knowledge"
   --Albert Einstein

HWG hwg-theory mailing list archives, maintained by Webmasters @ IWA