Designs on Web

The first time Web designer Jennifer Golbeck attended a workshop in the early days of the Internet, she knew she was wasting her time and money.

The leader of the one-day workshop, which was held in Chicago a decade ago, was a salesman who had no idea about the topic he was trying to teach, she says. The man read from a script to explain the steps of designing and posting a Web page.

“It was awful,” says Ms. Golbeck, adjunct professor of computer science at George Washington University in Northwest, adding that after the workshop, she decided to teach herself.

Today, Ms. Golbeck, who is in her last year of a doctoral program in computer science, would have had many more options to learn the material. For instance, she could have followed the step-by-step instructions offered in free online tutorials, such as those at Webmonkey.com, Webreference.com and Lynda.com or those found by keying in “HTML tutorial” on a search engine.

Freelance Web designer Alexis Turner taught herself online how to design Web pages.

“The Web is extremely self-reflexive, and Web site creators are obsessed with creating Web sites. So there are millions and millions of pages explaining exactly how it is done,” says Ms. Turner, who works out of her home office in Northwest. “You can get started without knowing HTML, though if you are serious about making good sites, it is really necessary to learn eventually.”

The basic standard coding for Web pages is HTML, or hypertext markup language, which is text marked with tags to indicate how it will show up on a Web page. HTML requires coding to be done by hand; software programs, also known as applications, translate typed information into code.

At the most basic level, text documents generated in a program such as Microsoft Word or Notepad can be saved as Web pages by hitting an option included in the program.

Composer programs, such as Netscape Composer (www. netscape.com) and Mozilla Composer (www.mozilla.org), offered free online, go a step further by providing several Web page features as if the coding were done by hand. The user can use composer programs to lay out a page in real time and see the text as it is written.

Professional-grade editing applications, such as Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dreamweaver, are sold to users and include more options and features than do the composer programs.

“You can create the Web page exactly as you want it to look on the screen,” says Jay Chandok, program manager for information technology programs at Georgetown University in Northwest. “A novice can use FrontPage to build, design and upload simple Web pages and whole Web sites without HTML experience.”

FrontPage guides the novice through menus and sample page designs and gives prompts to add text and graphics, Mr. Chandok says. More sophisticated Web pages can be created in HTML and JavaScript and enhanced with advanced Web design tools such as Dreamweaver, he says.

“They’re designed to let you graphically build a Web page and write very good HTML code as you’re working visually with it,” says Mitchell Turner, assistant department head for Web development and programming at ECPI College of Technology in Manassas, where he teaches Web development and programming classes.

Although these tutorials and applications provide instructions for Web design, users may have trouble putting together the information without assistance, says Deborah Solomon, professor of computer applications at Montgomery College. She teaches Web site and video game development courses to college students and adult learners in a hands-on format, allowing students to work through coding problems as she explains the material.

The students can make mistakes as they learn the material, Ms. Solomon says, adding, “A lot of the process is trial and error, figuring out what works.”

Web design courses are offered through community continuing-education programs in addition to colleges and community colleges. Fairfax County Public Schools Adult and Community Education, for example, offers several credit and noncredit courses on topics including HTML, Dreamweaver, Macromedia Flash, JavaScript and Adobe Photoshop in weekly sessions over three to eight weeks.

“They learn the software and how to use it, and integrate it with other pieces of software,” says Marilynn Borkowski, program specialist for computer training and technology.

Other options for learning Web design include reading computer magazines and books such as “HTML for Dummies” and taking workshops offered by independent companies focused on providing services or products associated with Web pages.

Editorial Experts Inc. (EEI) Communications, located in Alexandria and Silver Spring, is one such company that provides Web development and graphic-design workshops. The workshops, which last one to five days, are held at various sites as requested by government agencies, private companies and individuals.

“It’s fast-track,” says David Espy, national account manager of Sterling Ledet & Associates Inc., a Tucker, Ga., company that works with EEI Communications. “They can ramp up from 0 to 60. They can be professional in the application in a very short period of time.”

Joseph Robinson, director of training at EEI Communications, says adult learners can start working on a job assignment or project during the workshop.

“They walk away with something to use,” he says.

However, learning programming skills is not enough.

“You can learn the tools, but that doesn’t mean it will be well-designed,” says Robbie Namy, president of Circle Studio Inc., a graphics and Web design company based in Fairfax. “The things that are well-designed not only look better, but they are received better. What’s important stands out, and the message is clear.”

Design elements, such as use of color and balance and harmony of elements, are important for communicating that message, she says, as is keeping the end users in mind.

“You need to organize all of your content, so the user doesn’t go all over the page,” says Paras Kaul, coordinator of electronic publications and adjunct assistant professor in art and visual technology at George Mason University in Fairfax. “You need to have some worthwhile content. That’s not the technical aspect. Otherwise, it adds more junk to the Web.”