Design Software for newbie

[michaels2008]

Hi guys,

I would like to learn how to design (like web pages). What design software should I use as a beginner? What is the difference between Photoshop and Illustrator? Thanks

[dlndesign]

Well to start off, look online and start poking around to see what you find out about your desired profession.

Many would say Dreamweaver, Go Live, After Effects and probably Flash. Just to start off. I am a graphic designer, and web design is kind of a different animal.

The difference between Illustrator and Photoshop. Illustrator is vector based, which means you can shrink it and enlarge it to any size and never loose quality.
Photoshop is a raster based program which allows you to manipulate photographs and do some really interesting stuff.

Hope that helps

David

[_Redrum]

I would say Photoshop to start with for sure.

One tip: Don't use Photoshop to 'create your design'. Create your design and then use Photoshop to make it a reality. A common mistake for beginners is to think that Photoshop is some magical tool that will make their design better...it's not.

Good luck

[Chung Dha]

Also try to lay of the filter some are amazing but some would make the design look very unprofessional.

Photoshop combined with Dreamweaver are very great to make a website. Designing the looks in Photoshop cutting it to your liking and export it do dreamweaver for final touches.

[Deathdart]

I'd say to start off with webdesign you should learn the basics of layout design (through books and practice), HTML, photoshop (for layout design and photo editing), dreamweaver (for web sites) and Illustrator (for icons, logos etc.)

You might consider investing in a course that teaches you these softwares along with some books on web design or layout design if you are interested in learning webdesign. Hope this helps

[Chung Dha]

buy monthly a computer Art mag and you be fine. Taking course are too expensive and wont learn more. Best search web tutorial that explain things even better.

[ASLAN]

if you are interested in building a real test environment for your self created websites you should have a look at xampp.
xampp is a combination and easy to install tool for apache webserver + mysql + php.
Most web provider use these technologies to run their websites, most dynamic/functional website are based on php scripts.
(CSS (style sheets) might be also interesting)

you can ignore xampp if you are interested in doing the graphics/screenshots/prototypes and want other people to do the integration.

In my opinion it doesnt hurt if you also get to know a bit about everything that works behind the creative surface.
You will also be better in explaining/defending your design in argumentations with technical non-designer people who have to realize/integrate your design in existing solutions.

[bluecherrygfx]

I would say Photoshop over Illustrator.

I use Illustrator exclusively, but 90%+ of my projects are print oriented, and the majority of those are logos, so vector is a must. I use Ill. for templates, but only b/c I don't have a huge need right now to get Photoshop.

There are TONS of Photoshop tutorials online and just as many tutorials on web design.

There are also many good books available on each subject.

[larsson]

If you are wanting to actually code websites, I would recommend beginning with HTML and CSS and hand coding. Dreamweaver is nice, but to me coding by hand is still the best.

[yellow_bagpack]

more advice.. don't rush to spend your money on Adobe cs3.. try to use previous version such as CS2.. i think there still a lot of those product everywhere including the tutorial too.. i'm sure you will enjoyed them as much as we do.

[Oedhel]

Photoshop... And Dreamweaver... My whole website is done on photoshop... I only use dreamweaver to plot the buttons and the links... I hate html...

[atondex]

You should try xara xtreme. It's not as expensive as Illustrator, and it's easy to learn. After you have learned the basics, and if you decide that you need more functions/effects, maybe try and buy Illustrator.

[snugbrimm]

yeah definitely photoshop is your best bet

[anjelik]

well to be honest,it needs a lot of time and some knowledge to build your web,but to tell you,if you want to start building you should have some experience with adobe programms as Illustrator-starting with creating logos,Photoshop,web layout,firework,slicing,flash for effects,and finally dreamweaver,well it can by in FrontPage or Golive too,up to you,but you need atleast essentials in those programms,or it will be very hard for you.
There are some other programms as Bluevoda and web site builder,they are saying its very easy to build web in these,but i havent tried those,i work with adobe prog.,i tried FrontPage and Dreamweaver

good luck,see some Lynda tutorials,that will provide some education for you

[DreamSky]

Hi michaels2008,
you have received some good advices already but here is mine anyway :

Leave Illustrator for now, you will not need it for web design so you can come back to it one day when you want to expand your skills to cover print design too.

You say that you are a beginner, so I would recommend you to start with Photoshop and ImageReady - they come hand in hand. Start with Adobe's official tutorials about how to use those two applications. They (Adobe's tutorials) are great for beginners: they will not bury you in excessive information and will certainly learn you how to use these programs.

Once you learn the basics of Photoshop and ImageReady, you can search for some advanced tutorials. Search for "Photoshop for the web" types of tutorials (in other words tutorials that specifically point they are intended for web designers). Unfortunately I can't recommend you some good ones since my interests are mainly in print design.

That's it - start reading and practicing. Good luck!

[D.signer.]

You should try xara xtreme. It's not as expensive as Illustrator, and it's easy to learn. After you have learned the basics, and if you decide that you need more functions/effects, maybe try and buy Illustrator.

Oh, another fan, Yep Xara Xtreme is certainly my choice.
I have the pro version 4, and now it has easy website outputs.
The pro version is still pretty expensive, but not expensive as
the other options. The non pro version is just a steal.