Hi Janine,

I have been a graphics designer for the past 15 years or more (I quit counting), and I have never had the desire to do Web design or learn HTML until recently. The handwriting is on the wall and I want to put up my portfolio on the Web, etc. (for many reasons).

Getting to the point, I had talked with a friend who is very experienced in Web design and writing code. He knows what he is talking about and doesn’t make claims without explaining his reasoning. Recently, I contacted him to see if he would advise me about my site. I want to design my own site. My reason is, I don’t want a client of mine to ask me “who did your site” and my reply would be “he did” or “someone else.” I know NOTHING about HTML other than I get a knot in my stomach every time I think I need to learn it.

Here is the concern I have, and I’m not sure I believe him and this is why I am asking you. This person — I’ll call him an “HTML Purist” — said that Dreamweaver and all the Web site builder programs (he listed several but lumped them all into the same category) all BLOAT THE CODE. They work fine until something doesn’t work correctly, and then you are forced to re-do, or find the corrupted piece of code, fix it, etc. He said I was better off learning HTML because it would be easier compared to Dreamweaver. I don’t see it this way. If this were true, why would Dreamweaver be such great software to use? I don’t understand what he meant by saying “bloat the code.” He also said that these types of programs do not put in Meta tags and keywords in your pages as well as pure HTML code so the search engines have an easier time finding your site. He claims he has a way of building Web sites that search engines will find and list you on the first 10 finds most of the time. As I said before, I am a newbie about this and would love to hear some advice by an expert. I plan on wanting some Flash, cascading style sheets, possibly even some video, ALL that can be accomplished through DW.

I can learn software, and I suspect that clients will want me to build sites for them as well. I have turned down multiple requests over the years to my clients. I would like to be able to maintain any Web sites I build for my clients. My only concern is if something didn’t work correctly, I would be in an awkward position if I couldn’t provide the service of maintaining their sites.

I was going to post something like this on a forum, but I’m afraid all I would get in response is “what seems to be the problem.” I don’t know enough about it to even ask an intelligent question.

Please advise, and thanks for your honesty and time.

Ben

Hi Ben,

I understand your question well and have spoken with many graphics designers over the years who did not want to learn Web design, as well as to many ‘geeks’ who insisted that you have to learn HTML and be a purist to create a good Web site.

Here are a few thoughts to help you find the best path. First, I disagree with your friend about Dreamweaver. Because I am an instructor of the program, I’m sure you’re not surprised — but I’ll explain why.

Typing HTML is a tedious chore and one prone to typos and other errors that can ruin a good Web design. Dreamweaver is a carefully created program that is far better than most people at creating good code. And, on the rare occasion when I do need to fix something in the code, it is relatively easy to view the code in Dreamweaver (and even write code in Dreamweaver if you prefer to do it that way). Even then, you only have to learn a few things to create great pages in Dreamweaver, and as I explain in my videos, you can add Meta data and Alt text behind images and other things that are likely to help your search engine ranking. Dreamweaver is the best-selling program for Web design today for good reason. Your friend may prefer learning all those tedious tags and writing the code himself, but you are sure to be happier with Dreamweaver, which is not unlike InDesign in that it is a layout tool designed to help designers.

That said, there are many limitations in Web design that stem, not from the program you use, but from the fact that Web browsers do not always display Web pages the same way and there are many restrictions on how you can create a design that will look good on small and large monitors and all of the other variations on the Web. These things are likely to frustrate you, no matter how you create your pages, but rest assured, there are ways around some of the limitations and the power of the Web makes it all worthwhile.

You may be rolling your eyes at this point and still wishing you never had to learn HTML or anything like that, so here’s one last thing I will share with you. Although you can learn in my videos how to create a basic Web site, one that would surely serve you well for a portfolio of your work, to create sites for clients you’ll have to learn far more than HTML these days. The best Web sites today are created by a team of people, usually made up of a designer, an HTML/CSS coder, and then a hard core programmer who can write PHP or ASP.NET or some other advanced programming for database-driven dynamic sites.

If you’re a good designer, learning all that will not only be frustrating, it’s probably not worth your time, because again, the best sites are built by a team of people. Often the designer creates the look and feel of a site in Photoshop and then passes those designs on to the HTML person and/or programmer to develop the site. As a result, many graphics designers are now creating great Web page designs without having to learn all of the technical stuff.

So, my best advice today is that you learn the basics, including how to create at least a simple site in Dreamweaver so that you understand what is possible on the Web and where the limitations are. Then partner with an experienced Web programmer and work as a team — you create the design, they create the Web site from that design. It’s a common model and increasingly important because few people have the aptitude, or interest, in becoming both a great graphics designer and a programmer.

I hope that helps you find the best solution for your own site and for your clients.

All my best,
Janine

Still want more? Visit the Dreamweaver Help Center at www.DigitalFamily.com/dreamweaver to find Dreamweaver tips, tricks, and tutorials.