Advice Needed

hi guys
how r u
thanks for such a wonderfull community
well i just had a quick question
i have always been fascinated with web developement and was willing to start my own business
if u guys could point out certain basic software packages that i need to be well conversant with so that i cud be a professional web designer
thanks in advance guys
Cheers!!!1
aman

Hi aman, first of all welcome to Webforumz! You don't need a whole lot in terms of software packages to get started. I assume you will be handcoding your sites? Are you already familiar with using (x)html and css? If so, you just need something like notepad to code it in. If you want something with a few more features, there are several choices and people have their own favourites - I use Text Wrangler which is free to download, but quite a few on here use Dreamweaver (in code view of course!), but there are many others.

Aside from that you'll need something for graphics if you haven't got that already, I use Photoshop as do many others, I have also seen Fireworks recommended a fair bit on here. Or you can download Gimp for free - I had a few problems with Gimp myself when I used it, but I know there are some on here who get on well with it.

That's all you really need to get started - somewhere to write your code and somewhere to create/edit graphics.

But first you have to learn and understand it. If you have never done this before you have alot to learn. Some programs as Vanessa suggested can help, but you need to start with the basics....HTML and CSS. Check the stickies in the Beginners section of the forum. Good luck!!

As all have suggested start with HTML, Photoshop and Dreamweaver; then learn PHP/javascripts for making more dynamic sites.
One and only best site to start with is " http://www.w3schools.com/ "
All the best...

Hi,

I started off the graphical aspect of web design using www.gimp.org.

regards

p shah - www.dcpweb.co.uk