I’ve often been asked, “Hey Jim, What kind of obstacles did you have to tackle, and how did you solve them when you first started out designing web pages?” or “How does one get started designing web pages for a living?” While both these questions are good, and completely fair I’ve yet to answer either in a fair or good manner. My usual response has always been “Uh, just start reading and doing it.” A–I’m too busy to answer–cop out. To those I’ve left pondering with this menial answer; I sincerely apologize and now offer to you a real answer, hopefully a helpful answer, maybe even–dare I say it–a good answer.

We really should start at the beginning.

When I first started out it was late 2000 the internet was quite different then. CSS was not new, but it was not in widespread use and it was definitely not widely understood. Daily developers were still using HTML 3 and moving towards 4. xHTML was also not new but not widely celebrated or used. Animated gif’s were still being used, as well as the font tag and who’d ever heard of self-closing tags? What was starting to climb the trend ladder however was Flash, Flash was the ticket. Now don’t get me wrong, there were people making strides and changing the face of the internet and web development but they were in the shadows and behind the scenes, and they certainly weren’t sharing the information they had. Not like today, where we are all sharing with each other in another giant step to make the internet and web development better.

In 2000, I got a copy of Dreamweaver 4, Flash 4 then 5 and Photoshop 5.5. I just started reading online documentation, checking out books from the library and–in the case of Photoshop–following some online tutorials. I would then start experimenting, I just completely immersed my self in the craft, I’d fallen in love, and I was going to be the best lover design had ever had. I got a job shortly thereafter working for a local web design company in Sedona Arizona, although most of my time was spent answering customer service calls for my bosses other business, I did get to put some quality time into doing some real web design work for real clients. I was able to learn a lot of flash techniques and got fairly good with the software, but I always felt it was lacking something.

I launched my first web-site in April 2001. leihu.com was going to be my online portfolio and experimentation web-site, the first 7 versions were done entirely in flash, this was partly because I knew what I was doing with flash and partly because the resources for html design were in short supply and the ones that did exist were not very forth coming with how to, but more like home comes.

When I wasn’t at work I was on the computer honing my skills and learning how to use the programs better. I literally did nothing else, nothing. Web design and development became my one and only desire and my sole hobby and spare time drainer. I practiced, experimented and tried everything in every menu in all the software I had, seeing what did what, what went where, and how it all came together. Eventually I graduated to Photoshop 6 then 7, my skills continually improving and growing. I stopped using Flash altogether as I began to learn xHTML and CSS and found it so much more fulfilling and useable. I dropped Dreamweaver in favor of editplus long before I dropped Flash or upgraded to Photoshop 6, I needed something I could control the output of, I had gotten to a point where hand coding was necessary in order to make the web pages work the way I intended. Dreamweaver 4 and other WYSIWYG’s like to add extra bits and bobbles to the source without indicating it in the design view, leading to some rather large headaches. My main advice about software is this. Choose a good graphics software, the best you can afford. Choose a good text editor with syntax highlighting. And choose a good FTP program for uploading to live servers. Learn these programs in and out; they are important to the day to day. Once you have the program basics down start experimenting with advanced features and techniques. Learning the software is the most important part of web design. It will increase your quality, technique, and productivity.

I spent 3 full years teaching myself web design and development before I even considered opening a full time business, I tried to get work in the industry, unfortunately I entered into web design right around the aftermath of the dot com bust and a lot of designers jobs were teetering on the edge, and most companies were not hiring, or afraid to hire, regardless of your portfolio or skill set. I continued on doing web design in my spare time in between working crappy menial labor jobs in the auto industry. I never gave up the dream; I never wavered in my passion to do it for a living. From the time I created my first web site until today I have not once thought I should be doing anything else with my life. I knew from the first opening html tag that I’d found my purpose. In the end all my hard work and dedication paid off ten fold, and continues today.

That’s when the real work and test of dedication comes. When I started Onelotus Creative it was very difficult at first. I had to sacrifice a great deal to make it happen. One of the things I needed to learn was; client’s needs come before my own. As an artist I am naturally selfish and thinned skinned about my artwork, as it pours not from my hands and head as many believe, but from my heart and soul. This makes it very hard to be objective and understand that what sounds like a personal attack is really only a general statement by someone who doesn’t understand the bond of artist to art. It’s really the same as mother to child. Your art is part of you; you’ve nurtured it, loved it and then you have to let it go. This was a major discovery for me, I had to quickly adapt my business strategy.

Another rough obstacle was placing real value on my work and sticking to it. You have to price your work accordingly, or you’re ripping yourself off. It’s difficult with web design as it exists in two worlds; the art world and the business world. Putting a price on art is difficult as it has a different value to everyone. But with business you have to price your inventory according to industry standards and for optimal customer satisfaction, if you don’t, you appear unprofessional and flaky, customers do not like those qualities.

Another thing I was unprepared for was the mountains of paperwork and legal aspects of being self employed; it’s a far cry from being an employee. If you’re going to go out on your own and start a business, make sure you get a business license, register your business name, get a DBA business account with your bank, find a reputable accountant and have business cards created and printed. These are all things I neglected/didn’t know about until my second year of business, and “get business cards” is still on my list of to-do’s. The headaches I would have saved having done these things in advance would have been worth the extra initial expenses. Especially when you clear fifty thousand your first year, hello taxman!

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when you’re first starting out is; it may not work, it may fail, you may fail. You need to have a back up plan. Web design is not something anyone with a computer and some software can do. It takes patience, dedication, talent, imagination and above all else practice. You need to want to be a web designer with all your being, just thinking it’s a cool job is not enough; you have to literally live the work and work to live. If the desire’s in you, and you have the talent and independent drive (because no one is going to tell you what to do and when to do it) you may be able to make it work.

If you guys have any specific questions on how to do any of the things I loosely discussed here please don’t hesitate to ask, I am always willing to help lend a hand to my web-dev brethren.

Also here’s some very helpful links for getting started in web design and development;

xHTML/CSS Learning Resources
Accessibility Learning Resources
MSIE CSS Bugs
Search Engine Optimization Articles
Good Graphics and Design Software
Indispensable

I am going to end this article with a little paraphrased lyric by Tenacious D as I think it really fits here;

Cosmic Shame
Copyright Tenacious D

So, um…

If I was just gonna say one thing to y’all tonight…
I’d say, set the artist free.
I’m talking about this artist in here, set it free.
I’m saying, quit your day job.
Now, I know a lot of you people here, you’re saying,
“I can’t quit my day job. I’ve got kids to feed, Jack.”
Quit your day job.

Focus on your craft, one time, before it’s all over,
you’ve died, you’ve squandered it.
You frackin’ robots!

Now after a couple years of you focusing earnestly on your craft,
K.G. and I will swoop in, we will check out your progress,
and we will encourage you to continue!
Or we will say stop.
And then seriously, you must stop,
Or penalties will be created and enforced.

Cause listen…
This is the problem…

Sometimes you follow your heart,
sometimes your heart cuts a fart.
That’s the cosmic shame.