[Closed] Getting to grips with HTML - any useful websites?

Try this one as well -

https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

Yep - that w3schools one is good.

Was going to suggest Code Academy...

HTML is relatively easy to learn. I guess the best way is to start with a page and just get stuck into it. Try and put something together of your own making. Go watch some videos on YouTube, then come back and improve it.

More important to a designer though, is the CSS. That's a bit more tricky these days. In fact front-end development can be a bit of a minefield with tools and languages changing all the time. It's constantly shifting, and the line between design and development can be a hazy one.

Don't let it put you off though. Learn some basic CSS3, get to grips with how it works. Maybe then, and only then, familiarise yourself with a framework Like Sass, or Less.

And if you're feeling confident by then, check out some Javascript. Maybe even a JS library or framework like jQuery or Angular.

As a designer though, the most important thing is to understand the possibilities and limitations of the technology you're designing for. You'll find endless reading on the web about Responsive Design and User Experience.

Edit: A good example of user experience and designing for the web is the submit button on here when submitting a post. You click it, and it does nothing. There's obviously javascript working away in the background, but no indication to the user that this is happening. This is the type of thing you may be designing for, and why it's somewhat important to understand the differences in the technology you're designing for (an HTML form post without JS would reload the page, which would be indicated in your browser)

Thanks a bunch chaps 😀

And if you’re feeling confident by then, check out some Javascript. Maybe even a JS library or framework like jQuery or Angular.

If you're going to learn Javascript with an eye to web development there's no "maybe" about it - you'll have to learn a framework. Nobody (outside of framework developers) uses pure Javascript for web work.

But that minor caveat aside butcher's advice is great - it's more about learning what you can do that actually doing it.

codecademy.com is great

However -

I'd strongly argue about your assumption that HTML is needed to be a graphic designer. About ten years ago there was a sort of trend towards this when the nebulous 'web designer' job title was floating around, however in recent times it's been proven time and time again that designers do better jobs designing, and developers do better jobs developing.

Any job role that is looking for a designer that codes is basically looking for a Unicorn.

I'd also argue that in recent times designer roles have specialised even more - now 'UI designer' is someone who designs strictly digital, for example. If someone today told me they were a graphic designer, I would assume they specialise in print and offline material (though I appreciate a lot of designers cross over) - I know someone who proudly labels herself a graphic designer as every other designer has moved over to UI so she's been able to put her rates up as no one else wants to touch print any more! Funny old world.

Myself - I'm a Product & UX Designer, I've seen job roles asking for CSS/front end skills, usually this is confusion over UX designers talents and roles and how they sit into a product team. Whilst I have a good understanding of technologies, frameworks, microservices, etc I don't ever touch code myself and nor would I want too - there's far more important decisions to be made on the strategy side that I get involved with 😉

TL;DR - Any job that requires you to need to know code to design doesn't know what they're after and they're hoping for a Unicorn. Stick to your craft.

Any job role that is looking for a designer that codes is basically looking for a Unicorn.

Yup, spot on. I commission website refreshes for some big brands with our brand managers - we have great designers / UX people and great code houses. You sometimes get both in the same company (often I'm forced to work between two though), but it won't be the same people (or teams).

I would slightly caveat that - smaller agencies probably have a bit more need for all hands to the pump and can be a decent way to get experience (good and bad) if you want to broaden your skills, but you should be a specialist once you start moving into bigger development works.

Any job role that is looking for a designer that codes is basically looking for a Unicorn.

Whilst fundamentally you you are not wrong, HTML is not code it’s a markup language, and CSS is also not code - it’s about style/layout so designers who can translate their designs into machine readable forms have real value.  Once you ask them to start writing JavaScript you are actually writing code and IMHO have crossed too far.

Its a good idea for a designer to understand the basics of html and css as it makes their design decisions more informed but in companies I have worked in, a developer and a designer have always been two distinct roles.

If your seeing jobs requiring you to be able to design and code then look at larger companies where they need the specialisms.

To answer your original post though, I have bought a few udemy.com video tutorials and been pretty impressed. There is always a sale or code and tend to buy when they are £10ish.

I converted from a recruitment consultant to a web developer so have gone through that career change.

Whilst fundamentally you you are not wrong, HTML is not code it’s a markup language, and CSS is also not code – it’s about style/layout so designers who can translate their designs into machine readable forms have real value.  Once you ask them to start writing JavaScript you are actually writing code and IMHO have crossed too far.

I agree - but as you said in reality no modern site would be without JS so for all for all intents and purposes you would need to get into that to have any real contribution to a product team - so you might as well not bother and focus on getting the design done.

As someone who works as a colourer inner and does web dev to, I would say it's useful to have a high level understanding of what the different technologies do (HTML, CSS, JS) , but you don't necessarily need to be able to write mark-up and scripts.

For example, it's good to know that you can design a layout that will adapt to different screen sizes, and then design a layout that will do that well, rather than being able to write all the CSS and HTML (and most likely JS) to actually make it work.

These are good reference that I use:

w3schools.com

css-tricks.com

stackoverflow.com