Monday, August 7, 2000		Career & Opportunities

Web designers: artists with a digital brush
By Sumesh Raizada

While content quality is very subjective, what makes all the difference for a Web site is its presentation. And none other than Web designers do this very important task. So one can safely say that Web designers are the backbone of the World Wide web. The growth of the Internet has opened up several new vistas and career opportunities

Normally people appreciate the world of Internet for its quality of information and contents. But looking beyond that, it is the presentation of information that makes all the difference for the World Wide Web.

Think of a situation where the biggest secrets of the world are written in simple and plain text and one has to read endless volumes of it. Honestly, only a handful of people would be able to read and make use of it, while a majority of others would not be able to continue with it for long. Similar is the case with the World Wide Web. The popularity of Web sites is gauged by two parameters — the quality of contents and presentation.

While content quality is very subjective, what makes all the difference for a Web site is its presentation. And none other than Web designers do this very important task. So one can safely say that Web designers are the backbone of World Wide Web.

The unprecedented growth of the Internet in the past few years has opened up several new vista and career opportunities. These unconventional careers, which were till a few years ago neither heard nor thought of by most of us, have become hotcakes in the information technology industry. With the opening of thousands of new Web sites every day, there has been a tremendous demand for the professionals providing Web-related services. The World Wide Web is now part of every body’s life; right from a jeweller to a junk dealer all are interested in having a presence on the Web.

What it takes to be a Web designer: Like the World Wide Web, Web designing is also a very big and endless field. Since this is an art rather than a science, there is no end to value addition, creativity and growth in this career. For the purpose of explaining this career, it has been divided in three parts.

Elementary level: Fortunately, like other important careers, Web designing does not require any hi-tech qualifications and degrees. It is basically an art rather than science. Therefore, it involves more of your personal capabilities and skills. However, you do need to learn the techniques and processes of Web designing, which is the technical part of this career.

Learning these skills is very important, because only then will you be able to apply your personal abilities. So the first part of Web designing as a career is to learn its techniques and processes. For this, there are several interactive "do it yourself" programmes in the form of books, videos, multimedia CDs, etc., which help a person in learning the intricacies of the World Wide Web. For example, many Internet sites like AOL or Geocities have their own online Web designing tutorials that help you create your own site. However, these things would be useful only if you already have the basic idea of computers, the Internet and the World Wide Web. Otherwise, it would be better to pursue a full-fledged course in Web designing from any reputed computer-training institute like NIIT, Aptech, Wintech, etc. These courses provide you the necessary insight into this career apart from the latest technologies and practices.

Selection of the best course would be another critical area where you need to take special care. Normally, all these institutes offer a comprehensive course that includes Web designing. If you are interested in learning computers in depth, then these courses may prove beneficial. Else, you could opt for selected capsules. The time frame for these capsules is very less and so is the fee associated with it. The duration of such capsule courses varies from two weeks to three months. However, comprehensive courses are designed for a time frame of 6 months onwards. So you must select a course that suits your requirement the most. It is very important that you take up projects along with your course to gain the practical experience.

Once you complete your course, you will be equipped to create a Web site all by yourself. But at this stage your creations would be of a primary level. Then would be the time for you to enter the next level.

Intermediate level: Once you are through with the basic concepts, it’s time for you to groom yourself as a professional Web designer.

At the elementary stage various programmes like Java, HTML, Javascript, Java applets, etc., are being introduced. At this stage you must acquire the advanced knowledge of all these and many other languages so as to be able to handle big projects.

The job of a Web designer does not end with the creation of a Web site. Rather, it gathers momentum once a Web site is created. It’s a matter of fact that most of the people and organisations who get their sites created are not professionals and, thus, they require the services of Web designers to update them and also carry out necessary changes that may take place from time to time.

At this stage, a professional Web designer is expected to be equipped with the latest in technology. Moreover, you will also be required to have expert knowledge of various software like Adobe PhotoShop, which is an excellent and versatile software for designing and special effects; Corel Draw; Macromedia; Adobe Illustrator; Adobe Premier; and a host of other software that find their application in Web designing and related areas.

The knowledge of these software will place you far above from the crowd. The knowledge of these add-ons to your skills is the key to your success as a professional Web designer. Now you enter the third stage, which we may call the final level.

Final Level: Now as you become a professional Web designer and possess the necessary knowledge and skills, you must develop a strategy for adapting new technologies and updating your knowledge as the world of information technology changes very fast. However, in order to fine-tune your skills, the following points could be considered.

A Web designer should be able to translate ideas into text and graphics in a most appealing and attractive manner. He should be capable of utilising the Web space in the most optimum manner. After all, a well-designed site makes the difference between success and failure. However, a well-designed site does not mean overdoing anything on your site. So, frames, background images, or graphics should not be overused. Too many graphics will bog down a page, too many frames will make it difficult to navigate, and too many graphics will just end up looking silly.

One should make an effort to keep a site fresh, especially if you want to get repeat visitors. If a site remains stagnant, people will stop visiting it over and over again. If there is always something new, people would often drop in. Keeping the site fresh also involves using the latest techniques on your site, which may help in keeping your visitors hooked to your site.

The Web makes it possible to control how your information is presented. Therefore, there is no reason not to do it efficiently. One should always split the information in logical sections and try to use colours, styles and fonts that complement each other. A word of caution – use of colours should be done very aesthetically as poor combinations may make your site look dull, despite the best contents.

Also, in an effort to add value to your site, avoid things that have been done a thousand times before, and are getting a little tiring. These include page counters, javascript text scrolling, page fading, page-under-construction signs, etc. If you really need a page counter, make it hidden. If your site gets a lot of traffic, a counter comes off as being arrogant, and if your site does not get good traffic, why do you want the whole world to know? Javascript scrolling and page fading have been done so many times, that they serve nothing more than showing a lack of originality.

Make sure that you follow all the HTML standards. Sometimes it seems like the extra work is an exercise in repetition, but remember that not everyone has the same browser as you do, and different browsers might interpret things differently. The more exactly you spell out the content, the better the browser will be able to display it. If you do decide to use browser-specific HTML attributes, make sure that your documents are fully backward compatible. Test your Website on many different computers.

Future prospects: Prospects for Web designers are extremely bright and it is truly a career of the 21st century. Even remuneration wise sky is the limit for Web designers. But as said earlier, one will have to aspire to be among the cream and not just part of the crowd. With the current wave of dot.coms becoming the lifestyle world over, the need for Web designers is likely to grow exponentially.