Qualifications

There is no straight-forward way to become a web-designer, you do not necessarily need any formal training or qualifications, and people come to it through a variety of routes. You might be a self-taught designer and programmer, you might come to it from a BTEC or HNC course in creative media, multimedia design, digital media development, web design and development or interactive computing, or you might come through a degree course such as graphic design, illustration, games design, creative media, advertising or computing. Although formal training is not a pre-requisite, most designers do have some formal training - 29,500 people are in web development in the UK and of these 80% has a degree; 36% of which are media related. (https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk)

Knowledge

One of the key things you will need is knowledge – both of the industry and of design. Start off by studying successful and not so successful websites – take note of what works and what doesn’t.  Take note of the way content and menu areas are laid out. This knowledge will help you when you come to design your own websites.

You will also need to know how to use html and how to create web pages in a variety of codes. There are many programs that it might be useful for you to know how to use, and these include: Flash, Adobe Photoshop, CSS, Javascript, PHP, MySQL, Net, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Dreamweaver, Joomla and GIMP.

Read some books on web-design such as ‘Bullet Proof Web Design’ by Dan Cedarholme, ‘Web Design in Easy Steps’ by Sean McManus, or ‘Designing with Web Standards’ by Jeffrey Zeldmann. Books such as this can help you understand the process and principles of design, as well as guiding you towards which program to start with. There are also many step-by-step guides on how to design for the web available on the Internet (there are even videos on YouTube).

Experience

The other key attribute to a web-design career is experience. You will need to have a portfolio of sites that you have worked on. You can present these to potential clients in the form of a CD, DVD or by sending the client links to your live Internet sites. When you are starting out it is good to offer to make sites for your college, friends, or for local charities to help build up a solid base for your portfolio. The bigger the range of live sites you can show potential employers, the better your chances of scoring that client or job.

Networking

This may sound odd but networking is vital to the creative web-designer. Many designers are freelance, working for a variety of clients – ranging from sole traders to large corporations. Even if your ultimate aim is to become a web-design specialist working for one company – networking can open doors and lead you to the best web and graphic design jobs. Building online friendships and joining internet forums can also be useful to the web-designer. Internet contacts can help you to test web-sites, solve problems and even pass on work.

Versatility

The last attribute a web designer needs is versatility. Versatility is vital in the design world: software and technology is constantly changing and evolving, and it is important to keep abreast of advances being made in the web-design world, or you might get left behind. You can keep up to date with the latest developments by subscribing to magazines such as .net.

For further information on careers in the web-design industry go to: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/planning/jobprofiles/Pages/webdesigner.aspx

If you’re in the hospitality industry a well designed website is key. This is your calling card, it’s the first port of call for any customers considering coming your way. The website has to successfully get across to potential customers the ambience and values of your eatery along with any information they’re after.

So it’s unfortunate that so many websites for those in the hospitality industry aren’t doing the job that they need to.

Put the information customers need at the front

Many restaurant websites, even the ones that have used high end designers to get the look they want, simply aren’t very good at giving visitors the information they came looking for. They will include flashy looking animations, quotes from good reviews, and photos of people enjoying a meal there, where what the customer wants to see is a menu, opening times and directions.

Format the site in an accessible way

Even when the menu is present on the website, there are a multitude of ways restaurants get this wrong. Some simply scan their print menu and have it present on the website as an image. This takes longer to load, and makes life harder for customers who want to, for instance, copy and paste details from the menu to send in an email.

Other websites include the menu as a PDF, which causes visitors the hassle of seeing the adobe reader launch when they click on the link, and can also be difficult to navigate around. This is especially true when your customers are viewing your site on their phones.

This is something that’s likely to happen, since people often start looking for somewhere to eat when they’re on the move.

Your menu should simply be another page of your website, formatted so that it can be viewed on as many different sizes of screen as possible.

Make it look good

When people come to your website, they have probably arrived hungry. This is something that you can exploit to make money. Yes, give them the information they need, quickly and easily. But there’s no reason why that information can’t appear directly next to or underneath a photo of your chef’s special under flattering lighting.