There was a time when web design was actually relatively straight forward. They were designed to be viewed on screens, those screens were all roughly the same size and shape, and were accessed via machines that worked mostly the same way.

Over the last ten years that has changed, and it’s made the job of the web design that much harder. Now when you design a website it has to look just as good on a TV roughly the size of the view screen of the Enterprise bridge as it does on a pocket-sized phone interface. People need to be able to find their way around your site using a mouse, track pad, or simply a touch screen.

If a web designer is going to survive in an environment like that, they’re going to have to remember a number of important points:

Embrace Mobile Sites Fully
Don’t just test your site on the machine your design it on. As well as trying out various browsers and screen sizes, also check how it looks on different sizes of phone, possibly creating a separate design for mobile devices.

Pay Attention to Loading Times
How the site looks on a mobile device is only one thing you need to consider. You also need to take into account how quickly it will load up. Most professionals agree that no website should take longer than 10 seconds to load up on someone’s phone, but that is about the maximum amount of time you can get away with before people get bored and go elsewhere. You should be aiming for a site that loads in 5 seconds or less.

In-Site Search Should Offer Suggestions
If your site includes a search function it’s best to base it off an existing search engine, and where possible it should offer suggestions as people type search terms in. Even with the latest design and technology improvements, typing on a touch screen can be a pain, so if you can take some of that work away, site visitors will thank you for it.

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