If you are truly interested in web designing you should possess a sound background in a technical field. Web designers are responsible for everything from designing the way a website looks to incorporating such things as ecommerce, SEO, animation, advertising and interactive applications. A web designer ensures that the website is optimized fully.
There are several types of web designers ranging from a multimedia web designer and a web developer to a website architect. Many website designers work independently on either a part or a full time basis. The salary depends on how wide the designer's knowledge base is and what a client wants done. A web designer who has search engine optimization experience and who has animation experience earn the most money.
If you are interested in getting started as a web designer, you can take a few steps to jumpstart your career in this field. The internet is constantly changing and growing. There are new technologies, techniques and standards developed daily that make websites more user friendly and much more functional. If you are interested in web design, you must learn new skills on a regular and on-going basis.
The competition is tough in the web design world but if you prepare yourself well, you could get going in this ever-growing field in a matter of months. You should purchase a great vector graphics editor as the easiest way to understand graphic design is to make images with a vector graphics editor. Adobe Illustrator is one of the best.
Check the competition to see how other web designers are working to create sites. Check the content area and menu of the site to see how great pages are laid out. You must also learn XHTML and CSS as most websites are written in these two languages. XHTML and CSS control how a website looks but neither of those two languages covers the programming aspects of a site. JavaScript is a solid introduction to programming a site as JavaScript handle the client-side of the programming and it will teach you the basic concepts that you will need to go further and learn the server-side scripting using PHP.
A great way to get a jumpstart on a web design career is to learn from other web designers. There are a lot of websites dedicated to web design where designers discuss the trade and share ideas with one another. Join forums and get involved with the community. You can learn invaluable information that will get you on the road to becoming a successful web designer quickly. There is always web design work available if you educate yourself properly in the field of web design.