Expert: LizaL - 6/25/2005

Question
Hello Lizal,
I have good expertise in photo retoutching ,
restoration and coloring, I have made alot of publications and now I will launch out into web design and all my expertise is in  printing out,
so, would you please telling me the steps to be web graphic designer from A to Z ? and I will be very grateful for helping me..

regards.....

Using the following programs:
1- photoshop 7 ----> very good
2- freehand 10 ----> good
3- coreldraw 11 ---> good  

Answer
Hi Loli,

Your background sounds somewhat similar to mine, in that you've worked heavily in print design, and are now moving to Web design, because that's what I did. It's a big jump! You'll find that your mindset needs to change quite a bit, when going into Web work, as well as your work habits.

There really isn't an "A to Z" guide for moving from print to Web -- although it'd be easier if there were! But I can tell you some of the things I had to do, and the changes I had to make in my thinking and my work habits that helped me move from print to Web.


-- Your workflow will change. For instance, you could edit one of your retouched photos in Photoshop, and instead of submitting it for print publication, you might use Photoshop's Save for Web feature to optimize it for use on the Web.

Then you could either hand-code your HTML page, or use an HTML editor like Dreamweaver, to put that edited picture into a page, and then publish the page on the Web. Macromedia sells Dreamweaver; however, not long ago Adobe purchased Macromedia, so that program might change some in the future. Anyway, here's the current link for Dreamweaver:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/dreamweaver/?promoid=BINR

You can download a trial version from this site, and check it out, if you like. There are also tutorials that go with the trial version that are very good.

Also, to be fair, I should include Adobe's HTML editor, GoLive:
http://www.adobe.com/products/golive/main.html



-- You'll want to learn some basic HTML -- and then advance from there as your needs grow. Even if you plan to use an editor like Dreamweaver, you still should know HTML.

Here's a good tutorial on basic HTML:
http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/Guide/


-- You'll need a program for uploading your HTML pages to the Web. Dreamweaver can do this, but you can also purchase standalone products like Fetch for the Mac, and CuteFTP for the PC:
http://fetchsoftworks.com/
http://cuteftp.com/products/ftp_clients.asp

And it goes without saying that you'll need to purchase Web space in order to have a Web site; there are literally hundreds of Web hosts out there today, and just off the top of my head, I'd recommend GoDaddy:
http://www.godaddy.com/

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Here are some resources for learning about Web design, when you've had a print design background:

1. This article is about file formats for the Web:
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,321652,00.html

2. Frequently asked questions for newcomers to Web design:
http://www.boutell.com/newfaq/

3. This is a good site for people who work both in print and on the Web:
http://www.creativepro.com/front/home

4. Web Monkey has a lot of good tutorials on HTML, design, multimedia, etc.:
http://webmonkey.wired.com/webmonkey/authoring/html_basics/

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Here are some of the biggest issues I felt I had to deal with when moving to Web work:

1. Layers
If you've worked for publications, you're probably familiar with the concept of bringing graphics into page layout programs. Much of the time this work is made easier by putting things into different layers -- and of course, the programs you mentioned that you work with all have layering capability.

However, when you get into doing work for the Web, get rid of that mindset! When you design in HTML, you won't be working in layers. You'll be creating tables with cells, and these things coexist side-by-side, and top-to-bottom of each other, but not in layers. I don't know about you, but for me this took some getting used to!

2. CMYK vs. RGB
This is probably going to be easier for you to understand. When doing work on the Web, you'll nearly always use RGB for your color model, as opposed to CMYK for print.

3. Graphics formats
You know how you can so easily use TIFF or EPS for a graphic that might appear in a magazine? Well, on the Web, that graphic you created in Freehand or CorelDraw will be in GIF format -- and photographs need to be saved as JPEGs.

4. Audience
When you design for a magazine, you know ahead of time who your audience is. So you can effectively gear your design plans to that specific group of people. With the internet, your audience is the whole world! And there's no control over the computers everyone's using, or the browsers, or the operating systems.

Until (and if) there is ever total compability between browsers and platforms, there is no guarantee that what you see on the Web pages you design on your computer will match what I might see here in North Carolina. So you need to test on many platforms, and with as many computers as you can.

You can go to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to learn more about what's being done to make things more compatible:
http://www.w3.org/Consortium/

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So while I don't think there's an actual recipe for going from A to Z in becoming a Web designer, I would suggest these things:

1. Learning basic HTML
2. Learning how to use an HTML editor like Dreamweaver
3. Learning about how color, pictures and graphics behave on the Web as opposed to print
4. Learning how to optimize your work for the Web -- that is, using the specialized saving functions such as Save for Web in Photoshop -- that will keep your file sizes small
5. Learning to test, test, test -- once you've uploaded something to the Web.

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All that said, if you would like to discuss this further, and maybe pick one of these issues to talk about, please post back, or email me at lizal_ae@hotmail.com (my work email is broken!!).

Also, you can feel free to send me any picture you have, or graphic, if you have questions as to how it could be used on the Web, or how you set it up for the Web.

I hope this helps! Please post back if you need clarification or want to discuss it further.

Take it from me, going from print to Web isn't as simple as it sounds or looks, but it can be done. Right now the Web's my favorite place, as opposed to print design.

Lisa