Will these lessons work for me?

Since I have loads of free time on my hands I decided to go back to school...

I just signed up for a 4-month course of web design. It consists of 4 basic themes:

Freehand
Fireworks
Flash
Dreamweaver.


What do you think? Do they sound useful for a webmaster?

 

Are they gonna teach you HTML?

 

Do a lot of people use Freehand?

All of those other topics seem useful. I guess it all depends on your skill level with those programs.

 

Personally, I'd focus more along the lines of php/mysql/html/css etc.

 

I agree, Infiniterb, but remember that I live in Mexico and people over here don't know what php is.

I am good at SEO and managing a site, but I have a very basic idea of webdesign, so I am trying to learn all I can. This might be a nice start, but, as Rob says, I don't know if people still use Freehand... this is a weird course that is based only on Macromedia products.

 

Its all easy stuff.. you should learn it yourself if you have time.. you get your own style and not some crap they teach you in school. But its your choice.. Id go with PHP as well because it will cover basic HTML as well... and PHP is for your own use, its not like you have to become a designer.

 

The dreamweaver part comes with lessons about CSS and HTML, so that is the one I am really interested in.

I can't learn something from a book because I suffer from ADD and reading a book would take me months. It is tough enough trying to concentrate in a classroom, but doing it with a book is almost impossible for me.

 

I feel the most importan part of any tool is to know what it is doing behind the scenes. Unless you know what happens to the code when you push a button, you may have missed a portion of the lesson. This is from a coding perspective.

Good luck!

 

Well, I have experimented a lot. I have a network of over 25 sites now, so I aren't exactly clueless, but I want to learn as much as I can.

Next step is learning PHP, if I find somewhere to do it; seems that I will have to go learn it in another country because here it is an unknown subject.

 

"another country" ? You are already in them all "the internet".
PHP on it's own ? PHP/MYSQL has real power.

To learn PHP/MYSQL I would recomend you set up your own server at home to play/learn/test on.
An Apache/php/mysql package for windows or better still install a Linux distro like SuSE professional to work with, every thing is inluded.

A few good books, your own server, the internet, some time and your there.

Note: I live on an island and have yet to meet (in person) any one else that can write PHP

 

Being on topic, can any of the PHP geeks recommend some books ? [ Preferrably simple language & cover mysql usage ]

I want to learn PHP.

Regards,
Tuning

 

I worked through THIS ONE a few years ago. it's very good.

 

Thanks CR.

I think it is available in my local book store. [ bookmarked ]

Regards,
Tuning

 

i myself learned html in year 98 ... just to show off to my school mates that i can make a website .. and after 7 years .. i can still remember the code .. and that helps me alot for my website development .. and i learn dreamweaver myself ..

I think learning dreamweaver will help you in online marketing .. and also some PS or PSP skills .. Flash is just too hard for me I would pay some1 to do it for me

 

On Zend.com you can purchase online quality training.

I've never heard of Freehand yet run several highly profitable websites. Never use the other 3 either.

I'd recommend HTML+PHP+(My)SQL+XML if you want to learn about building good usable content and services that will last you a lifetime.

 

Take your pick http://www.php.net/books.php some are better than others.

Almost everything you need to know about php/mysql can be found by looking around on

http://www.php.net and http://www.mysql.com/

 

What he said.

 

I'm home-grown on 'the PHP Bible' which handles both PHP as well as MySQL.

 

Great! Thanks mushroom.

I will start with dummies then move on to advanced ones.