I am a back-end developer new new to web design. What are some good, online resources for getting started with web site design? Most of the available online site templates have been unsatisfying. Any help on where to get started would be appreciated.
Related
Are you talking internal to the enterprise, or a corporate grade customer facing web page?
If you're talking internal to the enterprise, simple and functional is usually preferred over anything fancy (the primary purpose is to serve information to the employees...doesn't really need to look pretty). Lay out the site using the corporate color scheme, make it simple and easy to use...and you should have a winner.
If you're talking a public facing external site, things get much more difficult. There are things like language tone, copy, asset consistency, etc. to worry about. If you're more familiar with the back end (like myself) it's usually a much better idea to get some help from a real designer (or if the company is large enough, a marketing/design firm). You'll spend much less time fighting yourself and learn a lot in the process.
For web design, the first thing you should get is a server. Then, once you get that and know quite some HTML, you should pick a server-side programming language depending on your needs.
I'd say PHP, ASP.NET, Java and Ruby are the most famous. Once you pick the language, finding online references for it should be easy.
I would suggest starting by learning CSS & HTML, which is what you'll need to put together websites at the bare minimum.
As for design, each designer often goes about this fairly differently. Some are trained at universities/colleges, others just sort of pick it up as they go. I'd suggest starting with some books on learning web design?
Here are a couple good resources to get you going ...
Good luck.
In my opinion here are the best resources:
I would take it slow, usually simplicity is the best route.
Pragmatic Programmers have an awesome book for you btw! (it's really good IMHO) http://www.pragprog.com/titles/bhgwad/web-design-for-developers
Your question is kind of broad, because web design in itself can be broken down into many smaller components: layout, typography, user experience, information architecture, graphical design, etc. It will be hard to find one single online resource or book that can teach you everything. Having said that I will list a number of resources that I would recommend, and hopefully together they will provide you with a good starting point.
Also, note that I am assuming you want information just about designing the website and not actually taking the design and breaking it up using CSS and HTML. If you want information on using CSS for layouts, semantic use of HTML, and so on, I can update this list to include those as well.
Sexy Web Design
Web Form Design
Grid Systems, Kimberly Elam