How to switch from Web Designer to Front End Developer/ Web Developer?

Question

I want to Switch from Web Designer to Front End Developer or web developer PHP, which skill should I get , Is it Easy to switch from Designer to Developer. I have two years Exp. in Web Designing. Please suggest.

Or should i stick to the Designing what is the Next BIG thing for Designer after DIV layout.

My Current Roles Conversion PSD to HTML, fixing Bugs in Different Browsers , Strong knowledge of HTML and CSS. I want to Go with the Open source Programming like PHP and MySQL

Answer 1

Some basic requirement:

1. Need to have strong aptitude
2. Understand the basics of programming in any language. (C/C++ will be good option to start)
3. For web development, you should be good in html and javascript along with the backend (PHP, ASP.NET etc.)

Answer 2

On the design side you could learn Flash or Silverlight. UX and UI design are hot right now.

On the programming side, are you good at client side programming? JavaScript AJAX etc.

Answer 3

@wazdesign, I didn't come from a design background like you, but I found my niche in Front-End Web Development none-the-less. I started with Standards-based HTML and CSS and then started working back in the day on the Views and Helper functions in MVC frameworks (with a good team doing the controllers, models etc.) Ask a competent Web Developer to give you a basic web-server architecture and process demo. Understand how data from the DB gets onto your user's pages, and all the checkpoints the data goes thru on the way. Once you understand the principles, you can pretty much work with any technology after tooling up with the syntax.

I've listed some terms to research below that are tech-agnostic. I can't help you with the PHP side of things :)

Some books worth reading:

• The Design of Everyday things - Don Norman
• Don't make me think - Steve Krug
• Anything by Luke Wroblewski such as Web Form Design
• High Performance Websites (O'Reilly)

Some terms to research:

• Interaction Design
• MVC Frameworks
• Templating systems
• HTTP
• User Interface

Some tools to use:

• Firebug
• YSlow for Firebug

Answer 4

I think you're making a good move here. To me you're showing initiative that you want to grow and learn new things. My advice would be that you learn how to program first. The problem with a programming language like PHP is mostly that it is really accessible, meaning that it's is easy to pick-up, copy and paste some code etc. PHP is notorious for it's cut & past scripting mentality but in the hands of a good programmer it is just as good a programming language as any other programming language out there.

So, to avoid becoming a cut & paste PHP programmer learn how to program first. Learn about variables, functions, control statements, algorithms, Object Oriented programming, the technology of the web etc. I would recommend that you pick a book and start learning the basics first before diving in the deep end. This way you will lay a good foundation for yourself and you can avoid becoming a cut & paste programmer.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I moved from "Web Designer" to "User Experience / User Interface Designer" to "Application Architect". Each role built on the next fairly well and no direct programming knowledge was necessarily required, though I think my lack of programming skills as an Architect is not the norm.

I realize you asked about moving into a Developer role, but I thought I'd offer this as an alternative. The market for User Experience people seems to be strong right now, and it's likely that you already have many of the skills required - developing wireframes, designing application workflow, information architecture, etc.

Answer 6

Designer to developer

I've thought a lot about this and wrote an article about the designers mutating into developers for PerlBuzz that covers a lot of the necessary ground (albeit from a Perl the point of view).

The main issues are:

1. understand why separating: programming code, visual markup, and data is a good thing
2. learn a bit about MVC, frameworks and HTML templates
3. learn enough Unix (at least permissions and paths) to get by and understand the command line
4. try (say) a simple Ruby framework like Sinatra or Ramaze. Camping is great for learning MVC (everything in one small file) but lacks a definitive version at the moment
5. alternatively, spend a day getting the Python framework Django up and running - it's pretty hot at the moment, Python is a good first language, spares you the SQL, is under very active development, and the extensive documentation is all online
6. play with JQuery or another Javascript library for client-side goodness

PHP is fine when written well and good for learning how to construct HTML templates, and Symfony seems like a sound framework, but avoid starting off by hacking (say) WordPress or Joomla. You'll only learn... well, how to hack WordPress or Joomla, whereas the real leap is in learning to program.