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Web Design on a Dollar a Day

Starting this week and running for the next few months, I’ll be publishing a series of articles that I hope to turn into a book titled Web Design on a Dollar a Day. This passionate little endeavor will be my attempt to give back to the community of web designers and site owners out there.

The premise behind this book is pretty simple. I’ll be putting together a series of web design/development projects and walking you through each one of them from conceptual start through to basic code and delivery. The difference here is that I’ll be starting with a tight budget of $365 for all the tools that we’ll need to build professionally design websites and applications. And that’s including web hosting and software.

Why $365? That part’s simple. To many would-be web jocks out there, a barrier to getting started is cost. Many people think that you have to drop thousands on software, hardware and hosting to be able to be a professional web designer/developer. I’m setting out to disprove that.

Personally, I think the market is rich with low cost alternative to the likes of Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver. Don’t get me wrong, I like Adobe and I’ve invested hundreds of dollars in them (and I am about to shell out more for upgrades to CS4), but for those of you just starting out, I’m telling you right now, spending hundreds of dollars isn’t necessary.

Before we get started: PC vs. Mac

Before we start another Windows vs. Mac flame war, I’m going to tell you one important fact. Having a Mac isn’t going to make you a better designer and having a Windows PC isn’t going to make you a better programmer. Marketing gimmicks aside, you can do just as good a job on a Windows PC as you can do on a Mac and vice versa. One of my aims is to choose the best tool for each platform.

I’ll be using a Mac (my platform of choice) for the examples in this book, but everything I do will work on both platforms equally.

I want to hear from you.

I want this project to be all about you and I want your feedback. Let me know if this has real impact and give me suggestions on how to make this information better. It’s as easy as replying to these posts.

Who is this book for?

This book is intended for anyone with interest in the wonder of designing and building for the web. My intent is not to teach you the basics. I’m not gonna even try. There are other good sources in print and on the web for learning HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Server-side languages like PHP or Ruby. I will, however, show you by example how to build various types or projects and share with you my process for completing a project from start to finish.

If you are a Web Designer…

… with a bit of experience, then I hope you’ll take away at least some insight as to how build professional sites and manage the projects using a variety of techniques and processes that have worked for me over the years. As a professional, I’m always on the look out for these nuggets of wisdom and I want to share my nuggets with you.

If you are just starting out…

… in the business of web design, I want you to use the information I’m presenting to learn good habits and skills. While I from time to time will get pretty down-and-dirty technical, there are concepts here which will make sense to designers of all skill levels. I want to help ignite your passion for learning and hopefully give you ideas on how you can take your skillset to the next level.

If you are a site owner…

… who wants to see the process of building professional websites from the vantage point of the web professional, then you’ll find some worthwhile info here. While my focus is the application of the web design/development process, I’ll be sharing some key concepts and buzz words which should help bridge the communications gap between you and your in-house/freelance web professional. Whether you’re looking to staff up for an upcoming project or you just want to see what goes on for yourself. My hope is that you’ll get more of an insight to the process we go through to build engaging web sites.

Coming soon to a browser near you.

In the next few weeks, we’ll discuss the tools we need to set up shop as a designer/developer. We’ll also talk about some key decisions to make before we can start taking on any projects.

So stay tuned…