How to Learn Web Design Online

Web design skills are the skills that are used to build and maintain web pages, making them vital skills to possess in our increasingly interconnected world. If you’re starting to learn a new skill, you can find dozens of tips and resources online; learning web design is no different.If you’ve always wanted to learn web design, there are plenty of options at your fingertips. From free tutorials to live classes, your options are outlined here so you can decide how to learn in a way that works best for you. 

What is Web Design?

Web design is the process of creating and maintaining websites. It covers a wide range of topics, including web architecture, user experience, information architecture, and web development. The primary goal of web design is to create a website that is easy to use, informative, and visually appealing. The skill set required for web design is constantly evolving as new technologies and trends emerge. However, some core principles remain constant.

Web design is a process, not a product. The term “web design” refers to creating a website or the finished product itself. A Web Designer is someone who specializes in this process by using their creativity, technical skills, and experience to craft websites that meet the specific needs of their clients. This means that web design is not a one-time event but an ongoing process that should be regularly updated to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. 

Read more about what web design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Web Design?

As the name suggests, learning web design skills will teach you how to design, develop, and maintain web pages. This means that whatever you can do on the digital canvas of Web 2.0, you can learn to do with web design. You can learn to build professional working websites as a career path or build your own personal brand using elaborate WordPress designs. Students can build a digital CV to make themselves more attractive to employers, or they can launch a digital art project hoping to advocate for a cause that is important to them. Students can turn their passions into a business by building a digital marketplace to advertise their wares or get an idea off the ground with a rhetorically appealing pitch website. The sky's the limit for talented web designers.

Web design also covers a diverse field of specializations and skills so that individuals can create even more specific niches for themselves within the field. Programmers can enter a vibrant community of like-minded designers who iterate on and improve programming languages, making them more versatile and accessible to new users. Developers may find themselves specializing in a specific programming language for things like data science and SEO purposes. User Experience Designers will make web pages themselves more accessible and easy to navigate. Given the amount of time individuals spend online each day, there is no shortage of unique opportunities for skilled web design students.

Live Online Web Design Training

Some students may discover that they are unable to attend an in-person web design training course. They may not live near any that are being offered, or they may be unable to commute. For these students and students who prioritize the convenience of in-home learning, live online web design classes represent an ideal alternative. These courses are every bit as immersive and hands-on as their in-person counterparts, and students will still have the advantage of being able to interact with a live instructor who can provide them with assistance and feedback. The drawback to these courses is that because students won’t have access to a computer lab, they will need to supply their own hardware and software, which may not be a problem for students learning how to code, but might be an issue for students who are looking to learn aspects of web design that rely on paid applications, like visual design or 3D animation.

Noble offers all of its in-person classes through live online delivery, and students who enroll in these courses will get the same hands-on training and benefit from the perks of enrolling in a Noble course, such as small class sizes and free retakes within one year. These classes are an ideal place to receive professional web design training without having to leave the comfort of your personal workspace. Students should also consider the options available to them through other service providers, such as Udemy and Coursera.

Free Intro Courses & Tutorials

For students who are interested in learning web design skills but aren’t confident that they want to enroll in a professional training seminar, free online tutorials can be a great place to figure out if more advanced web design training is right. Noble Desktop offers students a selection of free online courses that are the perfect introduction to the tools and techniques they will learn in a web design course. In Noble’s Getting Started in Web Design course, students will learn the basic principles of designing web pages, including the difference between visual and technical programming elements. This course is a perfect fit for students who aren’t entirely sure what aspects of web design they want to specialize in since it covers all those elements. Noble also offers more detailed videos covering topics such as visual design, HTML/CSS, WordPress, JavaScript, and more on the Web Design and Development playlist on the official YouTube page. These classes aren’t a substitute for professional skills training, but they are the perfect place to take the first step on the road to becoming a professional Web Designer.

Students may also wish to consider the free training options available through service providers such as Udemy, Coursera, or YouTube. Since web design is such a wide-ranging field of computer science and is essential to making the internet functional, many solid, free options exist. This is particularly true for introductory material covering skills such as HTML/CSS because it is assumed that most students who learn these fundamental skills will eventually move on to more advanced training.

Read about more free web design videos and online tutorials.

Comparing Online Learning with In-Person Learning 

Many students are conditioned to assume in-person learning is inherently superior to online learning. However, given advances in technology and the strides that online pedagogy has taken in the last few years, this isn’t really the case. Previously, the primary benefit offered by online learning was the convenience of not having to commute to a physical campus. However, there are many reasons to strongly consider online learning opportunities, even if in-person learning opportunities are accessible.

The main advantage that learning in person still holds over online learning is that online learners will have access to a dedicated classroom space where they can learn alongside a cohort of like-minded students. While these advantages can be replicated, they are still meaningful enough that students should strongly consider how important this structure is to their web design training. The main advantage offered by online learning is the flexibility of learning in your own personal workspace on the devices you will use in your regular web design activities. Since web design is a set of computer-aided design skills, some students may not want to bother with learning the skills on a computer lab device. The cost between the two kinds of courses is likely to remain stable, as in-person learning will require students to commute while online learning will require them to provide software, which can be a wash. 

Tips to Succeed when Learning Web Design Online

Learning a new set of skills online can pose challenges to students who are not used to learning in an online environment. The shift into a new training style can be daunting, and it will always be challenging to approach training in a new way. Students should consider this issue and prepare themselves for learning in an online environment.

The most important thing to consider when learning online is how much of a problem you feel external distractions will be to your work. Many students underestimate how important it is that the design of the classroom space is meant to minimize distractions and direct your attention to the front of the room. This won’t be an issue for all students, but for some, it will be a major concern, and they will need to take steps to ensure that their personal workspace is free from these distractions. This may be as simple as moving to a different room in your home or as complex as going out of your way to scheduling in advance for children to be out of your apartment.

Outside of being concerned with external distractions, students will also need to be concerned with internal distractions. Studies consistently show that people vastly overestimate how good they are at multitasking, leading online students to convince themselves that they can attempt to take care of other projects while they are in an online training class. The temptation to let your mind wander while in an online classroom can be intense, so students will need to do an honest self-assessment about whether or not they will be tempted to try and work on multiple projects at once, losing focus on their studies online.

Finally, it will be important for students, especially those working in fields connected to visual design or user experience, to find places where they can receive honest feedback and critique their work. Even in a class taught by a live instructor, it will be important for students to get multiple sets of eyes on their work, and in an online classroom, students won’t have a cohort of students with whom they can discuss and collaborate. This means it will be extra important for students to find places where they can get feedback on their work since that is half the challenge of learning a creative tool.

Learn Web Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Students looking to master web design skills should consider the hands-on training options available to them through Noble Desktop. In these courses, students can learn how to design and code web pages using a variety of platforms and programming languages. These courses, which are all taught by live instructors with years of experience in their respective fields, give students the opportunity to interface directly with their instructors, ensuring they can receive the assistance and feedback they need to succeed. Students can enroll in a web design class or bootcamp either in-person or online.

Students looking to start off their web design and development career without investing too much time into their training may want to consider Noble’s Web Development with HTML/CSS course. In this class, which requires no prior coding knowledge, students will learn the fundamental skills that go into designing and developing web pages using the HTML/CSS programming languages. This class will teach students how to design basic web pages using the coding languages that form the basic infrastructure of a modern web page. Students will learn how to use HTML to build basic web pages and how to use CSS to add a visual flair to their designs. While anyone wanting to design web pages that look up to modern standards will need more training in other, more advanced programming languages, learning HTML/CSS is essential for anyone wanting to build web pages.

Noble offers a Web Design Certificate program for students who want a more immersive, career-focused experience in their training course that aims to take students from novice programmers all the way to professional designers in just a few short weeks. In this course, students will learn how to code web pages with HTML/CSS, JavaScript, and through the WordPress hosting platform. They will learn how to build elaborate, multi-page websites that replicate the kinds of projects they will be hired to work on as professional Web Designers and Developers. In addition, since these are career-focused courses, students will receive extra professionalization training, including one-on-one career mentorship sessions and seminar time dedicated to helping students construct a sample design portfolio that they can take with them onto the job market. For students looking to start a new career in the field of web design, there is no better way to prepare themselves.

Key Insights

• Students looking to learn web design skills may want to consider online learning as an alternative approach, given that online learning platforms have vastly changed in recent years.
• Students can learn web design in live online classes that mirror the structure of an in-person course, or they can learn through flexible asynchronous on-demand learning options.
• Online learning environments differ meaningfully from traditional classroom learning, so students will want to ensure that their workstation is distraction-free and that they are not tempted to try and multitask during classes.
• Students looking for comprehensive online web design classes should consult the live online course offerings available through Noble Desktop.