Design Resources
If you’re like me and spend a much of your day on the internet. If you’ve fumbled through this site you’ve probably read I’m a self taught Web Designer. I was 35 when I decided to leave the construction industry and my hard earned spot as a 80 ton Crane Operator. I’m pretty sure that teaching yourself HTML, PHP, CSS, and JavaScript is no small goal regardless of age or background. If you find yourself in a similar position (changing careers with a family to support), you’ll need some help in order to make it work. I credit the skills I’ve learned to my bull-headed will to accomplish whatever I set my mind to.
Being determined and dedicated is the first step, but that alone wouldn’t have been enough for me to get me to the level I needed so I could actually make a living with my new skill. Back to my opening thought (the one about spending so much time on the internet). This is where the other piece of the puzzle fits in. The internet is full of resources, some are very helpful and without a doubt gave me the extra boost I needed to pull it off. The downside to the wealth of resources the internet offers is the fact that for every good resource out there, there are 2 more that act appear to be helpful but can really cause the untrained scholar some real setbacks. I know it’s hard to believe, but some websites simply slap together some keyword rich junk with the latest web design topics. These fine citizens don’t care about you or about giving back to the “community”. They only care about themselves and how to get their websites pumped full of seemingly useful keyword rich keywords.
Imagine this scenario: You’ve been making great progress toward your goal. You’re starting to think “I might be able to pull this off”. I just need to add a few more tools to my developer shed and I’m ready to open shop. You don’t have the cash or time for school or to go buy a book to learn, so you do what any crafty determined maniac would do. You open your browser of choice and enter your search terms and pick one of the results that seem to match your need. You’re taken to a website that offers an article and source code, Score! You spend hours maybe even a day or two reading the article and applying it to your latest project. Make the changes to your theme or design and click update, preview or however you preview your new awesome skill. INTERNAL SERVER ERROR, or BLANK PAGE, URR!!! I must have done something wrong. I need to go back over the article again. Many hours or days pass, I have lost hair, gained wrinkles, doubted my ability to figure this crap out. I was doing so good but now I’m not sure I can figure this stuff out. That scenario has happened to me more than once. Luckily I have the “quality” of being obsessive and bull-headed enough to pick myself back up and dive back in.
If you can relate to the scenario I’ve been ranting about, you will appreciate the following links. I’ve put together my “essential” resources for the web designer on a budget. Hopefully it will help someone avoid the troubles I’ve experienced on my journey. So, without further ado, my WordPress, web design, graphic design tutorials and other various goodies list:
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