by Clyde Starr

Created on: April 23, 2009

So, you want to design your own webpage, be it for fun or profit. The hardest thing to do in any new project is to get started, once you get the ball rolling, the rest either falls together or it doesn't, but the startup is often the part that holds the most people back.

When wanting to learn webdesign, you need to go to the pros. The people who set the standards for everything and anything that is done on the web. This means going to

http://www.w3schools.com for your tutorial needs. W3 is the organization that monitors, maintains, and sets the standards for what is used on the internet today. Their website, w3schools, offers 100% free tutorials on all the current technologies used to design and implement a webpage, be it for personal blogging, a hobby or interest, or even an ecommerce site fully enabled with database functions, server-side processing and graphics.

Sure, there are literally thousands upon thousands of templates and tutorials out there that will offer you an incite into webdesign, and there may be one or two that might better fit your individual learning style and goals, however, in the long run, internet technologies are going to be ever-changing, as that is the nature of the beast, and its important to rely on a source of information that is not only directly linked to those changes (being the organizational body that implements them) but is also a free, not for profit resource to those changing standards.

Now, when approaching the w3 site, or any other site for that matter, with the intent of learning how to create a website, remember 2 things:

1. Start slow, don't try anything and everything on the site at once. Information overload will prevent you from actually actively grasping the new concepts that are being presented to you. There are several different options for webdesign, including database interaction, browser-side processing, server-side processing, html, xml, xhtml, etc.. and it all can be rather daunting if you try to take it all in at once. Start at the basics and work from there. The site is organized in a reasonable order, so you can graduate from one system to another, integrating the new information as you go along. The best starting point is to go through the HTML tutorial in it's entirety before branching off into other aspects of the site.

2. Practice everything presented. Even if an element is presented to you that you don't think you will be using in your design, still do the practice run on that element. Follow the exercises,

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