Comments on: Print Design to Web Design: Comparative Analogies

By: Arto Steiner

Arto Steiner — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 22:04:21 +0000

I strongly recommend to learn coding by hand first. Then you can decide what software will help you and where will you let it help you and what will you always want to do yourself.

I teach webdesign coding and in nearly all cases start with notepad coding HTML and CSS using the web browser as preview. I feel it’s better to learn that way than to learn a software and some languages at the same time.

Once you know the code, you can do what you like. If you are always relying on software… not good…

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 06:01:06 +0000

I’m a fine artist that became a web developer during the boom and is now enhancing my skillset with a graphic design degree. For coding:
1. Learn to code HTML, XHTML, CSS, and XML BY HAND. No IDE. Just use notepad.
2. Learn how design and normalize databases. Free ones: MySQL, SQLExpress, Oracle Xpress etc. Or Access comes with Office.
3. Learn 2 server side environments, 1 primary and 1 secondary. I recommend PHP and ASP.net.
4. Learn project management. Prevent scope and feature creep. Get your projects done on time and within budget. Get to know UML and Usecases. Plan plan plan then plan some more. Measure twice cut once.
5. Don’t forget JavaScript. Very important. You don’t need always need to be an expert, but you’ll need to know how to manipulate it.
6. Flash and animations are their own monsters. Get to know them too.
7. Always lots to learn, and you’ll always be behind the learning curve. Find what you love to do on the web and make it your strength. Then spend the rest of your time reducing any weaknesses.

By: Dean H

Dean H — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:01:28 +0000

I want to say thanks, as well.

Great piece.

I come from the print world myself (designed and built newspaper sections and an occasional magazine), and while I was still in the print world did a web site in DW (maybe 9 years or so ago) using layers that I’d convert to tables and then back again to tweak it and then back to tables. (I was pretty much a dunce at the time. :-)

I absolutely hated tables and didn’t do much web work after that. I knew QuarkXpress really well and later replaced it with InDesign (was a real whiz with styles in both) and even taught them to designers and production folks and even college kids.

Then I got laid off a couple years ago, discovered CSS and hand coding (I have DW but hardly ever touch it) and the world is rosy again.

Sure the web has all these quirky things that drive us all nuts (pick a version of IE, for example) and you have to teach clients about all the uncertainties and differences between print and web, but oh gosh, what fun…mad, crazy fun.

Every day is this wonderful challenge and Chris, with articles like this, you help us all through it.

This one really hit home with me. Thanks again.

By: Josh

Josh — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:44:35 +0000

We just need something added to the HTML spec (or just apache itself) that lets us use custom font files without being able to load that font file directly in the browser and download it. Something like how .htaccess files work. Obviously they are being used by the web server, but (as long as your server is setup right) you can’t download that file or see its contents.

By: Geoff Wigz

Geoff Wigz — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:41:58 +0000

Thank you Chris, for a great article. I’m a print artist/designer from way back (when we used to glue the type down onto artboard) and made the switch to web design/coding a few years back. It wasn’t an easy transition.
In fact I was so worried about my first website that I constructed it in (gulp) QuarkXpress6.5. Needless to say I regretted that in later months. I still use DW, but am much more interested in the code these days. Being used to Quark Style Sheets was a great help in understanding (some of) CSS.

By: Eric Hall

Eric Hall — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:47:08 +0000

Great article. Along the "should I use Dreamweaver or not" argument. I use BOTH dreamweaver and more "hand code" tools. The longer I work (many years now), the more I use hand coding. But, I still go back to a tool like Dreamweaver for certain situations. Nothing will get you started like DW, but it's ease of use is also it's downfall. There's so much more you will want to learn and do. Thanks for the thoughts. Fort Wayne Web Design

By: dp

dp — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:10:15 +0000

The leap from print to web is GIGANTIC. the web is harder to design for, no doubt. Basic design principles still apply but that’s about it. -dp

By: Amber Weinberg

Amber Weinberg — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:18:04 +0000

Great article. A lot of designers I work with are only experienced in print, so it takes a bit of work to get them versed in what can and can’t (or shouldn’t) be done in web. Coding print designer’s PSD can be a nightmare.

By: Mark Blodger

Mark Blodger — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:44:03 +0000

Our agency has been around since 1990. I’ve been involved in print design and production since 1982. We’ve (I’ve) traveled through all the great improvements in our industry. This is the latest amazing advancement. I help our “print designers” understand the shift by saying “the computer/web is the new printing press”. Even though our designers can’t run a printing press, they know exactly what will come off the business end of one from the files they submit for production. They know how the variables of paper selection, ink density and bindery impact the outcome.

They need to understand web programming to the same level. They don’t need to be the programmer, but they do need to know enough to be fully aware of what the outcome of their designs will be once programmed. Another good analogy is directing photographers. The art directors and designers on our staff have the photo vision in mind upfront. They can’t shoot the photos themselves but they clearly know what’s possible, what they want and what their limits are.

The shift to web design comes from applying the same in-depth study and dedication, that’s brought them this far in their career, to this new “printing press”. There is no silver bullet or short cut. Its yet another call for hard work and dedication to their craft.

By: Al Lemieux

Al Lemieux — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:51:21 +0000

According to Adobe InDesign product manager Michael Ninnes, in a recent presentation at MAX, 72 dpi for the web is a myth. Resolution for web images doesn’t matter. What matters is the pixel dimensions. Look at the image size dialog in Photoshop. In the upper portion of the dialog – relegated to web images, there’s no resolution box.