Web Design Skills - What You Need to be a Freelance Web Designer
by Liz Jamieson on February 23, 2008
in Small Business, Web Design
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I wanted the list the skills/technologies and general know-how required to be an effective freelance web designer. In truth it’s not easy as you need more skills in one body than is reasonable.
I’ve written an article about this - please visit “So You Wanna Be/Employ A Freelance Web Designer” for a cut-down list with examples.
But here I’ll list each skill as a bullet point without explanation - visit the above page for more details on the most critical items.
If You Want To Be A Freelance Web Designer
So how can you use this list? Well, if you want to be a freelance web designer you could use it as a starting point for the skills and technologies you’ll need to know.
If You’re Hiring a Freelance Web Designer
If you are about to hire a web designer, you might want to read this web design skills article and then see if you still think they’ll do a good job for you.
The List
Mark Up Languages
- XHTML
- CSS
- XML
- XSLT
- RSS
|
Browser Issues and Techniques
- Browser Detection
- Browser Differences
- Screen Resolutions
- Page Size
- Cookies
- Maintaining Context
- Forms Validation
- Forms Hijacking
|
Web Authoring Skills
- Accessibility
- Web Page Templates
- Content Management
|
The Server
- FTP
- Choosing a Host
- Hosting
- Site Certificates
- Apache Web Server
- Server Security
- Data Encryption
- Server Side Scripting
- Dedicated Servers
- Virtual Servers
- DNS Servers
- URL Rewriting
- Database Backup
|
Content
- Copywriting
- Sales Copy
- Article Writing
- Call to Action
|
Page Navigation
- Menus
- Internal Linking
- Site Maps
- Web 2.0 Style Navigation
|
Visual Skills
- Art Work and animation
- Graphics Sources
- Flash Technology
- Image Size/Weight
- Video Streaming
- Web 2.0 Styling
|
Software Skills
- 3rd Party software integration
- Testing
|
Internet Marketing Skills and Terms
- On Page Search Engine Optimisation
- Pay Per Click Advertising
- Page Rank
- Alexa Ratings
- Affiliate Marketing
- Directories
- DMOZ
- Social Media Sites
|
Programming Skills/Technologies
- PHP
- ASP
- Java
- Regular Expressions
- Javascript
- AJAX
- DHTML
- Session Variables
- Server Variables
- Templating
- PHP (or other) Frameworks
|
Domain Names
- Domain Name Purchase
- Domain Name Registration
- Domain Name Renewal
|
Social Media
- Forums
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- WIKIs
- Mash Ups
- Web Services
- Payment Gateways
- Tag Clouds
- Content Sites
- Bookmarking Sites
|
Database Skills
- MySQL
- Database Design
- Database Maintenance
|
Email Skills
- Email Marketing
- Auto Responders
- Auto Forwarding
- Distribution Lists
- Email Aliases
|
Tracking
- Site Statistics
- Google Analytics
|
Related Posts
Tagged as:
Web Design,
web design skills list
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very comprehensive post you have here. Personally, I think I’d trade in my programming skills to have an artist’s eye.
Thanks for dropping by Bush. I think though its easier for you or I to learn to do some simple design (ok not the lush complicated stuff some designers produce), than for a pure graphic designer to code well. Don’t you think?