Few months ago a disgruntled member commented that we cannot consider ourselves professionals if we use scripts or even hosting provided by a third party. How dare we call ourselves this if we use other people’s work into building our projects. Are we still professionals if we are not “jack of all trades”?

In a way we are this “jack” since most of us know a bit of everything: we can design in Photoshop, maybe Flash too, we know how to put the design in HTML/CSS, we know how to do SEO on the site, how to monetize, how to run a community. It’s hard to believe but nowadays the internet related work is SO SPECIALIZED each of these are already separate specialities that can really fill one’s day. A good “photoshoper” spends most his/her day coming up with new effects, shapes or patterns, making them look nice, taking care of the colours etc.

Slicing a design and making it cross browser valid, implementing SEO elements etc. is another specialty in its own. Some do it rudimentary still (I admit I am not a specialist in this either, so I do make mistakes), while others have brought this to an art level.

Can we call these people losers because they don’t code in php/mysql for instance and use an already proven to be good solution? Can we think they are not professionals just because they don’t use their own computer as server and waste all day trying to secure it while also paying hundreds of dollars a month for something they can have with 5?

We can, but we wouldn’t be right.

Six years ago, when I started my first site I used “plain” HTML. I had 50 articles already and updating the content and linking system was a pain. Don’t get me started on the re-design I used to do at least once a year, because it’s too painful to talk about it.

After a while I discovered people use “scripts”. The famous “cms” (content management systems) that make your work as an article writer way easier. Sure, you can use the script as it is and just focus on the content or you can also learn how to skin it so that you use only the “backbone” and make your site look really unique. We already have a distinction here: people who just use a solution and people who customize it.

Two years have passed and I started my “masterpiece”, Wtricks.com on a free subdomain. I used phpBB for the forums since I was interested in adding a forum to my content. Sure, I think I could code a forum system. Since I am alone and a total beginner it would take me 2-3 years, but I think I can make it. I am a smart woman and, once you get some coding experience, it can’t be that hard. Still phpBB, even if now losing momentum in comparison with MyBB for instance, is still a solid script. The thing that matters is there are TEAMS of people working on it: some code the login pages, some create new features, some prepare the layout etc. We talk MANY people, whereas I’d be ALONE.

So my question back then and now is: WHY try to come up myself with a script, which will never be as good as one that’s been improved years after years, lose years of potential revenue, just because I want to please someone who thinks I need to manufacture my chipset too so that I can consider myself a PC professional?

By the time I’d be able to finish the script, I’d realize it’s already outdated (feature wise) and I need to start again.

So, I chose the “easy way”. I downloaded a good script, with an excellent community of developers (who’d know how to help me when I have problems) and show my talent in designing a new theme for it, writing useful articles and running a nice community.

Instead of working for the next 2 years on a script and not having 1 finished site, I was able to gather more than 35 sites till now, many of them bringing in revenue that gives me the “drive” to work some more. If one  works for many years for nothing in return, one thinks about switching to another hobby that’s more lucrative (say coin collecting for instance).

Working on the web means MANY nights and weekends, a lot of personal time put into this. We jeopardize our free time, even our personal life sometimes. Web developers are not known to have a very active social life since they have to work on their sites for many hours to make them successful. And if your loved ones see you work with no financial gain, they would consider it’s not worth it.

One of the most important aspects in this matter is to KNOW how much you can do. If you plan on releasing a project, you have to know what parts of this you can manage and what not. Those you can’t do yourself can be done by other professionals, specialized in it. I use ready-made scripts that already cost me a small fortune to be able to release a project fast. 18 forums are run on VBulletin or MyBB, directories use phpLD, my blogs use WordPress etc. I started by installing them and then it all came to my expertize: modifying their looks so that my projects do look unique. This is what I do best and in this area I am the professional.

Then I create the content and work on the SEO/promotion aspect. Since many people cannot create a decent article, coming up with many in a week is already a talent. There are many awesome content writers who can’t even install their blog script. This doesn’t make them less of a blogger since what they do (content creation) is of a very high standard.

So in the end it comes up to knowing what you can do, how much this will take you and how to use other ways to achieve your goal. If you want to have a successful site as fast as possible, you need to leave pride aside and know when to ask for help or use a better solution than the one you could provide.

As you can see here, I haven’t updated the blog in more than 4 weeks now. Apologies to those who came here to find something new and saw the same article for such long time

All this time I worked. Had some client sites to finish (still have), worked on some of the sites in the network, wrote some articles in my other blogs. I would like to say I took a long break, but it wasn’t the case. Still I thought about this the only day I really ignored ALL work and had fun.

Yes, I wasted one day and now I feel I accomplished so much just by not working.

It’s weird I know: how can I say I had a 24 hour break from all my web related work and still I feel I gained so much?

Some years ago I trained in Karate. It wasn’t something serious since I was on a fulltime job at a radio station, 24 year old female. So no competition for me. Still I trained like a maniac, because I loved each minute. 4 “classes” a week, each 2-3 hour long. I was in the best shape of my life and the technique got better each day.

And then .. I reached a plateau.

I trained so much I wasn’t good anymore, my muscles were sore (even if I was in that awesome shape), I kinda disliked this and that, would go through the Kihon sessions with no passion etc. I was overburnt and sick of all, even if I still loved all the training. And then I took some time off.

It was the winter vacation, we all went to a moutain resort or stayed at home. No Karate for 3 weeks. In the first days I felt like an addict who’s not getting his dose, but after a week it was all better. My blisters healed, my muscles weren’t as tense as before, I got my passion back.

We met again in the dojo and I was a new person. My technique was perfect, I was full of energy and the class was amazing. I missed it so much, I was rested and had my full strength again.

Getting back to our jobs as web developers, we do get this exhaustion, even if we don’t see it. And most of the time this “muscle soreness” hits us exactly when we should work more and better. The moment projects pile up and clients are tough with the deadlines, we break down. How could we take a day off when we know there is so much to work?

Simple. Just do it. Wake up that morning (weekend is better, since clients are also resting) and just go to get some tan, go to visit your city, meet with friends etc. Just IGNORE anything web related, don’t even open the computer if possible. As much as you think the world will come to an end, don’t worry, nothing will get destroyed, no one will die just because you took a day off.

This is what I did this saturday. Got a friend to come to the pool with me, we spent 5 hours in the sun, swimming and chatting like women do. Then I got back, took my car again, another closer friend and we hit the town. Drank some soda, chatted some more and then  met my boyfriend. I refused to touch my laptop, so I finished the night with some TV (Discovery Channel).

The next day I woke up with a HUGE “need” to work. I turned on my computer and checked to see if the world was still as we know it. All was OK. My network was there, the 4 reseller accounts were OK, the payment from some of the advertising companies was issued. I was fresh now and started working.

At the end of the day I realized I haven’t lost anything with my one day break. I worked better since I wasn’t that tired and covered easily for the 24 hours of inactivity.

When was the last time you took a break?

I own several webmaster related forums (both in English and Romanian) and maybe because I am the admin and have the highest post count people consider me to be something like a “yoda” and direct the questions to me. Of course there are other members who are as good as I am in this and some are way better, but I seem to attract the questions like a huge eye-glasses wearing magnet.

One of the most important questions in many members minds is “How can I learn web design?”.

We have a lot of possible ways to learn this, there are several well known sites with articles and tutorials, there are online books and even those books we don’t read as often as before, the “real” ones with paper pages and that smell of “print” on them. There are many webmaster forums all dealing with the aspects of running a site (that would include web design too), chat rooms and blogs.

And still .. nothing beats the good ole’ practice you can do on your own.

I never would imagine learning web design and knowing what I know now just from reading and discussing. And I am so glad I didn’t waste time with a lot of planning and I just started doing something.

6 years ago I started Karate and wanted to teach the others some of the things I was also learning step by step. This meant working on a Front Page template (back then), then work it on dreamweaver, passing through the “heavy java scripts” time and the flash intros trend, animated gifs and all the jazz. And then I started learning more HTML, some CSS and working with the layers that made it possible to be able to come up with some decent designs in Photoshop.

I was able to modify that site and also learn step by step all about site design, forum management, traffic, SEO, things you can just learn in theory from the books, but you need to experiment.

Reading articles and tutorials is a great thing since you can be informed and solve all kinds of issues, the forums have been one of the best place for me to exchange ideas and ask for help, but nothing beats your own experience and your own work.

Even now, after 6 years, I can’t tell anyone “you learn web design starting from here, and then go there and there”. Web design is something hard to “define”, it’s not a map or a road, where you just see your destination and checkpoints. Web design means a lot of things and can be mastered in different ways by all people. Some people work well with following a tutorial step by step, not changing a pixel, not moving a colour. Others can’t keep themselves from experimenting and always end up with something new. There is no right or wrong in learning web design, there is no “bad way” to achieve beautiful results.

The only thing I was able to advise all my members and soon-to-be-awesome-web-designers was to “start a site” and just do it. Find a topic they love and think about a project. Try to work on that design, see how the layers look bad and try to understand what makes a design beautiful. Slice it and use tables or (even better) divs and see how horrible they look in IE as compared to FF (Internet Explorer and Firefox, for my readers who are not as familiar as I am with these “shortcuts”). Search on Google for tips of browser compatibility and then head to the SEO side. Learn how to bring in traffic, low quality traffic through all kinds of schemes and then that good quality traffic.

I can’t imagine learning web design from the books, I can’t imagine driving my car just from discussing this. Just as I have to learn how drive safely, avoid other cars, keep the car on the road and even park without destroying my wheels, I also have to open Photoshop and work on the layouts, the program I use for coding the layouts and scour the internet for new ideas of CSS effects.

If you wan to have a shot at learning web design, then you’ll just have to start … web designing