Code Writing Skills You May Need One Day as a Graphic Designer

Johnny Kilhefner reports:

“While you won't find an architect who acts as his own structural engineer, graphic designers who create websites often benefit from learning how to code. It's much like learning a new language, but mostly in that it opens up an entirely new realm of designing. Whether or not learning to code will make you a better designer depends entirely on you…Advanced forms of HTML, such as HTML5, enable designers to create more elaborate structures, such as canvases for drawing, video playback, better forms and offline Web applications…XHTML is what most websites are coded with. Coding in XHTML enables you to design a simple text-based website without going through a steep learning curve. It's the computer language used for ordinary text and images and almost all websites use either XHTML or HTML…Using CSS correctly can alter the look of a simple XHTML design. This is done by switching between style sheets. The better you get with CSS, the better your XHTML designs will become. CSS is a nice fit for beginners, though, as it tends to leave a nice, clean design even if the designer isn't skilled in its nuances…Using JavaScript enables nice touches such as changing an image's size, effect or color whenever a user interacts with it. JavaScript also works with input forms to validate information…Using DHTML allows you access to every facet of a Web page to alter its behavior in run-time. This allows you to create far more dynamic and complex designs, such as moving things around, overlapping items and changing styles."