Web Designing Interview Preparation Guide

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Web designers can work in multiple sectors, but over time they usually begin to specialize. If you don't yet have much experience, you have probably done different jobs in different sectors. You might still say what you feel most expert at, like business sites or personal sites. And if you do specialize already, then say so with confidence. But you might also want to mention your creative adaptability.

Web designers are visual artists. They usually combine computer education with web design coursework, but a degree or course in art is also valued. A special challenge for designers of websites is to create an aesthetically pleasing interactive environment - the site should not only look beautiful, but be easy and interesting to navigate.

A website template is a ready-made HTML layout for webmasters. Typically, webmasters need to only edit the text and links in the HTML page, and they can then have a website up and running in a very short amount of time. Web templates make the creation of a website easier and faster. Web templates are easy to edit and customize using an HTML editor.

CSS stands for "Cascading Style Sheets", and are used to control and manage font styles, font sizes, and web site color combinations that are used in a web page. In order to retain continuity of "look and feel" throughout a website, all pages within a website will often refer to a single CSS file. The CSS file is typically contained in a separate file from the website, and the various web pages retrieve the CSS file each time a web page is displayed. CSS files make global appearance changes easy a single change in a CSS file will mean that any pages using that CSS file will automatically display the changes.

Design does not only mean graphics. Web designers are computer specialists. They write codes and use code programs (JavaScript, PHP, etc.).

Some web designers work in teams or even companies. The head designer might be responsible for only part of the tasks, like client communication, research, coding, etc., while the others do graphics and copying.

Dreamweaver templates allow webmasters to define "editable" and "non-editable" regions of a webpage. The "non-editable" regions can only be edited in the Dreamweaver Template. Any changes made to the Dreamweaver Template update any HTML pages that use the template.

Web Design and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are not mutually exclusive. The best webmasters are familiar with Search Engine Optimization techniques, as well as Website and Graphical Design. It is difficult to have a successful website if you neglect either SEO or Design. The two are intricately woven, and really must coexist to achieve website success.

WYSIWYG stands for "What You See Is What You Get", so if you are using a WYSIWYG editor to design and create your web page, you have a pretty good idea of how the page will look in a web browser. Think of Microsoft Word when you change a font, you see the font change immediately in the MS Word document. The same is true in a WYSIWYG Editor, in that you see changes immediately within the editor itself, as opposed to having to save the page and then separately load and view it in a web browser.

Sometimes web designers need to include or add functions to existing websites. Functions include message boards, guest books, games, quizzes, etc.

It depends on many variables. Custom website design can range from $500-$3000 for a single web template. The price varies, depending on the complexity of the design. Webmasters can also use a stock web template, which can cost as little as $15.00, or as much as several hundreds of dollars. Some stock templates are available for exclusive use, and exclusive designs tend to be more expensive. Website content development and Search Engine Optimization can be even more expensive, and are ongoing expenses.

Knowing HTML is certainly helpful in website design, especially when very minor tweaks and adjustments are necessary, but it is not absolutely required for website design. There are a number of WYSIWYG editors and web templates available, which can assist new webmasters with the design process. Using a web template and a WYSIWYG editor, new webmasters are able to create a web page by simply cutting and pasting content into a web template.

HTML stands for "Hyper Text Markup Language". HTML is the markup language that typically resides behind the web page. Information related to the website design is indicated by "tags". HTML is what is considered a simple markup language.

A "Dynamic" web page is one that is automatically created "on the fly" as it is presented, while a "Static" web page is pre-configured and not interactive.
Dynamic web pages will often pull information from somewhere else before displaying the page, so the page content is ever-changing. The information on a Dynamic webpage often results from a database query, such as "search" results.
Dynamic page simply pulls information from another source, such as a web page that displays an RSS feed it's "Dynamic" because the page content changes each time the RSS feed is updated. The information contained in a Static page is considered "flat", and never changes until the webmaster re-codes it.

Just about everything. All the pages you can handle, all the design time, a integrated blog, various contact forms, custom graphics, stock photography (1,000,000+ images), basic search engine optimization, and more.

We can help you write content on an hourly rate, but text content is not included. Anything you send to us we will include on the website (text, audio, video and photos). We also do not include long, boring Flash introductions (which no one watches anyway), although we will animate the home page graphics.

The main difference between the programs is that with Essentials, the designs are ready-to-go. The site is complete in a week because the majority of the work is done already. Custom sites are ready in two to three months, as we spend hundreds of hours researching, planning, designing and building a company's unique web presence. As a result, there is also a significant price difference. For firms on a tight budget, or looking for a simple practice area site, Essentials is the quick and easy solution.

Make sure you know all the relevant news and blogs. You should be reading them regardless, but doing so on a daily basis during your job search is important. Be ready to talk casually and fluently about the latest web trends.

Because I can make good $," "I don't like to dress up or shave," and "because I loved the movie Hackers," are not good enough answers. Well a comment about hackers might fly but make sure you have a real back-story that describes your "Aha!" moment.

This is your chance to talk shop and demonstrate some industry knowledge. Be prepared to talk about your favorite editor, browser, plug-ins, operating system, and other tools. Freshen up on your lingo.

Interchangeable questions. Any developer worth his weight had to practice somewhere or on something before they landed their first gig. If not, how did you get this interview anyway! Review your past experiences, and even if they were boring to you, figure out a new frame of reference that demonstrates passion and a zest for learning.

Reduce image sizes, remove unnecessary widgets, HTTP compression, put CSS at the top and script references at the bottom or in external files, reduce look-ups, minimize redirects, caching, etc.

There are a number of answers to this question: File concatenation, file compression, CDN Hosting, offloading assets, re-organizing and refining code, etc. Have a few ready.

HTML elements communicate to the browser how to render text. When surrounded by angular brackets <> they form HTML tags. For the most part, tags come in pairs and surround text.

Another problem with many solutions: setting the default language, using Unicode encoding, using the 'lang' attribute, being aware of standard font sizes and text direction, and language word length (may affect layout).