What is Flash?
Flash is a technology that allows creation of animations, integration of video and other moving images on a Web page. Flash supports streaming video and audio and can be a major enhancement to a Web site when used properly. A freelance web developer who specializes in Flash can earn money using web 2.0 technologies to Flash-enhance a site to offer games, videos, and interactive activities. To work with Flash, freelance Web developers should be familiar with a language called ActionScript.
Web 2.0 technology like Flash is used in popular destinations on the Internet such as YouTube and MySpace; a freelance web developer skilled in Flash could find their skills in demand, especially for start-up companies intending to compete with these more established sites.
Contact Artisan for help finding great designers with loads of Flash knowledge, or great employers who are in need of a Flash expert.
What Can I Use Flash to Do?
There are a wide variety of applications you can use Flash for besides creating games and streaming video. Freelance Web developer jobs can include using Flash to create enhancements for that streaming media. Does your client want to password-protect a movie or audio stream? Subscriber-only content requires a Flash enhancement capable of accept- ing a username and password. This is a basic feature of Web 2.0 technology in today’s e-commerce world and if you want a high-paying freelance web developer job, knowing how to use Flash for these purposes will serve you well.
There are also Flash applications for e-mail, special effects such as menus with sliders, even fancy text displays. You can learn a variety uses for Flash that give Websites new and exciting functions. There are Flash video loops, video games, and complicated rollover effects you learn and add to your portfolio. Every new Flash skill you learn is another tool in your toolbox that make you much more marketable as a freelance Web designer.
What is PHP?
If you want to learn how to become a freelance Web developer, knowledge of PHP is an important part of making yourself a marketable commodity. PHP originally stood for “Personal Home Pages,” and freelance Web developers today know it as a flexible server-side scripting language that allows interaction between the user and the website that uses PHP. To understand where PHP fits into Web design, look at its place in the scripting world. HTML is the basic structure that creates a static, unchanging Website. PHP is a command language that gives a Website the ability to accept a reader’s inputs and let the Website respond to that input.
PHP is what allows a site to change. If you want to build an e-commerce site as part of a freelance Web developer job, PHP allows you to set up the shopping cart, calculate taxes and shipping and other features. PHP al- lows you to create photo albums or slide shows. Knowing PHP allows you to give today’s customer what they want; a destination on the Internet that responds to a customer or reader in a variety of creative, fun to use ways. Today’s web technology trends include demands that can be met by the features you can create using PHP or modifying the PHP already in use on that site.
What Should I Know About PHP?
PHP is described as an HTML-embedded scripting language. It’s designed to help design Web pages quickly and easily. If you want to learn how to do freelance web developer jobs using PHP, there are many ways to learn PHP. One good way to learn is to try customizing existing PHP scripts you can download from tutorial sites. Tinker with someone else’s script and try to make it your own creation. Through trial and error you will soon learn plenty about what works in PHP and what causes your code to stop functioning properly. To do this you’ll need to learn how to redirect pages with PHP, basic tags, variables, how to use the If statement and much more.
What else do you need to know in order to tinker with PHP? Get a solid foundation in HTML, especially HTML forms. You may wish to include basic programming in your study. It’s not absolutely necessary, but those who understand basic programming concepts will make the leap to PHP more quickly and easily. Once you begin to understand the basics of PHP you can do a Google search for helpful items such as PHP cheat sheets and PHP forms which don’t require additional knowledge of PHP to implement.
What is Javascript?
Javascript is a language used in current web technologies applications to let Websites do things like change background colors, open new windows or document boxes, and process Web forms. It is used in what’s known as “client-side” Web development. Do you want to accept freelance web development jobs where you are required to create popup windows, web forms that are automatically validated or other functions? Javascript is the language you can use to do these tasks.
JS performs these functions rapidly because the script is executed in the browser rather than from the Web host’s server. Javascript can be used to detect the user’s keystrokes, so it can be a powerful addition to your skills for many in-demand Web 2.0 technologies your future clients may wish to add to their websites. JS also has plenty of uses outside Web site development; Javascript can be used in PDF files, OpenOffice applications, and music signal processing software.
What Does CSS Stand For?
CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This is the styling language that allows you to set the look and feel of a Web site as a freelance Web developer. Any changes you want to make, from the type of fonts and size of those fonts to the placement of the text, the margins and background colors can be controlled using CSS.
This freelance web developer tool can be placed in the head of an HTML document to define the styles for the entire Website, or it can be used as an embedded style sheet to change the look of individual pages or groups of pages. CSS allows you to import other style sheets and create “inline styles” for a specific portion of a website.
Every time a specific feature appears in your Website, the style can be controlled using CSS. It is designed to tell the Web browser software not only what fonts, colors and margins to use, but also which style sheets have priority in the presence of multiple styles. It’s a simple language (compared to HTML) which provides much of the aesthetic power of a Website.
What Does HTML Stand For?
HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language. It is the basic building blocks Web pages need to come into existence from a raw idea to a presence on the Internet. HTML code is placed into a document and gives a site its structure, using tags that tell the browser what to display and how. HTML is one of the most important things someone looking to get into freelance web development needs to learn in the early stages of learning their trade. If you want to be able to design using current web technologies, you’ll need to understand the basics of HTML. You’ll learn how Javascript, PHP, CSS and other Web 2.0 technologies used in Web design can work together to create outstanding sites, but the foundation of all that knowledge is HTML. It literally is the foundation of the Web.
One way to get a quick introduction to HTML is to open any Web site, go to the View tab on your browser and select View Page Source or View Source. This will call up the source code for the Web page and you’ll be able to view HTML in all its glory. Try doing some research on each individual tag or element you don’t understand and learn how all the basics fit together. Then you will begin to get an understanding of how the language works; it’s a great way to start your education for free!
What Does “Web 2.0” Mean?
The phrase “Web 2.0” has many different meanings depending on who you ask, but the basic concept invokes the most modern applications of old Internet technology plus recent innovations which have resulted in Websites like Flickr, MySpace and other popular destinations. If a Website’s innovations allow users to use software applications through a Web browser, chances are it’s using Web 2.0 technology. When Internet use started growing in popularity in the early 1990s, it was much more of a one-way proposition with the exception of e-mail and dial-in bulletin board systems. Today’s interactive sites created by freelance Web developers and other professionals are much more user-friendly and flexible.
Cutting edge Web 2.0 technologies are developed with Ajax, Flash, Java Applets and other tools. If you want to develop a freelance Web design career with a strong Web 2.0 skillset, study and grow your skills with these tools along with your HTML, PHP and CSS knowledge.
Let Artisan help you find the companies who are in need of Web 2.0 designers like yourself.
What is AJAX?
AJAX is short for Asynchronous Javascript And XML. The most popular thing about AJAX (often rendered “Ajax”) is its ability to create near seamless, no-waiting applications. One of the best things about Web 2.0 technologies is the ability to use AJAX to cut the waiting time to zero when it comes to loading features, maps or other content. AJAX combines XHTML and CSS, uses something known as “asynchronous data retrieval” and Javascript to eliminate the wait. A great example of Ajax at work is Google Maps. When you drag sections of the map to look at them, they load in real time. There is no hourglass or “please wait” icon while the graphics load. That’s thanks to Ajax.
AJAX is not new. It’s a new way of using existing Web design technologies and is compatible with most Web browsers. To start learning Ajax to help you get freelance Web developer jobs, you’ll need to have a knowledge of HTML, XHTML and Javascript. Ajax lets your Javascript communicate with the server using the XMLHttpRequest object. If that sounds like a foreign language to you right now, you need to put some study time in with the basics before you can start using Ajax to earn money as a freelance Web designer. But once you have the knowledge and skills to move forward, let Artisan help you find the perfect company for you.
Web Development Trends
It seems that a new social media network is born every day, while another one goes on the endangered species list, and future freelance Web developers have their work cut out for them. One important trend is a growing interest in using social networks like Facebook instead of more traditional communication such as e-mail. Entire companies are moving their corporate communications to Facebook. Could Web 2.0 technology be the death of e-mail? It’s impossible to say, but one thing is certain; anyone who wants to cash in on the wealth of opportunities for freelance Web developers with trends such as this need to get a strong education in PHP. Learning how to develop apps for social networks is a great way to insure your employability as a new freelancer.
But freelance Web development jobs in the social media space are only one part of the puzzle. Another growing Web development trend is the use of social media networks to land the jobs themselves. As a freelance Web developer, consider creating a series of elaborate, well-presented profiles on social media networks to show what you are capable of. Any collection of Websites, social media profiles and other online media you can modify for your own use also doubles as a portfolio enhancement. You may not have a long list of freelance Web design clients, but if you have the foresight to apply your development skills to your own social media profiles and personal sites, you can show a new client exactly what you’re capable of. The latest trends dictate that your own profiles be as skillfully presented as possible.
Contact
Contact Artisan now for more information on the changing face of web development and how you can get on board. New web technology is constantly appearing and disappearing. Let Artisan help guide you to the best ones that are here to last.
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