Skills and expertise of freelance designers

Skills and expertise of freelance designers

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Title: The Skills and Expertise of Freelance Designers

Freelance designers are independent professionals who offer their design services on a contractual basis.

Skills and expertise of freelance designers - keyword research

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They work across various industries such as graphic design, interior design, fashion design, web design, among others. While they may not be tied to any particular company or organization, the skills and expertise required for freelance designers are paramount and often surpass those provided within a structured corporate environment.

Firstly, one of the most critical skills that freelancers should possess is creativity.

Skills and expertise of freelance designers - Sitemaps

  1. FAQ
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This skill is inherent to all forms of design as creativity breathes life into concepts and ideas. It makes designs visually appealing and engaging. Without creativity, it would be challenging for freelance designers to develop unique solutions that meet clients' expectations.

Secondly, technical skills are crucial for freelance designers. These professionals need to proficiently utilize different software tools related to their respective fields of design. For instance, graphic designers should master Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator while web designers must know how to use platforms like WordPress or JavaScript.

Another significant skill is communication. Freelance designers must effectively communicate with their clients throughout every stage of the project – from understanding requirements at the onset to presenting finished works towards completion. Good communication ensures that both parties have aligned expectations and can prevent unnecessary revisions or misunderstandings.

Additionally, time management plays an integral role in freelancing careers since these professionals often juggle multiple projects simultaneously. Thus, having excellent organizational abilities allows them to deliver high-quality work within stipulated timelines without compromising on their personal life balance.



Skills and expertise of freelance designers - Sitemaps

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Moreover, business acumen is necessary for freelance designers too because they are essentially running their own businesses. They need to understand how pricing structures work, manage finances efficiently and market themselves appropriately to attract new clients continually.

In terms of expertise, it's essential for freelance designers not only being experts in using certain software but also possessing extensive knowledge about industry trends and best practices in their field of specialization.

While there is no set formula for success, the combination of these skills and expertise can significantly enhance a freelance designer's career. They not only provide these professionals with competitive edge but also contribute to their overall growth as an independent entity within the design industry.

In conclusion, the world of freelance designers is challenging yet rewarding. It requires a mix of technical know-how, creativity, communication prowess, time management abilities coupled with strong business acumen. These skills and expertise enable them to create compelling designs that meet clients' needs while achieving professional satisfaction in their craft. Freelance designers are indeed unique professionals who combine artistry with entrepreneurship – creating beauty while building businesses.

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The home page of the English Wikipedia (in 2023) is displayed in a web browser. The small house-shaped button in the upper left is for the browser's start page.

A home page (or homepage) is the main web page of a website.[1] Usually, the home page is located at the root of the website's domain or subdomain. For example, if the domain is example.com, the home page is likely located at the URL www.example.com/.

The term may also refer to the start page shown in a web browser when the application first opens.[2]

Function

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A home page is the main web page that a visitor will view when they navigate to a website via a search engine, and it may also function as a landing page to attract visitors.[3] In some cases, the home page is a site directory, particularly when a website has multiple home pages.

Good home page design is usually a high priority for a website;[4] for example, a news website may curate headlines and first paragraphs of top stories, with links to full articles.[5][6] According to Homepage Usability, the home page is the "most important page on any website" and receives the most views of any page.[7] A poorly designed home page can overwhelm and deter visitors from the site.[6] One important use of home pages is communicating the identity and value of a company.[8]

Browser start page

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When a web browser is launched, it will automatically open at least one web page. This is the browser's start page, which is also called its home page.[2][9]

Start pages can be a website or a special browser page, such as thumbnails of frequently visited websites. Moreover, there is a niche market of websites intended to be used solely as start pages.[9]

See also

[edit]
  • Contact page
  • Site map

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "What is a Home Page? – Definition from Techopedia". Techopedia.com. Archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Retrieved 2022-08-10.
  2. ^ a b "Start page". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2024-12-18.
  3. ^ Nielsen & Tahir 2002a, p. 7.
  4. ^ Nielsen, Jakob (12 May 2002b). "Top 10 Guidelines for Homepage Usability". nngroup.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2014.
  5. ^ Kalbach 2007, p. 106.
  6. ^ a b Nielsen & Tahir 2002a, p. 3.
  7. ^ Nielsen & Tahir 2002a, p. 1.
  8. ^ Nielsen & Tahir 2002a, p. 2.
  9. ^ a b Schofield, Jack (7 November 2013). "iGoogle: what are the best alternatives?". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 September 2014.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Campbell, Jennifer (2014). Web Design: Introductory. Cengage Learning. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-305-17627-0.
  • Kalbach, James (2007). Designing Web Navigation. O'Reilly Media. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-596-55378-4.
  • Nielsen, Jakob; Tahir, Marie (2002a). Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed. [Indianapolis, IN]: New Riders. ISBN 0-7357-1102-X. OCLC 48657258.

 

 

The usap.gov website

A website (also written as a web site) is one or more web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, education, commerce, entertainment, or social media. Hyperlinking between web pages guides the navigation of the site, which often starts with a home page. The most-visited sites are Google, YouTube, and Facebook.

All publicly-accessible websites collectively constitute the World Wide Web. There are also private websites that can only be accessed on a private network, such as a company's internal website for its employees. Users can access websites on a range of devices, including desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. The app used on these devices is called a web browser.

Background

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The nasa.gov home page in 2015

The World Wide Web (WWW) was created in 1989 by the British CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee.[1][2] On 30 April 1993, CERN announced that the World Wide Web would be free to use for anyone, contributing to the immense growth of the Web.[3] Before the introduction of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), other protocols such as File Transfer Protocol and the gopher protocol were used to retrieve individual files from a server. These protocols offer a simple directory structure in which the user navigates and where they choose files to download. Documents were most often presented as plain text files without formatting or were encoded in word processor formats.

History

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While "web site" was the original spelling (sometimes capitalized "Web site", since "Web" is a proper noun when referring to the World Wide Web), this variant has become rarely used, and "website" has become the standard spelling. All major style guides, such as The Chicago Manual of Style[4] and the AP Stylebook,[5] have reflected this change.

In February 2009, Netcraft, an Internet monitoring company that has tracked Web growth since 1995, reported that there were 215,675,903 websites with domain names and content on them in 2009, compared to just 19,732 websites in August 1995.[6] After reaching 1 billion websites in September 2014, a milestone confirmed by Netcraft in its October 2014 Web Server Survey and that Internet Live Stats was the first to announce—as attested by this tweet from the inventor of the World Wide Web himself, Tim Berners-Lee—the number of websites in the world have subsequently declined, reverting to a level below 1 billion. This is due to the monthly fluctuations in the count of inactive websites. The number of websites continued growing to over 1 billion by March 2016 and has continued growing since.[7] Netcraft Web Server Survey in January 2020 reported that there are 1,295,973,827 websites and in April 2021 reported that there are 1,212,139,815 sites across 10,939,637 web-facing computers, and 264,469,666 unique domains.[8] An estimated 85 percent of all websites are inactive.[9]

Static website

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A static website is one that has Web pages stored on the server in the format that is sent to a client Web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML); Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to control appearance beyond basic HTML. Images are commonly used to create the desired appearance and as part of the main content. Audio or video might also be considered "static" content if it plays automatically or is generally non-interactive. This type of website usually displays the same information to all visitors. Similar to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, a static website will generally provide consistent, standard information for an extended period of time. Although the website owner may make updates periodically, it is a manual process to edit the text, photos, and other content and may require basic website design skills and software. Simple forms or marketing examples of websites, such as a classic website, a five-page website or a brochure website are often static websites, because they present pre-defined, static information to the user. This may include information about a company and its products and services through text, photos, animations, audio/video, and navigation menus.

Static websites may still use server side includes (SSI) as an editing convenience, such as sharing a common menu bar across many pages. As the site's behavior to the reader is still static, this is not considered a dynamic site.

Dynamic website

[edit]
Server-side programming language usage in 2016

A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and automatically. Server-side dynamic pages are generated "on the fly" by computer code that produces the HTML (CSS are responsible for appearance and thus, are static files). There are a wide range of software systems, such as CGI, Java Servlets and Java Server Pages (JSP), Active Server Pages and ColdFusion (CFML) that are available to generate dynamic Web systems and dynamic sites. Various Web application frameworks and Web template systems are available for general-use programming languages like Perl, PHP, Python and Ruby to make it faster and easier to create complex dynamic websites.

A site can display the current state of a dialogue between users, monitor a changing situation, or provide information in some way personalized to the requirements of the individual user. For example, when the front page of a news site is requested, the code running on the webserver might combine stored HTML fragments with news stories retrieved from a database or another website via RSS to produce a page that includes the latest information. Dynamic sites can be interactive by using HTML forms, storing and reading back browser cookies, or by creating a series of pages that reflect the previous history of clicks. Another example of dynamic content is when a retail website with a database of media products allows a user to input a search request, e.g. for the keyword Beatles. In response, the content of the Web page will spontaneously change the way it looked before, and will then display a list of Beatles products like CDs, DVDs, and books. Dynamic HTML uses JavaScript code to instruct the Web browser how to interactively modify the page contents. One way to simulate a certain type of dynamic website while avoiding the performance loss of initiating the dynamic engine on a per-user or per-connection basis is to periodically automatically regenerate a large series of static pages.

Multimedia and interactive content

[edit]

Early websites had only text, and soon after, images. Web browser plug-ins were then used to add audio, video, and interactivity (such as for a rich Web application that mirrors the complexity of a desktop application like a word processor). Examples of such plug-ins are Microsoft Silverlight, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave Player, and Java SE. HTML 5 includes provisions for audio and video without plugins. JavaScript is also built into most modern web browsers, and allows for website creators to send code to the web browser that instructs it how to interactively modify page content and communicate with the web server if needed. The browser's internal representation of the content is known as the Document Object Model (DOM).

WebGL (Web Graphics Library) is a modern JavaScript API for rendering interactive 3D graphics without the use of plug-ins. It allows interactive content such as 3D animations, visualizations and video explainers to presented users in the most intuitive way.[10]

A 2010-era trend in websites called "responsive design" has given the best viewing experience as it provides a device-based layout for users. These websites change their layout according to the device or mobile platform, thus giving a rich user experience.[11]

Types

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Websites can be divided into two broad categories—static and interactive. Interactive sites are part of the Web 2.0 community of sites and allow for interactivity between the site owner and site visitors or users. Static sites serve or capture information but do not allow engagement with the audience or users directly. Some websites are informational or produced by enthusiasts or for personal use or entertainment. Many websites do aim to make money using one or more business models, including:

  • Posting interesting content and selling contextual advertising either through direct sales or through an advertising network.
  • E-commerce: products or services are purchased directly through the website
  • Advertising products or services available at a brick-and-mortar business
  • Freemium: basic content is available for free, but premium content requires a payment (e.g., WordPress website, it is an open-source platform to build a blog or website).
  • Some websites require user registration or subscription to access the content. Examples of subscription websites include many business sites, news websites, academic journal websites, gaming websites, file-sharing websites, message boards, Web-based email, social networking websites, websites providing real-time stock market data, as well as sites providing various other services.

See also

[edit]
  • Bulletin board system
  • Link rot
  • Lists of websites
  • Site map
  • Web content management system
  • Web design
  • Web development
  • Web development tools
  • Web hosting service
  • Web template system
  • Website governance
  • Website monetization
  • World Wide Web Consortium (Web standards)

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Tim Berners-Lee". W3C. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  2. ^ "home of the first website". info.cern.ch. Archived from the original on 10 June 2017. Retrieved 30 August 2008.
  3. ^ Cailliau, Robert. "A Little History of the World Wide Web". W3C. Archived from the original on 6 May 2013. Retrieved 16 February 2007.
  4. ^ "Internet, Web, and Other Post-Watergate Concerns". The Chicago Manual of Style. University of Chicago. Archived from the original on 20 February 2010. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
  5. ^ AP Stylebook [@APStylebook] (16 April 2010). "Responding to reader input, we are changing Web site to website. This appears on Stylebook Online today and in the 2010 book next month" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 March 2019 – via Twitter.
  6. ^ "Web Server Survey". Netcraft. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  7. ^ A total number of Websites | Internet live stats. Archived 20 July 2017 at the Wayback Machine. internetlivestats.com. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
  8. ^ "Web Server Survey". Netcraft News. Archived from the original on 24 July 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  9. ^ Deon (26 May 2020). "How Many Websites Are There Around the World? [2021]". Siteefy. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  10. ^ "OpenGL ES for the Web". khronos.org. 19 July 2011. Archived from the original on 15 December 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
  11. ^ Pete LePage. "Responsive Web Design Basics - Web". Google Developers. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
[edit]
  • Internet Corporation For Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN)
  • World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  • The Internet Society (ISOC)

 

Frequently Asked Questions

A freelance web designer in Sydney should have a strong understanding of graphic design, user experience (UX), user interface (UI) design, HTML/CSS coding, JavaScript, and SEO. They should also be familiar with web design tools like Adobe Creative Suite and WordPress.
Its extremely important. With the increasing use of smartphones and tablets to browse the internet, having a website that is mobile responsive can significantly improve user experience and engagement.
Yes, being able to work with various CMS platforms such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal is crucial as these systems are commonly used for website creation and management. This gives clients more control over their websites once the project is complete.
Very relevant. A good freelancer doesnt just create visually appealing websites; they also need to ensure that those sites are optimized for search engines. An understanding of SEO best practices can significantly enhance the visibility of a clients website on Google.
Successful freelancers require excellent written and verbal communication skills. They need to understand their client’s needs and expectations clearly and translate those into an effective visual solution. Good communication also helps when explaining technical aspects to non-technical clients.