Yeah but even in the early days I remember how they sucked. One example I remember is that I was buying network equipment, the CompUSA service department offered to do a wiring install. This was a no-notice thing so I was interested; the SOB offered to install ethernet (not arcnet) over standard phone cable. (Arcnet was a mostly no longer used protocol that ran over standard twisted pair, if certain conditions were met. Ethernet, no so much; and our runs were short enough that Ethernet might have worked with intermittent failures over phone cable.)

And he had a big grin on his face; he was enjoying the thought of how badly he would be screwing me if I accepted. I called my boss and got permission to buy the equipment from a small place down the road where the equipment was 20% more, but the people would at least not offer to sabotage our network. I did my own cable install (I really hate cabling - but budget had to come from somewhere, and saying "no" to an offer like that was not strong enough".) I avoided doing business with CompUSA for years after that, as did the company I worked for.

A question for the techie hivemind, especially those professional computer techies: I'm looking to expand my (rather limited) computer skills, so I'm thinking about going for a web design program/certification to add to my resume. Does this look like it might cover at least a few of the basics skills needed to work in web design?

My professional background is in publishing/editing, but I figured web design combined with that editing means that I might be able to produce web newsletters for professional organizations, etc.

Kathy, for the Flash and Fireworks, XML, etc. it would be useful. There's nothing in there about CSS, or PhP, though, and those are a necessity these days, and there ought to be a class on content management systems--at the very least an introduction.

edit: Most of it looks useful, especially if they're good about teaching you useability, accessibility, meeting web standards. I wouldn't want that many classes in software, the Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc.

I like W3Schools for learning things I don't know how to do, and they have some sort of certification program. [link] [link]

I think you can get by without PHP--dynamic websites are a whole different bag of tricks. But CSS is key, and I second the rec for W3Schools.

Is PhP "necessary"? If you end up doing web application development using Microsoft products (asp.net and whatnot) you wouldn't need PhP.

OTOH, maybe it'd be good to learn because knowing one web server programming language would be good, even if you don't end up using that particular language? If that's the case, then yeah.

Um, or something....

eta:

x-posty....

dynamic websites are a whole different bag of tricks.

Yeah, would it be a good idea for a relative novice at web development to get into the dynamic stuff?

*cough*PHP*cough*

(but capitalization aside, thirding the other comments)

Thanks Amych, I think I capitalize it differently every time I write it.

I use PHP a lot, but i don't use any of the Microsoft products, which has hampered me somewhat, and I do build a lot of WordPress websites.

A novice, maybe not with the dynamic content, but if they can teach advanced Dreamweaver, and the course ends in a certification of some sort, they could at least teach enough to be dangerous--even if it's just which one to learn or where to go next. There are a lot of options out there.

I have a related question, actually. I've offered to design a website for the critics group DH belongs to, and they have offered to pay me. It's not going to be a terribly complicated site, but I'm also not a professional web designer.

I was thinking $250 to create the site, plus $50/year for registration/hosting/maintenance. (Right now they don't even have a domain name, so I'm going to just add it to my Dreamhost account.) Am I totally off-base with that amount, or does that sound reasonable?

Jessica, that's a terrible question.

How much do you value your time? I'd start from there, and then start estimating how long it will take you.

How much do you value your time?

Oh like that's got a quick and easy answer.

Ugh. This is why I was a terrible freelancer.