Hey I’m a web design student. I’m wondering what I should learn to supplement my learning in university. HTML, CSS, PHP , java, and SQL are pretty much a given in regards to what I’m supposed to learn , and I am already training myself in photoshop and a few other graphics programs , so any advice on what else would be a good idea to get into?
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learning Visual Basic…
Adobe illustrator?
C# and VB.net will be extremely useful, that’s what is currently most used.
Also learn some Flash if you can.
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Those the essentials. There are plenty of tools that you can learn though. I would recommend JQuery if you already know javascript. It’s a library that can do some pretty awesome stuff. AJAX is also a good one to learn. It allows elements on the page to load without reloading the entire page, like Gmail.
The set of tools used varies by region and focus. One approach would be to look at job postings in your town, or in the towns where you’d like to work during vacations or after graduation. See what the sort of jobs you’d like are asking for. See what your favorite sites are using.
PHP and Java (and VB.net and C# as far as I know) are used more for the backend power of web sites today than the user-facing parts. They’re still critical tools, but if you’re more interested in the front end look and interaction, you need javascript with AJAX (use a library like YUI or jQuery) and Flash/Flex.
More than focusing on a bunch of different languages though, I would try to build something real: a web site, an iphone app (or other mobile device), a facebook (or other social site) app, a browser add-on, a reusable library for your favorite language. You can do powerful things with the APIs published by Google, Yahoo, and other internet companies. A completed site or application is great for your resume and might even make you some money.