If you’re considering a career in web design, you should first understand what technical computer knowledge you will learn in an online web design degree program. Web design and development programs aren’t all about the creative principles and practices that go into creating a website layout. It’s true that web design students often take classes such as color theory and techniques, computer graphics and writing for the Web. However, it’s also important for website designers and developers to have a strong background in the technology, and particularly the computer programming languages and publishing tools, that make building a website possible. Otherwise, web designers and developers could come up with ideas for how a website should look, but they wouldn’t be able to bring those ideas to fruition.

Computer Programming Languages

One type of technical computer knowledge you will learn in an online web design degree program is how to understand and use common computer programming languages. Web developers use these programming languages to write the code that creates websites and webpages. Some of the most popular computer programming languages for web developers are HTML (specifically HTML5), JavaScript and SQL, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). You might also need to learn how to use digital publishing tools like Flash.

Coursework in Website Development

Of course, students in a web design and development program need to learn the technical skills needed to create a variety of types of websites and webpages. Not all websites or webpages are precisely the same. Your coursework may cover how to build different types of websites and webpages, from web portals to databases and from ecommerce sites to web servers. You will also take coursework that will help you develop the different components that make up webpages and websites, including web multimedia, graphic editing software, audio and video editing, dynamic content management and web animation techniques. This technical computer knowledge you learn in an online web design degree program will prove valuable as you begin working in the field of website design and development.

Computer and Information Technology (IT) Courses

As a web designer and developer, you will need to be familiar with other aspects of computer science and IT beyond the most popular programming languages. For this reason, some of the technical computer knowledge you learn in an online web design degree program will include coursework in more general computer and IT studies, including database management systems, IT research, advanced networking, applied systems analysis and security.

Many online web design and development degree programs require students to delve into studies in computer programming, computer science and information technology. To achieve career success, it’s important for web designers and developers to have a thorough computer science background, which is why not all of the technical computer knowledge you learn in an online web design degree program focuses narrowly on the basics needed to write website code.