First of all, your picking a very tough market to get into right now. Everybody and their mom knows html so they think they're web designers.
The one plus about the market being so over-saturated right now is that (for the most part) only the most talented people are getting jobs. Where as three years ago if you had a "html for dummies" book you could get a job, not anymore.
Right now, I'd say even more than a degree employers are looking for strong portfolios. If you have a great background with alot of work in your portfolio you stand a much better chance of getting a job than some fresh graduate.
With that being said if you're serious about doing web design, I suggest you go grab a couple of books and start working on stuff (even before/while your going to school). You'll want to have as much work under your belt as possible when you go to get a job.
As far as books/tools. Stay away from just about any WYSIWIG at first. You really need to have a fundemental understanding of html,dhtml, css, javascript, xml, and cgi when you start out.
Using a program (dreamweaver, frontpage, etc) will only hamper your ability in the long run. Later on when you understand all the stuff, and can code a page by hand, sure you can use those if you're doing a really complicated table or something.
But at first, learn to do EVERYTHING by hand.
Uhm...as far as schooling, I'd say any graphic design/multimedia design stuff will help you. With the market how it is, diversity is key so knowing lots of stuff about lots of style is always a good thing...
Uhm, yea...went off on a little rant session there, and I'm to lazy to spell check right now.
Of course everything above is just my personal opinion, so take it as such.
Bookmarks