Architectural Designs

WHat do you need in order to set up a home office for a web designer.?

My son is really into web design and I'd love to get him all the professional tools he needs. How much should I budget for professional software and equipment for his new creative space? (I do know there are free tools out there, but I would like for him to whatever is industry standard.)

Public Comments

1. A computer to work with, preferably with two large screens, another to function as a test web server. As for software, Adobe Dreamweaver, Flash and perhaps FireWorks.
2. For software, you want to look at Adobe's collections, Dreamweaver, Photoshop or Fireworks, Flash, whatever. Keep in mind they are *very* expensive and also it is a bad idea to become dependant on them, you want to be able to craft websites with notepad before you move onto Dreamweaver. Also, if you're buying adobe software you'll need to buy him some web hosting, if you haven't already. You can design sites on your home pc but there is a limit to how far that can go. So look around for hosting solutions. Otherwise, just a good computer - fast, so he can have dreamweaver and ie/firefox/chrome/whatever and filezilla open all at once and working without crashing. Big screen, or maybe two.
3. This really depends on how much you want to spend, it can get expensive (I know, because I am a freelancer)! Make sure he has a top-of-the line computer, first and foremost. Next, he needs the right software. Adobe CS4 Design Premium would be an excellent start, as it includes all the design and coding software he needs. I agree that web designers need to learn to hand-code and not become reliant on Dreamweaver, so he will need a text-editing program as well. I work on a Mac, so I can recommend some great software for the Mac platform (sorry, my knowledge is limited with PCs). Coda is my favorite application for hand-writing code, and I also love CSS Edit. Both of these programs will enable him to shave his productivity time down. If he is planning on freelancing, he needs to make sure he knows how to write a contract and charge for his services. There are some really wonderful time-tracking applications available (I use TimeLog and RescueTime) that will allow him to see how long he really spends on his projects. I know that all my hardware and programs set me back over 6K, and there is still stuff that I would like to invest in!