Right now I'm busy studying Dreamweaver CS3 to learn to code pages using XHTML, CSS, Spry, PHP and MySQL. Does anybody have any suggestions about what's best for me to know about web design? If you are an employer in the web development business, what would you be looking for in an entry-level designer?

These are two completely different positions, usually, but in many cases are filled by one person.

For web development, keep doing what you are doing. Dreamweaver, PHP/MySQL, Java, and XML are good places to start...

For design, it becomes a combination of Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Fireworks - all of which come with the Design Studio packages of Photoshop.

For starters, getting a handle on basic site creation using Photoshop and Dreamweaver will prove very valuable.

Once you get a hang of the basic HTML elements (table design, DIV, etc), move into CSS styling. Many sites now run on a lot of CSS, meaning they run Table-less design. This keeps the file sizes lower and increases load times.

One of the KEY elements is education - the industry changes ALL the time. This is why I choose to develop my sites using open source elements - there is a lot of support, a huge development community, and many times you can create some good contacts simply by being on these sites.

Use lots of sites, get familiar with GUI design, and learn from the mistakes of others. If you find a "bad" website, study it. The same goes for good ones.

Study the larger sites, google, yahoo, amazon, etc to learn some of the tricks and wording used by the "big guys".

I hope this helps a bit, or at least guides you in the right direction.

Thanks for the advice, Rob.

Have you noticed that video has become very prominent on the Internet? CNET, Gamespot, almost all the search engines, and Youtube, of course, are using it a lot. Netflix now offers "Watch Instantly" videos that allow you to watch the movie right away on your computer. I make good use of this feature, and it works nicely.

Web video, then, is something a designer/developer should know.

I know much of what you advised me to learn except for Java, XML, and Fireworks. I'll have to put them on my list.

You're right about CSS layout. It seems to be rapidly replacing tables for web layout. Tables are still good for displaying data, though.

Anyway, thanks for the advice.