A graphic designer wants to retrain as a web designer. What do you need to know?

Question

Design

Greetings!
A familiar girl puzzled me with a question. She is a very good graphic designer. But then she wanted to expand her horizons and she thought about web design. She asks me what she needs to read, what to study, what to count on. I'm a proger myself, and the web is a hobby, so I can't answer correctly. Help! :)
What is meant now by "web designer"? Development of a static layout (roughly speaking, pictures)? Or is a web designer expected to own the full stack: (s)css styles, html markup, logic and document manipulation (JS/jQuery)?
Is a good web designer expected to understand the principles of Responsive Web Design?
I understand that nothing terrible will happen if all of the above is in the luggage. But still, what deliveries are typicalexpected from a web designer?
Thank you.

Answer 1

The question is very good, because everyone understands the word "designer" differently. Depending on the type of task/project - say, from the development of a static business card website to the development of a complex interactive service (for example, social networks) - the role, tasks and result of the designer's work vary greatly. I've run projects on both "ends" of this scale, so I'll try to describe the difference.
In the simplest case, a designer needs a picture suitable for layout. This means a .psd file with the layout of the site (as it will look in the browser). The picture must be in raster (pixel) representation - this, by the way, is a stumbling block for many print designers (they are used to thinking in vector and "dots per inch" - here it's just "pixels"). Also, unlike printing, it is important to think of the site not as a static picture, but as an interface for interacting with the visitor: what happens when the user moves the mouse over links, when they click, etc. In recent years (with the development of retina and other 4k) it is also important that the raster image be with a "margin" in resolution (ie everything is drawn in 2-4 times higher resolution).
It is very important that the designer understands the specifics of the layout (and / or closely communicates with a good layout designer), so that he foresees what happens when the browser window is resized, how the site looks on very large and very small screens, etc. This is especially important if the layout is "stretching" (how exactly the elements and content of the page are positioned when the browser width changes). In order to understand the possibilities of layout well, I recommend learning the basics of html and css, for example, here is a very simple initial course: www.codecademy.com/skills/make-a-website - and here are slightly more complex (but also initial) lessons: https:/ /www.codeschool.com/paths/html-css
Now for the other side. If it's not about "drawing websites", but about creating and maintaining an Internet service (for example, a social network), then the designer becomes not so much an artist as a designer. And he designs "user interaction" (user experience) - that is, the process of how the user communicates / works with the project, with all possible options, branches, etc. By the way, in large projects, the roles of a graphic designer (who draws buttons, icons, etc.) and a designer are often separated - but for effective work, both need to understand each other's roles. Here, the concepts of "responsiveness", predictability of behavior, a single interface style that is understandable and familiar to the user are especially important.
When it comes to the life of a large project, a designer often improves and complements what is already there, rather than redoing it from scratch. Therefore, the result of work for such a designer is a layout that is "compatible" with the current state of the project and does not require significant re-layout. Often it is still .psd, sometimes it is just a prototype (for example, in the same axure), on the basis of which the layout designer assembles the interface from the library of elements that is already ready and worked out (for this project).
Well, regardless of what project a web designer is working on, it makes sense to look for interesting solutions at https://dribbble.com/, https://www.behance.net/ and similar services.

Answer 2

For something similar link:
How to retrain as a web designer from a graphic designer?
already discussed, there is something to think about

Answer 3

let it work out. For the time being, he will draw projects for free for experience. Maybe it will work. I do not recommend reading. She takes the basis from books and then herself.