Website Design & Development - How do you do it?

[ja3h]

Just wondering what techniques/methods you guys use when making websites and what programs you use and what benefit they give you?

I suspect the way I do it is long winded and not very efficient.

1. I use XAMPP to let me view the website locally.
   
2. I make a mock up on Photoshop with a general idea of the layout, I then use Aptana Studio or Dreamweaver to create the divs etc and turn on borders or colours so I can see if I'm getting the layout correct.
   
3. Constantly CTRL+F5'ing in a web browser.
   
4. Create the assets in Fireworks or Photoshop - jam them in and add content.
   
5. Then FileZilla to go to the online domain and click and drag the contents of the local folder to the website.

 

[ja3h]

Here's my process:

1. Design the website in Photoshop
2. Once happy, split up all the necessary images
3. Create the layout in Notepad++, viewing the page in IE/FF/Chrome along the way
4. Once I'm happy with the layout of the main page I then split it into PHP (header/footer etc) and create the rest of the pages
5. Upload!

I'm such a newbie - I'm looking into Step 4. I've just been copying and pasting the whole html layout on each page of the website and changing what needs changing...

Thanks for the replies.

 

[ja3h]

Learning the basics of PHP takes seconds and saves hours. All my sites are PHP even if they're not dynamic, mainly for include() usage (although as well as the equally handy contact forms/visitor trackers etc). Do a Google for "php include" and that should set you on your way.

Ok I got the Php include thing down now. Tidied it up a lot - I've got a header, nav and footer now which I include on the pages.

Thanks!

What is the correct way to avoid this: <p>&nbsp;</p>?

Is there a reason why people prefer to use notepad ++ over dreamweaver? (Barring the cost?) I haven't got into the program properly but I like the fact that when you press "</" it closes whatever is open and when you change a link it changes everything related to it (If that makes sense).