Website Design & Development - How do you do it?

ja3h said:
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).
Click to expand...

I actually switched from notepad2 to DW CS4 when it was released. I did it for only a couple small reasons but they were enough for me.

1. I can open a single page and DW automatically opens the css and js files for that page in tabs.
2. snippets library! It keeps me from having to rewrite the same things over and over.

I only use it in codeview, I just prefer how it lets me keep all my windows organised.
 
rghjones said:
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
Click to expand...
D'oh! :o If only I'd known about that for my final year project. :( Could have saved me ruddy hours on the website I re-designed for a lecturer. That and I could have written about how it would have been better for him in terms of maintenance of the site and updating the menu, navigation and footer independently of the actual content. Could have earned me a few extra %age points on my project score. :p

I've learned about PHP includes recently as I'm wanting to get into PHP/MySQL but I'm guessing what you do is just a PHP version of an XHTML page? No actual database connections, just XHTML in PHP and that's that?

rghjones said:
As has been said it's all personal preference. I use Notepad++ because it gives me complete control without the bloatedness of Dreamweaver.
Click to expand...
Ditto. Have used Notepad++ for ages but used it to a new level for the above final year project. I had to do an initial report into the lecturer's site and how I could re-do it; hard-coded XHTML/CSS with Notepad++, Dreamweaver or the MS Expression Web equivalent or a CMS like Plone or Joomla. Went for Notepad++ in the end. :)
 
Last edited:
Wow, it seems like a lot of people design it all in photoshop first, then slice it up, maybe this is where I am going wrong and why I usually find it difficult to get over that "Designers Block" usually my approach is:

Create the layout in CSS, then try to create each elemant of the design bit by bit in photoshop.

Do you think it will be much easier if I create the whole design in photoshop first, then slice each bit up?
 
DJMK4 said:
Wow, it seems like a lot of people design it all in photoshop first, then slice it up, maybe this is where I am going wrong and why I usually find it difficult to get over that "Designers Block" usually my approach is:
Create the layout in CSS, then try to create each elemant of the design bit by bit in photoshop.
Do you think it will be much easier if I create the whole design in photoshop first, then slice each bit up?
Click to expand...

Would you start building a house without a blueprint?
I always wireframe, then create the layout in PS before doing anything else.
If I find I need to change something while building the site, I'll go back to PS and add it in first.

What usually happens if you just try to build it as you go along is you'll have a crappy site with no rhyme or reason to content placement. You probably won't have a nice vertical rhythm either.
 
What's the advantage of using php to dynamically input headers and footers over using .shtm and includes or just using good ol find/replace?
 
rghjones said:
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!
Click to expand...

You missed out a step.

Open in IE, then correct any css errors :)
 
Martin_Man said:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />

what does it mean?
Click to expand...



First is your doctype. In this case, xhtml transitional. Next comes your standard html tag. The xmlsn bit is there because you're using an xhtml doctype and it indicates the document schema.
Lastly, you've specified the character encoding you used to make your page. UTF-8 is pretty much the standard but there are various charsets which can be used for other languages.
 
Tripnologist said:
First is your doctype. In this case, xhtml transitional. Next comes your standard html tag. The xmlsn bit is there because you're using an xhtml doctype and it indicates the document schema.
Lastly, you've specified the character encoding you used to make your page. UTF-8 is pretty much the standard but there are various charsets which can be used for other languages.
Click to expand...

Thanks ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom