Where do i start in website design

dominatrix1

dominatrix1

dominatrix1

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10 Jan 2006
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I am about to start up a website and eventually i would like to be able do do all the designing myself - where would you reccommend as a start for this. I have basic knowledge with dreamweaver and have desingned simple websites before but would would really like to get good at it - anytips please
 
Dreamweaver is a crutch. Learn to code using a HTML editor like Notepad++ or PSPad.

Start by designing your site in Photoshop. (Download a website .psd template. Google for one, to see how it should look)
Once designed in Photoshop create the design in your editor.
Upload website.

If you need tips about design, I suggest you browse templatemonster.com and get a general feel for the styles of design.
If you're talking about actual coding of sites go to w3schools.com and read tutorials on HTML and CSS.

Your request for tips is a bit vague, it's like asking "I want to be able to split atoms, any tips?". There's a lot of things involved in a website.

p.s. There is a HTML, Graphics, Programming topic on these forums.
 
FabienO said:
Dreamweaver is a crutch. Learn to code using a HTML editor like Notepad++ or PSPad.

Start by designing your site in Photoshop. (Download a website .psd template. Google for one, to see how it should look)
Once designed in Photoshop create the design in your editor.
Upload website.

If you need tips about design, I suggest you browse templatemonster.com and get a general feel for the styles of design.
If you're talking about actual coding of sites go to w3schools.com and read tutorials on HTML and CSS.

Your request for tips is a bit vague, it's like asking "I want to be able to split atoms, any tips?". There's a lot of things involved in a website.

p.s. There is a HTML, Graphics, Programming topic on these forums.
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This sounds good. Thumbs up for learning using something like Notepad++ to start, will give you the right foundations. The internet is a fountain of tutorials etc, start very simple and build!
 
Dreamweaver is a great tool, for beginners and advanced users alike. It's auto complete and various other functions will help you to learn what elements are available and what properties they have.

Use it in code view though. Designing in anything other than looking at the code is bad. You need to understand whats doing what, where and why.

www.tizag.com is a great start on the basics of HTML and CSS.
 
gord said:
Dreamweaver is a great tool, for beginners and advanced users alike. It's auto complete and various other functions will help you to learn what elements are available and what properties they have.

Use it in code view though. Designing in anything other than looking at the code is bad. You need to understand whats doing what, where and why.
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I agree with this and actually use Dreamweaver (in code view) as my editor for work. Auto Complete makes things nice and quick and I just LOVE how it automatically opens everything linked from within your page automatically. (ie: open your page and it automatically opens all linked css and js files)
 
Agree with gord and Tripnologist' posts above. DW in code view is a very good tool. I can kinda see why some folk prefer to use Notepad++ but give me DW CS4 in code view everytime. ;)
 
I am no fan of WYSIWYG website builders so i have always avoided dreamweaver. I just use eclipse as i am usually I am interspersing PHP and JS plus its free. I know my way around it from using it for C and Java too but it does take a bit of getting used to.

I did used to use Notepad++ but i ended up getting frustrated with lack of decent autocomplete and silly error highlighting for real coding but i still sometimes mock up site templates with it first. Then for Debugging i just use Google Chromes Dev tools which are really quite good for fixing any silly JS niggles.

EDIT:

Just realised i gave no tips to webdesign :p I would start with a few w3schools tutorial and using Notepad++ first make something very simple, maybe a portfolio/blog site about yourself. Then i would look up some photoshop design tutorials and mock up some sites and cut them out and make some templates and improve on your site. As you specifically didn't state development i guess making Wordpress templates and mock up some portfolio sites would be best as they are more designer then develop projects where there isn't a heavy emphasis on anything else. If you want some cool inspiration then look at some of these:

http://webdeveloperplus.com/design/40-fresh-beautiful-examples-of-websites-with-large-backgrounds/

granted most the sites are just fluff but they do look cool and provide real alternative design without loads of damn flash :) Its a shame that blog seems dead as there are some really nice stuff on it.
 
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Tools: Photoshop Notepad++ Dreamweaver
Tutorials: w3schools, cssmaxdesign
Inspiration: css zen garden, smashing magazine.com, design meltdown.com
Advice: practice, debug, test, repeat and don't give up
:)
 
look for tutorials in webdesign and what you want to try and achieve doing. Tons of good sites to help, also get some ebooks on html/css/javascript/php/mysql

play with web developer tools like firebug/firefox you'll see how others have structured their websites you'll learn fast if it interests you.
 
Another Dreamweaver user here. I love being able to flick back and forth from code view to preview. I've only found one program that I prefer the markup highlighting settings of, and that was on Ubuntu and I've forgotten the name...

Dreamweaver is my favourite program I've used so far though. The autocomplete is dead useful, the FTP client is by far the best I've tried. I just can't find anything that has the same features as Dreamweaver, but is a better compromise.

I use CS3, and I've tried CS4 and CS5 but just can't get on with them, there's too much stuff on the screen all the time and the layout is different. :(

I've also tried the Expression Web package, which is a very good compromise IMO. (Expression Web around £80, Adobe's Web Package about £1700). The coding program is really good, it has a decent FTP tool and the code highlighting is good. Not an awful lot more is needed if you ask me. :P

The design program however, is nothing on Photoshop. I couldn't do anything in it really.

EDIT: Have a look on csswizardry.com, click on resources and there's loads of help stuff on there. My mate runs it he's super helpful too if he's got any spare time. :p
 
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Muel said:
I've tried CS4 and CS5 but just can't get on with them, there's too much stuff on the screen all the time and the layout is different. :(
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Too much stuff on the screen? How so?

dw.png
 
The main thing for me was that I just couldn't get used to the layout of it quickly enough, not just Dreamweaver but Photoshop too. I did have the trial installed until it ran out but just couldn't get on with it. Also you're running 1920x1200 at a guess there? I use it on a 1024x600 netbook, and you can get the collection of toolbars at the top much more compact in CS3 IMO.

I just never got on with either of them. I've just found I can get Expression Studio 4 through uni for free though so I'm going to give that a try, my previous post was based on Expression Studio 3. :p
 
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