Web design. Help needed

[Matty2Phatty]

That's spousal abuse

[Jauhar2k4]

Well I don't have any stuff, but will you be making it in flash? will it be static?, will it be dynamic?

[used2bgordy]

Well, something fancy I guess. She wants it to be about her cats (OH MY GOD:scream: ) but some really tastefull stuff.
I though about Digital Tutors' Essentials: Dreamweaver MX 2004 (http://www.digitaltutors.com/store/product.php?productid=25&cat=6&page=1) to buy. I need some other recommendation to compare and consider.

[Hazdaz]

I am in the same boat as you right now.... not a website about cats, but still I am trying to setup a webpage, and I am shocked at how cumbersome the whole process can be.

I was running Dreamweaver - since it is essentially the standard application to use, but holy crap did I get lost quick. I just blows my mind that I can load up an application like 3DS MAX or many different CAD programs or other high-end applications and get decent results fairly quickly, but Dreamweaver is kicking my ass.

I eventually gave up and got Fusion7 (by Net Objects). While I am sure it isn't nearly as powerful as DW, atleast I can get somewhere with it. I also was using a free application called DHEditor that was actually pretty decent. If ya don't need really complex features, ya just might be better off with an easier program.

[lots]

I use notepad and photoshop :)

[kaiser_pro]

photoshop is for weeds:twisted:

its advantagious to learn HTML even if you are going to use an abomination like dreamweaver. the one bonus is that homesite is shipped with dreamweaver, although i hate to think what macromedia have done to it.

flash is nasty (just look at my site) the underlying software isnt bad at all, its just interface that sucks, its really incosistant and crowded. (it is however miles better than director)

[Jauhar2k4]

I would say use dreamweaver, photoshop and if you really want flash have that inside the tables in dreamweaver.

[Sp1ice]

Grab yourself an HTML book.. they are fairly inexpensive and depending on how PC savvy the wife is she may be able to create her own site about her cats. Otherwise it really depends on how "involved" she wants the site you can use Dreamweaver, or to do something basic to get her off your back for a few days learn basic html you can probably knock something suitable out in a couple of hours.

[grogoreo]

hi

There are some other factors to look at such as accesability for, say, people with screen readers or people with different web browers (like people who use Firefox etc). I don't know what kind of audience your wife's site will/could get but it's a good idea to keep in mind other peoples preferences such as browser.

I personally use a text editor with HTML and CSS. I don't see anyting wrong with Flash, but it is worth having a separete site for the people without a Flash player or don't want to wait. This could be cumbersome if you have basically two sites with the same content, but you can link the two sites by having the content in a separete file, say cat_info.inc, then in flash you can link a text box to load up the cat_info.inc file. Then in your web site you can do the same.

If you do decide to use Dreamweaver, I would have the screen split to show the code at the top and the WYSIWYG (the area where you can create a page like in MS Word and where DW will code it for you) because as you create your site you should pick up how to create one by hand coding, which isn't too hard when you get the hang of it.

Another step, which may be a bit too hard for a new comer, is to use CSS for all the design and get rid of tables. I'm working on a site, here http://www.stokesocialistparty.org.uk/test/ (it looks fine in Firefox!), and it is all done in CSS. It has temporary graphics and colours but the basis is there.

Hope this helps,
Greg

[lots]

This morning out of boredom I wrote up a page in a couple of mins with just plain notepad and some graphic I made in PS. It's all CSS so I can change the look whenever I like, or use some php and have a few "themes" that ppl can change to.

Now if only I had some content :)

Anyway. I think it would be best to just sit down and learn some HTML. You dont need to go out and buy anything really. Just open notepad, and go to google for HTML tutorials. Within a few minutes you should have some incredibly basic idea how to make a simple webpage. And you can just go from there. HTML is not very difficult, just remembering all the commands is :) but this is why google exists :P

I'm going to guess that the page does not need to be too dynamic, and if it does, its something you can learn over time.

[used2bgordy]

Thank you guy for help. Appreciate it.
I will use this occassion (the website) to show off a it (3D + resources in terms of blueprints and weapon pics).
The most horrific thing about it is so many thing to remember. I use Avant and Firefox and my wife uses Opera. I want her to learn photography and photoshop so it is pretty crazy business to make a working website for everything we need.:shrug:
It is a challenge though. :thumbsup:

[grogoreo]

An idea, used2bgordy (member.php?u=158016), would be to use some sort of portal or CMS (Content Management System) such as Mambo (http://www.mamboserver.com/) or phpNuke. The advantages of using these is that you have a web site up and running in seconds. With Mambo you can create new sections. phpNuke is good, but I prefere Mambo (but then again I don't use either). The disadvantage about using one of these is that firstly your site will look like lots of other Mambo and phpNuke web sites (you could create your own skin/theme but you would be constricted to using the format of the CMS, such as certain placed modules etc) and secondly you won't learn anything from using it. A CMS is good because you can update the page quickly without having to code anything, well maybe some bbcode that lets someone add bold text by just typing text and other things. But you could create a CMS for a custom site quite easily, especially by using a database (like mySQL) which may sound like overkill but could save a lot of time and many small sites use one.

Hope this helps,
Greg

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