Web design for complete newbie
 

This is something I really fancy learning how to do. Have done for a while. I have quite a lot of spare time at work on nights and this could be quite a good project/hobbie for me.

As I say I am a complete newb, so have no idea where to start.

Has anyone got any sudgestions or ideas where I could start.


Cheers


Cookie

Well, get to master photoshop. I have been working as a web designer/developer since 2001, my way of working is to always design in photoshop. Get the concept spot one and once you are happy with it, slice and build in Dreamweaver.

So two essential software packages you would need are Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Although since you are new to it and Photoshop maybe a little too much to experience straight away, try using Fireworks or something. Keep your designs as simple as possible.

And wheres the best place to get these packages?

There are various places online. I used to get my software from Pugh but the only reason was as I used to get it very cheap through the company I used to work for. You can if i remember correctly buy fomr Adobe direct since they have bought out Macromedia who make Dreamweaver, Flash Fireworks etc There are various other companies online too but be prepared for the prices. They are not cheap software packages

Starting out I'd recommend Nvu. Its very good and free too. A great place to start off.

Nvu - The Complete Web Authoring System for Linux, Macintosh and Windows

http://images.linspire.com/nvu/siteManagerInSidebar.jpg

Yes you can but alternatively you can download templates from Template Monster, Joomla and various other template sites too.

There are many alternatives and "easier" ways of making something one could refer to as a website but the result are not the same as those via Dreamweaver.

Id say if you want to do it properly, first get some tutorials on Photoshop. A goodp lace to look would be tutorialised.com

Then working in Dreamweaver isnt too much of a challene to be honest. A days worth of playing around can get you somewhere

I think the advice/point Dunk was making is dreamweaver & Photoshop are very expensive and that there are good free alternatives, a lot of people on here make a living from the IT industry and pay for software they use

O yes in that case very true. Didnt think of that to be honest lol.

Also you are right, I myself have a corporate design company. My software alone costs thousands but it has to be done.

Textpad is a much under valued tool. I've lost count of the number of web pages I've hand crafted with just a simple text editor. It gives you a real understanding of what's going on with the code (instead of letting the program do it for you). Makes it much easier to debug when things go wrong :)

Sorry yes, maybe I wasn't clear. I was just offering a free alternative to Dreamweaver. Always best to use open source before forking out then finding out its not your thing IMO :) Once you've outgrown it and want to progress, get Dreamweaver.

Learn HTML first :)

Good advise

Do a google search on HTML tutorials and you'll write your forst 'Hello World' in 5 minutes.

Dreamweaver is a good piece of kit for 'webbies'

Good luck buddy.

And CSS, like he said above you need to know about HTML and coding because if you get a bug and your site packs up you won`t have a clue how to sort it out.

I'd also try and find a good topic to do a website on, ideally if a friend/family member has a small business do a website for them, it's much easier having a focused goal than just sitting in front of a blank page.

As said above, you should definitely learn HTML (XHTML) and CSS.
Learn to hand craft pages from scratch without using tools or templates.

Design is a hard skill to learn, you are creative or you are not.

You can learn to build a site no matter how it looks. The way I work is to take a Photoshop file prepared by my designer then build all the CSS and XHTML by hand.

Best thing to do is have a project, offer to do a site for someone, it's easier to learn when you have some focus.

Thanks for the tips guysm have had a quick peek at the HTML tutorials, look pretty good, now the hard work begins i spose :)

I first started doing tutorials on a site called Webmonkey: The Web Developer's Resource

Lol webmonkey. I remember many years ago when i used to use that site for simple hover over buttons etc. Makes me giggle now but was one main source that I could safely say had built my foundations as a web designer/developer.

Another webmonkey man here - they also do good database stuff on there and that started me off on the dynamic stuff.

Starting to enjoy this, have done a couple of the online tutorials for HTML, made my first webpage :lol1: