Hi there I am also learning web design as I go along because I think that it is important for one to constantly upgrade. To me a good web design is when people will respond "wow! thats cool" when they arrive @ the site. Furthermore, a good design also mean it is well structured and easy to navigate so that users will keep coming back just for the visual and navigating experience. Other than using the tools already mentioned by the other members, learning > CSS will really help in designing a good website. Feel free to feedback and comments, cheers!

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hello dear sir please this is a bit of my story
i am joshua from nigeria a young boy of 20 my quest into web desiging came just like a dream because here it baffles me that not 20 percent of our youths engages themselves into reasonable things on the internet so i developed this desire to be a computer guru so dear now here is my problem;
since i have been developing myself no body cares to help tutor and give me guide lines and thats why i came here atleast to meet people that will help guide me. my worst problems are desiging with graphics i have try desiging with firworks but it dosent look proffessionalise when i finish so i am not happy becaus now all my friends are looking up to me hoping that i am a guru but frankly speaking i dont think they are rigth so i saw how you help in responding to peoples problems i decided to contact you i need advise on how to use dreamweaver and maximise its output , not to use the table stuff and it will be crashing it time i finish.
i really thank you
please the most inportant one is picture editing and css is there a special software for css because i have seen some site where css matters alot and have a special effects but for me i dont know anything in css but i am trying with dream weaver so i really need urgent help
thenk you

 

 

 

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Hi there!

Unfortunately i dont have or use Fireworks but what i would recommend is starting a topic asking for specific advice with fireworks as that way more people will see your message and reply to it.

As for CSS its very useful and as said by many in this topic its something you should learn while learning web design, i have a couple links for you, the first is a google search for CSS tutorials: http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=css+tutorial a good few links in that list

And the second is a website which teaches you CSS, it has several examples, just click on the link you want to see, and you will see two boxes, the right one will be what the CSS makes the text look like and the left one will be the code used so you can change the code there and click the button to see what effect it has on the right box. Its a good place to experiment. the link is: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_examples.asp

For an editor try http://www.mpsoftware.dk/phpdesigner.php its an all round editor but you can edit CSS code and it highlights the code and so makes it easier for you to see whats right and whats wrong. If you get stuck just search the internet for what youre looking for, EG if you wanted to change the text colour but didnt know what the code was you could search for "CSS set font colour"

I hope that helps, good luck, you just have to stick to your dream of being a computer guru, if you have motivation it wont be to hard.

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Photoshop is by far the best photo/graphic creator that is out on the market. If you are able to buy photoshop i would highly recommend it. It have ease of navigation and you can do nearly any kind of edit to photos or create graphics that you dream of. There are also tutorials out on the web that will provide you with great information. You are also able to create direct website with photoshop without knowing html or other programming languages.

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Check: www.w3schools.com

BRILLANT SITE. It's where I learnt the majority of the stuff I know now.

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you should get blue voda. thay are a great website builder and they have easy step by step instructions on how to build the site. it is free and informative.

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I'd second w3schools - it is an excellent resource, and you can be confident you're learning good habits. Also, just building sites seems to help a lot!

Pick one aspect of your site per week (such as typography, layout, use of images etc.) and just look at other sites in relation to that. There's too much to take in when you try to look at everything...plus that way, you start to develop your own preferences and style.

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Easiest way to learn it watching the video tutorials at Lynda.com ... although it does cost, you can have a free week try without the need for paypal or credit card numbers... all you need is a valid email address.

You can learn just about any popular designing software out there

Hope this helped...

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http://www.webdesignfromscratch.com/basics.cfm
a really good site this guy know what hes talking about and has a lot of experience

As he says on the site, a website needs to be

Pleasant
NOT smacking you in the face when it loads
quick to load so image quality may have to be sacrificed and so on hope this helps and be sure to show us the results

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Hey there,
Im abit late on this forum but im a part time model and just recently trying to get my website up .. The funny thing is you say that you are good at coding but not as much in design area. You know what im not so good at coding myself but good at designing .. well apparently i am seeing the marks i got for my course. But anyways my way of learning how to design was looking at others websites.. researching and at the same time get inspirations from objects and people around me.

In uni we did a little test/ game and we received an object and had to use it to inspire us to design a certain webpage. It was only design we didnt really have to make it. And my group got a brick, so that was quite funny but i learnt that you can do so much with just one object. So i guess its really what your designing, why you are designing it and who is your audience.

I had a few classmates design the worst portfolios i have ever seen, but this is my opinion. They were just starting out so i understand , we learnt from each other anyways.

But yeah one of them had a Blue background , yellow text and white buttons , so yeah i hope you see where im coming from. Color scheme is the first step you have to learn if you want to know how to design .. Seeing the colors they chose , i was very irritated lol. The thing about colour is .. if you're gona choose 3 different colours then you have to choose them in a way that one color wont stand out more then the other... They should cancel each other out, that way what ever you are designing will definately look wonderful.

And also designs don't look good just because they have fancy things spreading everywhere on the screen. Sometimes Simple is a very nice design as long as you know where to put the buttons or the text. I hope this helps... Im writing so much and im suppose to be searching for forums about Gallery design lol..

take care

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