Need help and suggestions

ILC · June 13th, 2002, 04:57 PM

A buddy of mine asked me if I would be able to redesign and recreate his pathetic little website for his store. Never have really designed a web site before I told him I would look into. Well im starting to look into it, and it seems like it could be alot of fun and something else to take up my time this summer :P

Alright well anyways, downloaded the 30 trial version (dont want to buy anything yet, and wanna make sure I enjoy creating websites etc first) of dreamweaver MX. This afternoon has been the first that I have been able to look it over, and it seems really neat. A bit overwhelming at first, but I think im actually starting to learn a bit with it. I was wondering though, what program/programs do you all use to create or edit GIF's or to create headers at the top of the page?

Also, I have the layout of the website in my head, and I actually sat down and designed the homepage on paper, now I just gotta learn how make it look like what I want it to. Well if I do go through with this im sure I wiill have ALOT of questions and will want several critiques, but im still not sure.

Any advice/hints/programs to use that you all can give me? Remember that this is my first site ive ever really made and im a complete newbee. THANKS.

ILC

edwelly · June 13th, 2002, 08:42 PM

SWEET... we are goona love helping you with this...
Ok, animated gif's: I make a designs using photoshop and then I use AniMagic gif to merge the files together and make an animated gif. I got the program (free) off of PCworld.com/downloads

I highly recomend using photoshop for all of your designs. I use Front Page 2002 for my site and I love the ease of the site. I know some people like to hand code the site, not me. I like WYSIWYG stuff.
---edwelly

jman01pa · June 13th, 2002, 08:59 PM

I also use Frontpage and find it very easy. It is a great tool for beginner and intermediate web designers.

You will also want to get a FTP program for uploading images and stuff. I use SmartFTP but there are many others available. SmartFTP is free and you can get it here

http://www.smartftp.com

J

ILC · June 13th, 2002, 10:20 PM

Ive been playing around with it most of the afternoon, and I have to admit, im having ALOT of fun. This stuff is really cool.

I ended up downloading macromedia fireworks, and have been messing around with that also. Seems to be really nice for creating/editing gif's and such, although, I will more than likely check out photoshop. I will also check out that program for animated GIF's.

I once tried frontpage, and I couldnt stand it. It just didnt "feel" right to me, but I really do like the layout and feel of these MX programs.

As for the FTP of images and such, shouldnt they upload when you upload to the site?

Im gonna try to have the homepage semi-completed for tommorow, to see what he thinks of it so far. Its not nearly as professional as Id like it to be, but hey, its my first web page right?

ILC

P.S. How do you go about deleting all of the pages from the old website??

bebeangel · June 16th, 2002, 02:35 PM

Just log into the account and delete all the pages and remember to name your entry page as index.html.

You can upload/FTP the images at the same time when you upload the pages.

Good luck....can't wait to see the finish website.

eagle1 · June 16th, 2002, 02:42 PM

I like Ulead Gif Animator for gifs.
I have photoshop but still don't know how to use it.!!!

bebeangel · June 16th, 2002, 05:18 PM

I've had PhotoShop for nearly two years now and still don't know how to use it other than make slight changes to pictures...lol. I mainly use PaintShopPro for my graphics.

vb6 · June 16th, 2002, 06:58 PM

And don't forget to learn CSS

ILC · June 16th, 2002, 09:16 PM

Awesome, thanks for the info guys. Still getting through all of the tutorials (much faster AND easier than learning/figuring it out on my own) so I really havent had to much progress yet. Working on it though.

ILC

Justa · June 17th, 2002, 08:35 PM

You won't need an FTP program if you are using DWMX, you can update the site with the inbuilt FTP.

As a personal preference, I don't like animated gif's, and I always encourage people to stay away from them. To me it makes the site look cheezy and unprofessional, and the moving pics often take the surfers eyes away from what really matters, the content.

But that said, its you site and your design, have fun with it and you'll never stop having fun and learning new features you can add.