want to design a web site plz help
By
Blademan,
Posted on: 2006-04-21 07:40 in Multi-Media Fan Creations
I'm not a web developer myself though I have thought about moving into it and on one of my web searches came across this website that may or may not be useful to you. There are possibly better ones but hope it may be of assistance.
http://nedwolf.com/Freeware-Web-Development-Tools.htm
The Marvellouses just finished a Flash site so they're the experts with Flash. I'm a Flash Luddite.
For webpages as a novice you'd probably be well off trying a demo of a WSIWYG editor. That just means that you construct the site as you'd see it in the browser rather than trying to code it (as I do).
Dreamweaver by Macromedia is the most widely used of these and is certainly a good place to start. You can get a free trial download I think.
Grab a demo of Flash too while your there.
Try out a few of their demos to get going and then just start throwing a few pages up and linking them together.
For image editing The Gimp is the best named package out there, and free. I've used it a bit more recently and I've started to forgive its eccentricities (compared to PhotoShop) and am really warming to it.
Bring on The GIMP
For reference I go to:
Web Standards index. There are lots of these but this is the one I've bookmarked for some reason.
For going ooooh i never tire of:
CSS Zen Garden
Once you get going post any questions or samples in this thread.
Hope this helps a little.
Yeah Mr Marvellous just finished our site the other week Im sure if you PM him he will try and help you.
In my non-professional opinion, Flash sites never look good. Sorry, sorry, sorry to everyone with one.
A plain CSS/PhP/HtML website with some Flash components can look beautiful.
CSS/HTML are the easiest languages to learn and use, and can produce some wonderful effects...so I'd start with them 
. PhP is slightly harder, and a lot of free website creators won't support it.
For imaging, you may need to muck about in some various graphics programs for a while. I know some excellent graphics designers who've had no training, and aren't professional -yet they produce some gorgeous looking pictures.
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In my non-professional opinion, Flash sites never look good. Sorry, sorry, sorry to everyone with one.
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Hmm, just a matter of taste I do like a clean, plain look done with photoshop, xhtml and css, but there are times when flash comes into its own. Take a look at the new X3 website for example, I think it's awesome
I hate Flash also - XHTML/CSS ftw!!
This is the bestest resource for websitey types ever made!
http://www.alvit.de/handbook/
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In my non-professional opinion, Flash sites never look good. Sorry, sorry, sorry to everyone with one.
A plain CSS/PhP/HtML website with some Flash components can look beautiful.
CSS/HTML are the easiest languages to learn and use, and can produce some wonderful effects...so I'd start with them . PhP is slightly harder, and a lot of free website creators won't support it.
For imaging, you may need to muck about in some various graphics programs for a while. I know some excellent graphics designers who've had no training, and aren't professional -yet they produce some gorgeous looking pictures.
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I agree
I make websites.... i never tend to use flash, i like html and php, its the easiest and sometimes the best, flash is better in some cases but meh, u know 
Html ftw :S
Did you mean this?:
http://www.alvit.de/web-dev/
There's no need for religious wars between Flash and XHTML/CSS it's like arguing that electricity is better than television. I suppose people like to build boundaries and then fight over them.
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Did you mean this?:
http://www.alvit.de/web-dev/
There's no need for religious wars between Flash and XHTML/CSS it's like arguing that electricity is better than television. I suppose people like to build boundaries and then fight over them.
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Nope - I meant http://www.alvit.de/handbook/ but the link got messed up...now fixed.
And I was stating my opinion, I hate Flash - I didn't say it was bad/rubbish/wrong.
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I hate Flash - I didn't say it was bad/rubbish/wrong.
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Then why hate? You think it's good but also hate it? 
But anyway, thanks for the link. My point is they're not in the same category, and nor does one replace the other so why bother playing one off against the other.
lol when did I say it was good??!!
I hate it for lots of reasons, it has caused me MANY problems in my job and I avoid at all costs - others like it, use it, earn $$$$$s from it, each to their own.
That's my opinion, if you want me to elaborate on why then by all means feel free to email or PM me for a discussion on the subject, but this isn't helping Dark Man X with his website, so lets move on.
I think I good example of mixing flash with an otherwise plain html site is this.
Someone above me mentioned Dreamweaver as a good WYSIWYG web designer. A great suggestion, I always wish I had started with this rather than learning to code html from scratch. My codes would probably be a lot less messy if I had :P
I tried dreamweaver last night, found it hard to use but also found it very useful, thx guys al this info is great.
Well, I am a website maker myself from the scratch... Now I use Photoshop CS2 for the graphics (occasionally FreeHand) and sometimes I mix in some Flash... For coding I use XHTML/CSS or whatever I feel that is needed. For coding I eather use Dreamweaver or code by hand which is far more better than using a program for it. Lets see.... I cant remember much now. Ill just update if I feel like it, but first place to start is to get some good (X)HTML/CSS resource places and start working on your photoshop skills.
Um.. yeah I'll help too if you want to know anything. Sorry, I've only just seen this.
Here's a few things you might like to remember or questions you should ask yourself. I will try to stear clear of advise already given as most of it is prety sound:
Should I use flash?
There are pros and cons in using Flash but as the software develops the gap is closing. There are still some sites that would not benefit from the use of Flash. Having said that, if it can be done in Flash, and that's the way you want to do it, then go for it.
The reason for this is simple. If you are designing a site that needs to do something (a shopping site like play.com for example) you have to make sure it is stable and it works. The best way of doing that is currently PHP/ASP/JSP technologies. You aren't doing anything like that. It's a fan site. It doesn't really count in the greater scheme of things and as such you can legitimately concentrate on design over content just like designers, artists, musicians, film companies and games manufacturers do.
So the bottom line is, around 97% of users have flash according to NPD Research in September 2001. It supports audio, animation, and advanced interactivity and is relatively easy to learn. It integrates well with other Web technologies and is bandwidth efficient. There is no reason why you shouldnt seriously consider using it but you do need to ask yourself: Will it give me the type of site that I want to have and can I make it work?
What do I want my site to be able to do?
Have a look at pages like Hotscripts, Flashkit or other fan sites and see what is actually possible. Then ask yourself, what is it I want my page to do. Dont make it too complicated, especially if youre learning and remember, if you have content that needs updating then YOU have to be the one to update it. This is so often overlooked and you are left with very out of date pages on some sites.
What do I want it to look like?
Get Photoshop or the Gimp or something that lets you play around with Graphics and has lots of tutorials on the net. Then go off and start looking at other sites and decide what style youre looking for. Break the different elements of the page down into Navigation, Title and Content and move them around until you get positions that look good for you.
Line up your graphics. Seriously it makes a huge difference if the eye can draw lines through or down the side of content.
Dont separate navigation. This is a basic usability rule. Dont make the user click too far from the main navigation area. You can separate it by page, so sub navigation can have a separate area but in that case it is always best if that is part of content that looks separated from the main site.
Dont hide navigation. Make sure the user knows where they are meant to be clicking and if you are using Flash then make sure any loaded content has pre-loaders so the user knows something is going on.
Dont scrimp when it comes to collecting material. Go into the game expecting not to play, but just to take screen shots and find material you want to put online. You might spend a whole night on this (and it can be fun) but it will be worth it in the end.
Finally, and probably most importantly, dont expect amazing results out of the box. It takes time. I recently looked through some of the sites I did when I was starting out. Theyre awful, but I liked them at the time. I can still see why I liked them, but I have had more experience in making sites now. Let your site grow with your skills. When you learn a new design skill then update your site. Oh, and as much as possible, separate your design from the content so it is easy to update. A good grounding in CSS is useful for this in HTML and in Flash its figuring out different ways of using movie clips.
Above all, enjoy the process and enjoy the results 
Hi all
I would be so grateful if someone can give me any tips,i'm a complete novice at this and would like as much helps as i can get, ive seen most of the community website and there fantastic, i love the flash images, forums and grate pictures people design.
If anyone knows of any great software, how to blend images, create flash images or any good tutorials on how to do this.
Thanx in advance.