Topic: Website Help 2

Following CPrompt advice in the last topic i started, i made an actual picture of the layout i wanted to have. Althrough its all just done in basic shapes but it gives the idea.

Before i start to bore you with the details please have a look: http://www.geocities.com/zeroknight_blade/help.html

Ok well, here this part goes. Sorry if i cofuse you because i dont really know what to say.
I know for the first part it should be tables, with a table with the width and height a 100% so it takes up the hole window, and that the actual design should load inside that table.

So i think it would be a Row with a height of around i dunoo 150 for the top image, width 100% as well. But making the menu work just below that im unsure of, i fought it could be just another row but not sure. Then there is the information row where the page content loads. after that another one for the bottom image.

Well, thats about all i know really, so i dont have a clear idea on how to go about doing that. I have a little photoshop experience and think i can pull off the top and bottom image. But the coding im a little unsure off and what the best way to go about making that kind of website.

I hear about dhtml being good for drop down menus but im not sure what the opitions are and back to my problem of how to do that.

I know basic tables, html and frames but its been a long time for me. Prefer notepad to an html editor or anything like that.
Note: However i do use frontpage to do a spell check hahaha.

I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in the last thread, but stuff like this usually goes in the Site Reviews forum.

Would a passing MS like to move it yonder?

*A passing MS whooshes this thread with a loud "Whoosh"-ing sound*


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Im sorry, i dont think i meantion it but that isnt an actual website, its only a picture of how i want the website to look and how to start making it or how to do it. What to use and stuff like that. It isnt an actual website, just a picture and a plee for help.

Ok this is a pretty basic concept...are this your colors? Pretty retro i think.
Here is my crash course webdesign:
1a) What do you want to tell, if the answer is nothing start over.

1b)Group the info from 1a in easy to understand chunks.
You could make a scheme about the things you want to tell to people like this:
page1= about me
page2= my interests
page3= test
page4= links
page0= index.htm (the first page people see, should have a splashscreen or the links to the other pages.

2)what colors do you like? try to find some nice looking easy on the eyes colors.
This could be a real pain in the ass, so try mocking up some schemes like the above with different colors.
Choose one, you can always change it later on (you probably will anyway)

3)now you have probably more off an idea how the website should looklike.
With this knowledge start mocking up an basic layout. Print this throw it away and start over. The print is important you can scribble on it and that's very convienant.

4)Now start your html-editor and make some pages.
First off start with the index page. Get your print and try to code it in html. You will have some problems here but keep working then it will get fine. Don't start with javascript, Stylesheets or other special effects in this stage.
Don't use any menus, just plain links for now.

5)Do the same thing for the other (now needed pages). When you are finished you have an working website famework. Now add all the text's and pictures. And it will look more like a website. You have to change som html code. please remember not to use other people graphics without their permission. No permit ? no graph.
It is better to make you owns graphs but this is another skill.

6) Finally if you up to it add the javascript and the stylesheets, but remember you could do an awfull lot with plain html. When you use it right...that's about knowing html .

7)When the website is ready post it here and wait for comments.



"Freedom of speech is by no means freedom to insult others" from the Razorart goodbye letter.

I would suggest you do a version without the drop-down menu for the time being, and just work out getting the layout right. You also have to decide whether or not you're going to go for a table layout or CSS. You might want to nose around the FAQ for a while--there are a lot of resources in there that might help.

So...is there an actual question associated with all that up there, ZK?

I want to make my own website, but most of the things ive seen are from other sites or something that has already been done. But my html skills etc etc arent all that good so im trying to get better at making layouts and menu systems but im not all sure on how to use what i know to make the website. Or to come up with ideas.

I want to also make some decent webgraphics as well.

But i need a few pointers on what to read and how to relate to it.
What to study, what to practice, what to read the stuff like that.

So if you can give me a hand on that i would like that.

quote:

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but most of the things ive seen are from other sites or something that has already been done

---

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that a rather obvious statement? Of course all the things you've seen have been done somewhere else--otherwise you wouldn't have seen them!

You apparently want to be original, though, and this is a good thing. But it's OK to be inspired or influenced by things that you see on the web--in fact, I wouldn't really recommend designing a website without at least taking a look at what's out there.

You want advice on coming up with ideas? Well, that's a rough one. No one can really tell you how to come up with ideas... try to find something to inspire you, like music or nature. Not sure what to tell you...

quote:

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But i need a few pointers on what to read and how to relate to it.
What to study, what to practice, what to read the stuff like that.

---

Well, if you've scoured the FAQ and clicked the buttons at the bottom of this page, then I probably don't need to say much else. The longer this thread goes on, though, the more I get the impression that you are not so much interested in getting your hands dirty as you are in finding some magic pill that will instantly transform you into a master web designer.

You haven't yet asked a specific question on web design, so we can't help you there. You have asked about where to get started (in a number of threads), and I've tried to be as helpful as possible. One of us is definitely missing something here.

Well, i do like dragons and martials arts stuff like that also japanese animation and japanese woman.
http://www.geocities.com/zeroknight_blade/Test.htm

Here i was trying to use what i had learn from the css and tables tutors on guru networks. But there was a few thigns that went wrong, one was the top image, i couldnt figure out how to stop it from repeating. Cause once the image fits it just starts again and i just want it to be once.

Also the gap between menu one and menu two im not sure why it is so big and so far apart. I aslo wanted to have the content load up in the middle right beside the menu but i fought it would need another <td> to start a new column with a table inside that but it just loaded at the bottom right below the menu and not sure why.

So im a little unsure what to do.

ZK: OK, judging by what I see at that link, I think you would benefit greatly from a pure CSS approach. I think it would be much neater and more flexible. I would strongly recommend that you read through some of the CSS tutorials listed in the FAQ (there's also some good info here) and get a handle on it before you try to build your website. You did say that you are reading some tutorials and trying things out, so that's a good start. But you don't want to put the carriage before the horse. Get a firm grounding in the necessary skills first, then run amok with your web page.

And since you did ask some specific questions, here are my specific answers:

1) Repeating image: You only want the image to appear once, right? Then why are you setting it as the background? Just put it in the cell itself and you're all set.

2) Space between menus: I would image it would have something to do with the fact that you set the height of the table to 350...

3) Table layout: <td> tags are for the cells (rows), <tr> tags are for the columns. A basic table layout for a top title image, a left menu and right content would look something like this:

<table>
<tr>
<td colspan=2>This is where your title image goes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>This is your menu (on the left)</td>
<td>This is your content (on the right)</td>
</tr>
</table>

I would recommend you look into CSS layouts, though (for example, the lovely templates at BlueRobot)--they are a much more elegant solution.

At the guru's you find a real starting point.
Look at this Tutorial by DmS

"Freedom of speech is by no means freedom to insult others" from the Razorart goodbye letter.

[This message has been edited by Rinswind 2th (edited 02-18-2003).]