Am I just not right for web design?

Dreamweaver split view is great for learning/experimenting with html- you can code something then see the result in realtime. That's instead of saving, tabbing to your browser, refreshing the page, then tabbing back over to start the process all over again. There's certainly nothing stopping you from doing everything in notepad if you feel like dreamweaver "cheats"... but if you can use a calculator on your trig exam- why wouldn't you?

 

Experimenting, maybe.

Which you have to do anyway because tre are 4 big browsers you should test on, and Dreamweaver is not a real browser, so doesn't look to good on a fair few real browsers.

No, but notepad sucks anyway, not enough features, and it has a habit of screwing up my PHP.

If I could I'd have graduated high school now. Instead I have to sit in class actually learning the stuff, all the while taking every low opputunity to bash Dreamweaver.

 

its easy

start by NOT using a WYSIWYG editor like dreamweaver..

use notpad++ or coda...

 

Fair enough, but for the sake of newb coding I don't think he'll have to worry about cross browser compatibility until he learns his ABCs. =]

So any suggestions for the fella? I've come to appreciate Notepad 2, but my friend uses Notepad++.

Eh, unlucky teacher if they didn't have you using calcs. Personally I skipped trig and hit up calc class instead. And calculus _requires_ thy calculator.

 

A bit of a dreamweaver vs coding debate going on here....

 

Notepad++ or gEdit on Linux. Both are quite awesome.

 

Use firefox with the firebug plugin to study how other sites are done, study other designs.

Also look into tools like colorschemer that helps you come up with color schemes.

 

My advice is: don't worry too much about graphical design -- be a Web author and produce entire pages yourself! You can add or modify graphical design elements anytime to suit your personal preference or as you discover new ones. In general it is the quality of the content, its usefulness to the visitor, and the ease of navigation through it that are of the greatest importance. A great number of potential visitors will find your pages via Search Engines that do not mention page design in their search results.

I like the summary of Mike Hopley (an accomplished and respected Web Author) relating to Web Design in general:

"Designers tend to overvalue design. On the whole, users don't care about the design. They will be discouraged by an ugly site, but a beautiful design is not going to make much difference. Users don't come to your website to look at pretty graphics; they come for your great content.

In my view, the most important part of design is to help users understand the site -- to help them read and navigate the content. Websites should be pleasant on the eye; an ugly website with glaring colours is not pleasant to spend time on.

It does depend on the site, however. For some sites, such as web design portfolios, the design is critical. It must be striking.

Think about why users come to your site, and then invest most of your efforts doing a good job in that area. Many content sites (especially blogs) waste their time with endless redesigns, and never actually add much content (because the author is more comfortable pissing about with design than actually writing the core content).

A beautiful design is nice; it's mainly nice for the designer, but users will like it too (providing it doesn't introduce too much visual clutter!). But keep it in perspective; depending on the website, you probably have much more important things to worry about."

James

 

Take it easy, Misha. Don't push yourself. No one is born knowing it all, you know?

Patience is, my friend, a golden virtue. Keep trying, design small things (banners, icons, logos, etc) so you can learn the basics of designing. Later, when you have improved your skills then you can try designing a single page with some dummy text. keep practicing and soon you'll become a talented web designer

You should also read blogs / sites about design techniques. Learn from the pros.

 

jamesicus I agree that design isn't as important as content but what if your designing websites for people

Thats what I would like to learn because
A) I currently have no ideas of my own. If I did I would probably find a nice template or something.
B) It makes money

 

Like someone else said, just keep practicing. You can't expect to make attractive websites on your first try, you just have to have the passion to keep working at it.

 

Don't think of it as ART per-say its a computer... think of it that way you just have to put MAD EFFORT in your work that makes a great artist GREAT

 

if you're fixed on using dw, read tutorials and keep on tryin.

if your open to options, open notepad and get coding. CSS is always better than wysiwyg design.

 

I started by using Notepad. Once I had the basic understanding and proper skills I moved on to Dreamweaver and Photoshop. To be a great designer you must understand how things work together, colors and layout for example, to provide a good user experience. I always start by brainstorming and moving on from there. Start learning photoshop as well, its a handy tool. Below are two sites I have designed recently, one is for a foreign film and the other for a mutual fund group at Standford:

1) www.khandathefilm.com
2) http://www.sleepyhost.com/blyth

 

99.999999999% of your problem is right there. To sound like a broken record; The only thing you can learn from Dreamweaver - or any other 'artist formerly known as macromedia' adobe product - is how NOT to code a website. I'll just link to a recent post rather than repeating myself AGAIN.
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=8124087&postcount=22

Basically though as to your question, if the normal approach isn't working for you - you might consider reversing it as I do. Create your complete HTML using minimalist semantic markup FIRST. Then use the CSS to create your layout... then and ONLY then fire up the graphics program to hang your pretty pictures on that layout.

... and at no time even THINK about having a WYSIWYG involved in the process as they are all rubbish, every last one of them.

 

deathshadow, that link you posted is quite an invaluable resource and a great insight in to what tools you personally use.

 

i say , dont even try to make your own web design /template/layout whatsoever.you will get discouraged by your
product.

instead google some free templates. and try hard to edit them and make it look like yours.

and thats the way i learned HTML.

 

You like that one, you'll love this one:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showpost.php?p=7790146&postcount=2

These are all brief cut down versions of what I plan to put on my own web design website if I ever have time to clean up my ramblings into something coherent, and the time to actually code my own website instead of working on other people's stuff.

But there's that whole matter of keeping a roof over one's head and food on the table interfering with the process.

 

Ok. Download NVU from download.com unless you are very familiar with dreamweaver. A little secret us webmasters have is that it is alot eeasier to use a template than to create your own site. They are free, just search for them on Google.

If anyone disagrees with me, I will have a contest with you to generate $1,000 from a single site. Faster is almost always better.