Hi all - I'm totally new to website design. I have a background in C++. I'm looking for what is the typical design process for a webpage. Do you all typically design the layout of your website (figure out what will be in it and maybe draw it out on paper), code up the client side, then code up the server side with the database? Just wondering if there is a typical order to it that makes the most sense. Please keep in mind that I have to learn it all (HTML/CSS/PHP/mySQL/....). So, in this case I think it might be easier for me to tackle one part at a time??? Thanks for your input.
Well First of all, you need to know the Clients Requirements. Suppose somebody needs a Hosting Site Made, so You are gonna design a layout first of all, say in .psd and then code it up. Add Functionalities according to the Clients Requirements, and Modify the database to make room for Logins etc. That is pretty much there it is.
Well if I have the time I plan it out on page and I brain storm what pages the site is actually going to host on it like copy right, Terms of Use etc etc. But if I don't have the time I will code it up in HTML. Usually my ideas for web design come when I am trying to sleep so some times it helps to have a pen and paper handy when I have the design down it is time to convert all the coding over to PHP and escape everything. I will then implement my concepts and ideas into PHP and make a pewn tang site. I don't know MySQL so if ever I need to store information I just Fwrite it to a text file it is ugly as fuck but it works. (My CMS(s) use this for there $variables and "values"; ) Hope that helps I must learn MySQL one day.
It is a real chicken and the egg thing on some sites as the functionality may need to drive the design (eg what is going to show in the cart summary for an ecom site will drive the design as if you want full details of items added you cant have a tiny box) but if you want a minimalistic look then this has to drive the functionality. As we employ both designers and developers the two tend to happen concurrently but design is quicker and so when the developers get to the client display aspect the look and feel has been defined and they need only apply the CSS to their output
I almost always figure out the back end stuff first. A lot of my client work revolves around custom-built content management systems and I like to have those working before I go into any of the front end design stuff. A working CMS kind of puts the whole site into a "lockdown" of sorts that keeps everyone in line and on the same page as far as project direction is concerned.