Tools, Sites and Programs I use for designing

Discussion in 'HTML & Website Design' started by CSM, Aug 10, 2010.

  1. #1
    Hello there.

    Maybe it is helpful to know what tools and programs I use for my work.

    And maybe it is helpful to know what I do when I am done with the
    "basic design" of my sites.

    Ok, let's start:

    1. Photoshop (I use CS3 in the office and CS5 at home)
    2. Notepad++ (for CSS, JS and XHTML coding)
    3. Firefox 3.6.8, IE 8, Chrome 5, Safari 5, Netscape 9.0.0.6, Opera 10.60
    4. Addons for Firefox

    * Firebug (for debugging)
    * Firefox Throttle (to limit bandwidth)
    * Page Speed
    * YSlow
    * Measure It
    * LORI
    * Live HTTP Headers
    * FireShot
    * Hammerhead
    * HTML Validator
    * CSS Validator
    * ColorZilla
    * GridFox
    * WebDeveloper 1.1.8

    After done with the graphics I begin to "code" the html/css and maybe adding some jQuery stuff, ...

    Most of the time I use the following directory structure:

    css
    images
    js
    index.html
    (other files)
    ...

    When done with that I start to combine the css files. Sometimes this is not really possible when you work with a css framework or some structures like a master page in ASP.NET.

    After I combined as much css files as possible I do the same with all javascript/jQuery files.

    Now I upload all files to one of our webservers.

    When done I open the site in Firefox, starting Firebug and head over to Page Speed ... now I start analyzing.

    Page Speed is very very helpful. It shows me exactly what to do and it also minifies css/js files and compresses all graphic files.

    I download every minified/compressed file I need (if I did not minify css/js before) and reupload to the webserver.

    To find out how my design looks on other browsers I use browsershots.org as next step.

    Another nice tool is feng-gui.com where you can "find out" where most of your visitors will look on your website. It is a heatmap tool. Helpful stuff.

    Ok, now I think that many people do not have serveral servers with domains and a cookieless domain.

    To speed up your site to the maximum you should do every step that Page Speed tells you in it's report.

    This is sometimes a long way to go, but Google will say "Thank you" for it ;)
     
    CSM, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  2. bankruptcyonly

    bankruptcyonly Peon

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    #2
    thanx for sharing.
     
    bankruptcyonly, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  3. drhowarddrfine

    drhowarddrfine Peon

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    #3
    Netscape! You use Netscape?!!!!!
     
    drhowarddrfine, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  4. CSM

    CSM Active Member

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    #4
    Yes mate. Just to see if the design works in Netscape too.

    I dropped only support for IE 6 and lower yet.
     
    CSM, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  5. drhowarddrfine

    drhowarddrfine Peon

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    #5
    Who uses Netscape? Last market study I saw it had less than 0.7% of the market! In fact, isn't the last version actually based on Firefox?
     
    drhowarddrfine, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  6. CSM

    CSM Active Member

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    #6
    I am not sure about that.
     
    CSM, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  7. drhowarddrfine

    drhowarddrfine Peon

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    #7
    I am.
     
    drhowarddrfine, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  8. daskar

    daskar Peon

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    #8
    Useful post CSM.. Thanks..
     
    daskar, Aug 10, 2010 IP
  9. CSM

    CSM Active Member

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    #9
    Thank you daskar.

    @drhowarddrfine

    Anyway I use Netscape 9.0.0.6 just to see if the layout works in that browser too.
     
    CSM, Aug 10, 2010 IP