Web Design Tool Question

trotter_inc

Hello all!

I have been tasked with designing and building a website for my wife's new childcare facility. I have some HTML, CSS (not a whole lot though) and Javascript experience as I did a basic web authoring course last year. However, I am not up to date with the latest web design tools out on the market; during my web authoring course we used Dreamweaver which seemed fairly straightforward to use.

In terms of requirements, I was planning on designing a 5 or 6 page site. I don't think I'll have a problem with doing layouts and the forms, I think my downfall will be the look and feel of it such as nice CSS backgrounds and buttons. Seeing as it's for a childcare facility I'd like it to be bright and colourful. I thought about getting a template but it's quite hard to determine how flexible they are in terms of customising them to meet your own requirements (e.g. Adding new pages, adding new buttons, etc)

So, my question is....what design tools would people recommend here? Would you recommend using a pre-designed template?

Any recommendations on site providing free web images, buttons, etc would be greatly appreciated too

Thanks for your help!

stevenmu

I really like Microsoft's Visual Web Developer, which is a cut down free version of Visual Studio. To be honest it's overkill for your scenario, but it is really good and a handy tool to be familiar with.

As for templates, any template you get should be just HTML, CSS and maybe some javascript and images, so it should be infinitely customisable.

trotter_inc

stevenmu wrote: »

I really like Microsoft's Visual Web Developer, which is a cut down free version of Visual Studio. To be honest it's overkill for your scenario, but it is really good and a handy tool to be familiar with.

As for templates, any template you get should be just HTML, CSS and maybe some javascript and images, so it should be infinitely customisable.

Thanks for the pointer, I took a look at MS Visual Web Developer last night and I think you're right, it looks pretty complex for what I need.

Looking at some templates on themeforest.net for the time being.

alan_john

Hey trotter_inc,

In my opinion - any of the visual studio family will be overkill for you.

Are you using a CMS for this website or will it be static html? Either way - I would recommend diving into the code and using a basic text editor - you will learn LOADS.

While Dreamweaver is handy, it hides a lot of important stuff, and the visual editor may not reflect how things will really look in multiple browsers.

I would recommend Aptana, it is my web development IDE of choice, even if it is a bit of a resource hog. You can find a full list of Dreamweaver alternatives here http://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-dreamweaver/

As for CSS styling & buttons - check out one of the many web design galleries out there, loadsa inspiration. And once you find something you like, dig into their code & see how they make their buttons (or whatever) look good. Chrome is great for this - right click -> inspect element will show you all the CSS applied to any element.

GIMP is invaluable for creating graphics & images for websites.

Templates are a great place to start, and they should all be fully customisable to your needs.

trotter_inc

alan_john wrote: »

Are you using a CMS for this website or will it be static html? Either way - I would recommend diving into the code and using a basic text editor - you will learn LOADS.

While Dreamweaver is handy, it hides a lot of important stuff, and the visual editor may not reflect how things will really look in multiple browsers.

Hey alan_john, thanks a million for all the info here! No, I'm not going to be requiring a CMS, it's just going to be static html (with the possible exception of a flash based image slider)

I'll take a look at some of the recommendations you made here now

trotter_inc

alan_john wrote: »

Hey trotter_inc,

In my opinion - any of the visual studio family will be overkill for you.

Are you using a CMS for this website or will it be static html? Either way - I would recommend diving into the code and using a basic text editor - you will learn LOADS.

While Dreamweaver is handy, it hides a lot of important stuff, and the visual editor may not reflect how things will really look in multiple browsers.

I would recommend Aptana, it is my web development IDE of choice, even if it is a bit of a resource hog. You can find a full list of Dreamweaver alternatives here http://alternativeto.net/software/adobe-dreamweaver/

As for CSS styling & buttons - check out one of the many web design galleries out there, loadsa inspiration. And once you find something you like, dig into their code & see how they make their buttons (or whatever) look good. Chrome is great for this - right click -> inspect element will show you all the CSS applied to any element.

GIMP is invaluable for creating graphics & images for websites.

Templates are a great place to start, and they should all be fully customisable to your needs.

Hey alan_john, thanks a million for all the info here! No, I'm not going to be requiring a CMS, it's just going to be static html (with the possible exception of a flash based image slider)

I'll take a look at some of the recommendations you made here now

MOH

I've used Codelobster for a while, found it pretty useful.

That or just Notepad++

PrzemoF

I'd go with CMS (like joomla) + an of the shelf template.
It's really easy if you have some basic html/css knowledge.

Sooner or later the page will grow (an image gallery, blog, a new banner for a short term advertising) - it's very easy to do it in joomla and it's a pain to do it in static html (been there, done that).

I don't know what server you have, but if it's with cpanel/softaculous setting joomla is 2 minute job.

I can't stress it more: I cannot see any advantage in short or long run of a static html page over CMS unless you're making a "visit card" webpage that will never ever grow.

trotter_inc

PrzemoF wrote: »

I'd go with CMS (like joomla) + an of the shelf template.
It's really easy if you have some basic html/css knowledge.

Sooner or later the page will grow (an image gallery, blog, a new banner for a short term advertising) - it's very easy to do it in joomla and it's a pain to do it in static html (been there, done that).

I don't know what server you have, but if it's with cpanel/softaculous setting joomla is 2 minute job.

I can't stress it more: I cannot see any advantage in short or long run of a static html page over CMS unless you're making a "visit card" webpage that will never ever grow.

I like your forward planning. Maybe I should invest more time in learning a CMS so, I just looked up some of the templates on joomla51 and €18 is a bargain to me. I actually installed Joomla once before, there's a wealth of functionality in there, maybe that threw me off and scared me a little.

But I like what you're saying, over time I'd like to see the site grow and have a blog section.

I don't actually have a server yet, I was thinking about using Blacknight because of all the threads about them here. I was going to decide on the design tool first and then make my decision about a hosting server then.

yoyo

Another +1 for Joomla/Wordpress with a template. Very easy to use both CMS's, I'd say Joomla is a bit more advanced, but both are easy enough to use and maintain. I'd reccomend downloading something like XAMPP, installing Joomla locally, and having a mess about with it and getting familiar. I would advise against using any auto install scripts for a CMS, your best off downloading the package yourself, making the db and then installing it. Some of the auto install ones are older/vunerable versions

Nick

PrzemoF

trotter_inc, don't pay for any templates! There are thousands of them under GPL licence!
The same about extensions: http://extensions.joomla.org

I have my server with http://www.arvixe.com/, they are not perfect, but I'd say quite close to it. I wanted a cheap server, linux based with ssh access.

willows

If you are thinking of doing the website on the cheap think of the message that sends to your clientelle ?

You might save a few bob on outlay but you'll loose customers who came by and made a decision based on the look of your site.

Splash out and get a nicely designed template for about 50 euro and a joomla install o euro.

That way not alone will it look well but you will be proud of it too.

If you are going to go cheap and nasty, then I would advise dont do a website at all. A cheap looking site will do more harm than good.

I think 50 euro on a good template from, themeforest, rockettheme, yootheme or template monster would do wonders.

Go mad and get a few nice istock images too and for about 100 euro you'll have a good looking site.

trotter_inc

willows wrote: »

If you are thinking of doing the website on the cheap think of the message that sends to your clientelle ?

You might save a few bob on outlay but you'll loose customers who came by and made a decision based on the look of your site.

Splash out and get a nicely designed template for about 50 euro and a joomla install o euro.

That way not alone will it look well but you will be proud of it too.

If you are going to go cheap and nasty, then I would advise dont do a website at all. A cheap looking site will do more harm than good.

I think 50 euro on a good template from, themeforest, rockettheme, yootheme or template monster would do wonders.

Go mad and get a few nice istock images too and for about 100 euro you'll have a good looking site.

I'm not sure why you've emphasised the "cheap and nasty" aspect here, I don't think I implied anything about doing it on the "cheap", but thanks for the advice on the template sites

PrzemoF

willows, I don't want to start a discussion GPL vs paid, but recently I was involved in buying a classifieds module for joomla. We paid ~150-200 euro and at the end of the day not all the features were working, some were promised to work with nex release and part of the code we had to fix on our own.
I prefer to see the code before I make decision that I want to use it.

willows

trotter_inc wrote: »

I'm not sure why you've emphasised the "cheap and nasty" aspect here, I don't think I implied anything about doing it on the "cheap", but thanks for the advice on the template sites

My bad in respect of the cheap and nasty bit. I re-read your first post and indeed you are looking for nice styling and css. My apologies.

I think themeforest, rockettheme, yootheme will do CSS admirably to the point you will not have to worry about it at all. Alot of these templates come with mobile ready versions built in so if you look out for the mobile compatibility in their descriptions you'll being getting good value.

willows

PrzemoF wrote: »

willows, I don't want to start a discussion GPL vs paid, but recently I was involved in buying a classifieds module for joomla. We paid ~150-200 euro and at the end of the day not all the features were working, some were promised to work with nex release and part of the code we had to fix on our own.
I prefer to see the code before I make decision that I want to use it.

You were luckly the code was not scrambled or you would have be completely bunched. It's a bit pot luck at times, you really do not know exactly what you are getting till you try it out.

However if you had to code the component from the ground up it possibly would have cost you more than 200 euro ?

trotter_inc

willows wrote: »

My bad in respect of the cheap and nasty bit. My apologies.

No need to apologise, I know where you were coming from

PrzemoF

willows wrote: »

You were luckly the code was not scrambled or you would have be completely bunched. It's a bit pot luck at times, you really do not know exactly what you are getting till you try it out.

However if you had to code the component from the ground up it possibly would have cost you more than 200 euro ?

You're right - the codu could be scrambled. Developing from scratch would cost more than 200 euro - no doubt about it; develpoing from existing GPL components - hard to tell.

It's a bit like buying a car - you can make a test drive (demo version online), but you can't open the bonnet (see the code) .