building my first site from scratch

[Anthony Clayton]

Hi,
I'm after a no nonsense answer to something that has been bugging me
for a while. I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it in
Image Ready ...........................what do I do now??? do I add content
in Photoshop or Dreamweaver. The other gripe I have is when I do get to that
stage how do I get the links along the top to insert the content in the main
part below. I'm not an html expert but a logical thinker and willing to
learn.



Please have a look and give me your thoughts, I know the site isn't
groundbreaking but its better than an empty page!!

www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com


Thanks

Ant.

 

[Spartanicus]

I'm after a no nonsense answer to something that has been bugging me
for a while. I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it in
Image Ready ...........................what do I do now???

Delete all what you've created.

You've completely got the wrong idea about how a webpage is created.
Start with content, then mark that up with HTML, then style it with CSS
and add graphics as needed.

 

[Els]

Hi,
Hello

I'm after a no nonsense answer

I'm not sure you have the same idea about what 'no nonsense answer'
means as I do...

to something that has been bugging me
for a while. I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it in
Image Ready ...........................what do I do now??? do I add content
in Photoshop or Dreamweaver.

Neither.
If you must: Dreamweaver. Photoshop is for pictures, not content.
Unless the content is pictures of course, but then still. To make the
content display, you need code.

The other gripe I have is when I do get to that
stage how do I get the links along the top to insert the content in the main
part below. I'm not an html expert but a logical thinker and willing to
learn.

Learn HTML then. It's not more difficult to learn than Dreamweaver,
and enables you to code your pages in any editor you like for the rest
of your life, and have the advantage of understanding what you're
doing. Ditch Dreamweaver while you still can.

Download a good editor (I use TextPad), and learn HTML.
Write content first. Put the main heading of your document between
<h1> and </h1>, and the paragraphs between <p> and </p>.
Once you've done that, come back with more questions if you can't find
a good online HTML tutorial.
Avoid any tutorial that shows you how to use colours and backgrounds
and other presentational ballast in the HTML.

*After* you have your page online and marked up properly, learn CSS.
Once you know your HTML and have questions about the CSS, go to
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets and ask there.

Please have a look and give me your thoughts, I know the site isn't
groundbreaking but its better than an empty page!!

I personally prefer a page with "Hello World" written on it in real
letters, than what you've got now.

www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com

Thanks

You're welcome

 

[David Dorward]

I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it
in Image Ready
what do I do now???

Throw out Image Ready's generated HTML (its awful), and ensure that suitable
components of your image can tile so your design isn't locked at a specific
pixel width.

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign

do I add content in Photoshop
No.

or Dreamweaver.

Dreamweaver is a tool that can help produce webpages faster, but it isn't a
substitute for knowing how to write HTML and CSS. Until you have more
experience, I suggest you put Dreamweaver aside and stick to a text editor
(you could just the text editor built into Dreamweaver, but avoid the
graphical edit view).

The other gripe I have is when I do get to that stage how do I get the
links along the top to insert the content in the main part below.

You don't. You create two pages with the same links along the top, and
different content in the main part.

Please have a look and give me your thoughts, I know the site isn't
groundbreaking but its better than an empty page!!

www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com

* http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?Tableless_layouts

*
http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http://www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com/

* Avoid images of text. Real text is much easier for users to deal with.

* If you do use images of text anyway, then make sure your alt attributes
contain suitable alternatives to the images, not empty strings (unless an
empty string is a suitable alternative).

 

[Barbara de Zoete]

I'm after a no nonsense answer to something that has been bugging me
for a while. I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it in
Image Ready ...........................what do I do now???

I have no idea what you're talking about. Certainly you are not talking about
building a webpage or a site for the world wide web.

For the world wide web content is the most important thing. And content cannot
come from Photoshop which is mainly (as the name suggests) for images. Content
is there outside the web also. It is a story, a manual, text, music, images
meant to be content.

If really starting with nothing, focus on the content. Write your pages.
Structure them logically, that is imagine where headings are and paragraphs and
lists. Imagine how the pages relate to one another.
Then mark up the content you thus created. Markup is there to communicate your
content in any way you visitor might try to get to your content. A very basic
page has the following structure:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">
<html>
<head>
<title>The title of the page</title>
</head>
<body>
<h1>The visible title of the page</h1>

<p>Some text for your first paragraph.</p>

<h2>A heading of the next level</h2>

<p>More paragraphs.</p>
<p>...</p>
</body>
</html>

Find yourself a good tutorial on html (hypertext markup language) through
Google. There are many online. As Els pointed out: a good tutorial on html
doesn't propagate the use of markup that creates looks. Looks and page layout
are best taken care of with css, cascading stylesheets. But that is an entirely
different chapter. Think content-markup-styles and keep them seperate
completely. Then you are starting to learn how to create pages that can safely
be published on the world wide web.

www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com

All I get to see is a completely white page that seems to be a table with some
borders. Without any images (my preference) I don't get to see anything. There
is also nothing there for search engines for example to find and index. No one
will find your site through Google if you stick with your current method.

--
,-- --<--@ -- PretLetters: 'woest wyf', met vele interesses: ----------.
| weblog | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/_private/weblog.html |
| webontwerp | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/webontwerp.html |
|zweefvliegen | http://home.wanadoo.nl/b.de.zoete/html/vliegen.html |
`-------------------------------------------------- --<--@ ------------'

 

[Roy Schestowitz]

__/ On Saturday 27 August 2005 08:57, [Anthony Clayton] wrote : \__

Hi,
I'm after a no nonsense answer to something that has been bugging
me
for a while. I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it
in Image Ready ...........................what do I do now??? do I add
content in Photoshop or Dreamweaver. The other gripe I have is when I do
get to that stage how do I get the links along the top to insert the
content in the main part below. I'm not an html expert but a logical
thinker and willing to learn.



Please have a look and give me your thoughts, I know the site isn't
groundbreaking but its better than an empty page!!

www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com


Thanks

Ant.

To add more to the pool of logically identical replies, I am now sure if
your site currently contains a prototype -- a (fragmented) visual overview.

Either way, as was said (I have only read the replies from Spartanicus and
Els so far):

Spartanicus:

"Start with content, then mark that up with HTML, then
style it with CSS and add graphics as needed."

Els:

"Learn HTML then. It's not more difficult to learn than
Dreamweaver, and enables you to code your pages in any
editor you like for the rest of your life, and have the
advantage of understanding what you're doing. Ditch
Dreamweaver while you still can."

Also:

-Remember that text as graphics is evil. What if I wanted to copy and
paste your E-mail address? You could specify "alt", but there would not be
a rendered indicator of that, unless you strictly validate, in which case I
can only hope you input coherent text.

-Do not become reliant on commercial software. Even some Open Source
software ceases to be maintained. Stick to standards instead.

-Never be intimidated by people criticising your site. That how we all
/learn/.


Roy

 

[Anthony Clayton]

Everyone is making good sense it seems that I have totally the wrong idea of
making a 'good site'. I think I'd better get started in notepad now!

I think what threw me was trying to disect a webpage template and see how it
was made up, I obviously need to sort out my html content and structure
before sorting out the visual side. This tutorial was what threw
me...................http://www.good-tutorials.com/track/9160.

I'll say no more

Thanks everyone!!

 

[Travis Newbury]

Hi,
I'm after a no nonsense answer to something that has been bugging me
for a while. I have created a background web page in Photoshop, sliced it in
Image Ready ...........................what do I do now???...

Looking at your questions and url, any answer someone could give you
will likely be way over your head. (That was not a flame by the way as
we were all there once) The answer to your question is go hit up a
tutorial site for a few hours or so and learn enough to ask the right
questions and understand the answer.

If you google "html tutorial" you will be rewarded with a ton of them.

 

[Laurent Herve]

Throw out Image Ready's generated HTML (its awful), and ensure that suitable
components of your image can tile so your design isn't locked at a specific
pixel width.

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign


Dreamweaver is a tool that can help produce webpages faster, but it isn't a
substitute for knowing how to write HTML and CSS. Until you have more
experience, I suggest you put Dreamweaver aside and stick to a text editor
(you could just the text editor built into Dreamweaver, but avoid the
graphical edit view).


You don't. You create two pages with the same links along the top, and
different content in the main part.


* http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?Tableless_layouts

*
http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http://www.anthonyclayton.dsl.
pipex.com/

Thanks for all the links (i'm also a newbie)

by the way,

http://www.anthonyclayton.dsl.pipex.com/ reveals 8 errors. Not good for a
page
that pretend to teach html, imho. !


This page is not Valid (no Doctype found)!
Below are the results of attempting to parse this document with an SGML
parser.

Error Line 1 column 0: no document type declaration; implying "<!DOCTYPE
HTML SYSTEM>".
<HTML>
The checked page did not contain a document type ("DOCTYPE") declaration.
The Validator has tried to validate with a fallback DTD, but this is quite
likely to be incorrect and will generate a large number of incorrect error
messages. It is highly recommended that you insert the proper DOCTYPE
declaration in your document -- instructions for doing this are given
above -- and it is necessary to have this declaration before the page can be
declared to be valid.


laurent

 

[Laurent Herve]

Throw out Image Ready's generated HTML (its awful), and ensure that suitable
components of your image can tile so your design isn't locked at a specific
pixel width.

http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?AnySizeDesign


Dreamweaver is a tool that can help produce webpages faster, but it isn't a
substitute for knowing how to write HTML and CSS. Until you have more
experience, I suggest you put Dreamweaver aside and stick to a text editor
(you could just the text editor built into Dreamweaver, but avoid the
graphical edit view).


You don't. You create two pages with the same links along the top, and
different content in the main part.


* http://www.allmyfaqs.com/faq.pl?Tableless_layouts

*

http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http://www.anthonyclayton.dsl.
pipex.com/


Oops, sorry for my previous post, please disregard

Lh

 

[Neredbojias]

With neither quill nor qualm, Anthony Clayton quothed:

Everyone is making good sense it seems that I have totally the wrong idea of
making a 'good site'. I think I'd better get started in notepad now!

One thing I might add is view-source of some of the simpler pages you
run across and see how they "do it." (-realizing, of course, other
pages can contain errors.)

 

[WD10]

Everyone is making good sense it seems that I have totally the wrong idea
of making a 'good site'. I think I'd better get started in notepad now!

Try HTML Kit if you are using Windows -- it's free. It will colorize your
HTML and has other great features. It's easier on your eyes than Notepad.
http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

Or jEdit -- runs on Mac OS X, OS/2, Unix, VMS and Windows.
http://www.jedit.org/

I have a page on how to get started with web design. It has links to free
editors, free FTP programs, free graphics programs, etc...
http://tips.webdesign10.com/web-design-intro.htm