How Do I Learn Web Design? Not coding, i can code well already but how to make it look good?

[leoncreations 0]

Hi there I am also learning web design as I go along because I think that it is important for one to constantly upgrade. To me a good web design is when people will respond "wow! thats cool" when they arrive @ the site. Furthermore, a good design also mean it is well structured and easy to navigate so that users will keep coming back just for the visual and navigating experience. Other than using the tools already mentioned by the other members, learning > CSS will really help in designing a good website.Feel free to feedback and comments, cheers!

[registra6 0]

Since the GIMP is more manual work than Photoshop (since Photoshop provides more convenience/automatic processes), if you can master the GIMP, you would practically be mastering Photoshop but being somewhat more experienced. The GIMP is not all that different than Photoshop. The GIMP, feature-wise, is very close to Photoshop 6, especially the development version of the GIMP. The main things that the GIMP is missing that Photoshop 6 has are adjustment layers, group layers and styles. The GIMP 2.4 will be very nice. The current development version of the GIMP has some very convenient features and better organized menus.

hello dear sir please this is a bit of my story
i am joshua from nigeria a young boy of 20 my quest into web desiging came just like a dream because here it baffles me that not 20 percent of our youths engages themselves into reasonable things on the internet so i developed this desire to be a computer guru so dear now here is my problem;
since i have been developing myself no body cares to help tutor and give me guide lines and thats why i came here atleast to meet people that will help guide me. my worst problems are desiging with graphics i have try desiging with firworks but it dosent look proffessionalise when i finish so i am not happy becaus now all my friends are looking up to me hoping that i am a guru but frankly speaking i dont think they are rigth so i saw how you help in responding to peoples problems i decided to contact you i need advise on how to use dreamweaver and maximise its output , not to use the table stuff and it will be crashing it time i finish.
i really thank you
please the most inportant one is picture editing and css is there a special software for css because i have seen some site where css matters alot and have a special effects but for me i dont know anything in css but i am trying with dream weaver so i really need urgent help
thenk you
Edited October 1, 2007 by registra6 (see edit history)

[shadowx 0]

Hi there!

Unfortunately i dont have or use Fireworks but what i would recommend is starting a topic asking for specific advice with fireworks as that way more people will see your message and reply to it.

As for CSS its very useful and as said by many in this topic its something you should learn while learning web design, i have a couple links for you, the first is a google search for CSS tutorials: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=css+tutorial a good few links in that list

And the second is a website which teaches you CSS, it has several examples, just click on the link you want to see, and you will see two boxes, the right one will be what the CSS makes the text look like and the left one will be the code used so you can change the code there and click the button to see what effect it has on the right box. Its a good place to experiment. the link is: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_examples.asp

For an editor try http://www.mpsoftware.dk/phpdesigner.php its an all round editor but you can edit CSS code and it highlights the code and so makes it easier for you to see whats right and whats wrong. If you get stuck just search the internet for what youre looking for, EG if you wanted to change the text colour but didnt know what the code was you could search for "CSS set font colour"

I hope that helps, good luck, you just have to stick to your dream of being a computer guru, if you have motivation it wont be to hard.

[headstrongbrian 0]

Photoshop is by far the best photo/graphic creator that is out on the market. If you are able to buy photoshop i would highly recommend it. It have ease of navigation and you can do nearly any kind of edit to photos or create graphics that you dream of. There are also tutorials out on the web that will provide you with great information. You are also able to create direct website with photoshop without knowing html or other programming languages.

[Forbez 0]

Check: http://www.w3schools.com/
BRILLANT SITE. It's where I learnt the majority of the stuff I know now.

[Unregistered 018 0]

you should get blue voda. thay are a great website builder and they have easy step by step instructions on how to build the site. it is free and informative.

[crazyfray 0]

I'd second w3schools - it is an excellent resource, and you can be confident you're learning good habits. Also, just building sites seems to help a lot!Pick one aspect of your site per week (such as typography, layout, use of images etc.) and just look at other sites in relation to that. There's too much to take in when you try to look at everything...plus that way, you start to develop your own preferences and style.

[ElementalSyndicate 0]

Easiest way to learn it watching the video tutorials at Lynda.com ... although it does cost, you can have a free week try without the need for paypal or credit card numbers... all you need is a valid email address.You can learn just about any popular designing software out there :)Hope this helped...

[karlosantana 0]

http://webdesignfromscratch.com/web-design-tutorials/
a really good site this guy know what hes talking about and has a lot of experience

As he says on the site, a website needs to be

Pleasant
NOT smacking you in the face when it loads
quick to load so image quality may have to be sacrificed and so on hope this helps and be sure to show us the results

[keego 0]

Hey there, Im abit late on this forum but im a part time model and just recently trying to get my website up .. The funny thing is you say that you are good at coding but not as much in design area. You know what im not so good at coding myself but good at designing .. well apparently i am seeing the marks i got for my course. But anyways my way of learning how to design was looking at others websites.. researching and at the same time get inspirations from objects and people around me.In uni we did a little test/ game and we received an object and had to use it to inspire us to design a certain webpage. It was only design we didnt really have to make it. And my group got a brick, so that was quite funny but i learnt that you can do so much with just one object. So i guess its really what your designing, why you are designing it and who is your audience. I had a few classmates design the worst portfolios i have ever seen, but this is my opinion. They were just starting out so i understand , we learnt from each other anyways.But yeah one of them had a Blue background , yellow text and white buttons , so yeah i hope you see where im coming from. Color scheme is the first step you have to learn if you want to know how to design .. Seeing the colors they chose , i was very irritated lol. The thing about colour is .. if you're gona choose 3 different colours then you have to choose them in a way that one color wont stand out more then the other... They should cancel each other out, that way what ever you are designing will definately look wonderful. And also designs don't look good just because they have fancy things spreading everywhere on the screen. Sometimes Simple is a very nice design as long as you know where to put the buttons or the text. I hope this helps... Im writing so much and im suppose to be searching for forums about Gallery design lol..take care

[shadowx 0]

Hey there, welcome to the forums!

if you're gona choose 3 different colours then you have to choose them in a way that one color wont stand out more then the other... They should cancel each other out, that way what ever you are designing will definitely look wonderful.

This is something i find confusing about colours, on a colour wheel that contains lots of colours from all areas of the rainbow is it best to choose three colours that make a triangle shape when plotted on the wheel or is it better to choose two close to each other and then one opposite?

Im sure i heard that there's a good way of choosing colours like making a triangle out of the three points on the wheel or something. I think that once i have a better understanding of choosing colours it will be a lot easier for me to develop basic templates and learn by improving things.

[keego 0]

yeah your definately right. cause color is really important. i mean yeah cause thats the first thing you see :Danyways you are on the right track.. well i see it . or learnt it was that... lets say ... try black... if black was my main. i would say that red would suit with it.. or white would suit with it. seeing how they are both opposite.. ive done a portfolio using black, red and white, i used red as the background. but white as the text , with a hint of black here and there. it just blends in.. so yeah sometimes you use two colours that are similar and one totally the opposite. My friend put Blue as the background. yello as the text.. and he put a hint of white.. if he put blue as the background and white as the text, that wouldve been fine .. because they both look totally different. but he chose yellow.. and blue and they are both totally bright colours while white can go with almost any colour :Pall you have to think about is testing your colours .. see what colours you like. try testing them out .. putting one on as the background. one as the text .. and starre at it for a few seconds if you think omg this is giving me a headache. or my eyes are getting sore from looking at it. then gosh they are terribly wrong lol sounds silly but thats how i see it :Dto give you some idea check out my myspace when you're free https://myspace.com/browser keegonguyen :Pits not a full design seeing how its myspace but it might give you some idea i study multimedia and always designed as a hobby since i started highschool so im always glad to give my opinion or help in anyway also to get help hahah :)cheerse

[djstarskream 1]

Hi all. In my quest to become a website creator I have a big obstacle.. when it comes to design, eg making things look good i might as well be blind. Im useless!
I can code to a decent standard in HTML PHP CSS MYSQL and JS but i am useless at making a nice design. So wha im after is advice on how to learn this, what i fear is a response of "you can *learn* how to design, you either can or you cant.". Its really important that im able to design a nice looking website because not many people have a concise set of drawings from which to code the website.

Any advice and link will be greatly appreciated here, ive tried looking through google but most sites just try to teach me how to write HTML which i already know.

Thanks in advance, i hope.

im new to webdesign but have had some pritty good results on designing things

there are a few ways of directly creating a nice looking site one is flash two id photoshop and last that i no is actionscritp

now flash is a good and fastly becoming popular tool to be used in webdesign but if like me you no sweetfa about it the pass on to the next solution but if you do no how to code in flash then it can be a never endin relm of possibility

photoshop is usefull in webdesign as you can create anny amount of images that you mind will limit you to but as i seid if you ar limited by your minde and ability (GIVE UP) hear on it get harder. photshop is use to create stunning images wich inturn can be takedn into fireworks anouther adobe program and cutup into recognisable html files you can creat image rollover gifs like i seid whatever your limited to

but action script you will finde yourself using wether you like it or not action script wich i prsume you no of being good in codeing and all is as far as i am awware bits of code used to create specific looks to certane item upon your webpage rather than the entier look action script can be used to provide colorfull and attracive scrollbars mouse efects and so-on

anouther way i almost forgot about wich i think would be best for you is CSS Custom Style Sheets

in these little sheets you use code to tell certaine objects what they look like where they are and how they behave i cant go into to much detale as i am new to CSS and lerning myself but all the best and hope you find this info usefull

[djstarskream 1]

also try this site it helpd me greatly for info it is alot about html but there are outher things you could put to use im sure


http://www.2createawebsite.com/

[bgdesign 0]

If you are looking for something to do with graphics, I'd recommend using Photoshop. You can find many tutorials on tutorialized.com or talk-mania.com ... they are great sites if you are looking to learn the design aspects of web development from scratch