Forming A New Website's Layout

I'm not the best web designer in the world, so this tutorial isn’t going to be great. But if you’re baffled heres some short tips that might help.

Colors

I always thought that the main color of your site had a big influence on the visitor. Like each color has its separate emotion. If your website is all black it could hint that your hiding something. It also tends to looks slightly amateur. But on the other hand, if you’re trying to appeal in a younger audience and your selling something you want to look "cool", then black might be a better option. I usually have about 3 or 4 different colors, usually within a shade.

Organization

Things should be easy to find. Navigation should never be confusing. Try to make sure the labels you’re put on your links are direct or to-the-point as possible. I personally like things small. To me it’s easier to see, ironically enough, and get around.

Headers, or Labels

I always state what the user is reading or looking at boldly at the top of the page. Its not that I'm assuming they forgot what the topic was, it might just have a reassurance factor.

Thats all I've got for now, hope it helps.

nice topic
you can get more info about design stuff in this link http://www.webstyleguide.com/index.html?/contents.html its a free online book for proper web designing, it does teach you html

I feel that web designers shold give some thought and consideration to the width of the layout because people are going to have such a large range of screen sizes that what looks good at 800x600 won't look as good on a larger screen. Some designers use design diferent layouts for the different screen sizes and use javascript to direct users to the correct ones, but I feel that this is rather time-consumuing

well, you have the right to do everything on your design. but for those hightly visited site 800x600 is still a good choice coz they consider those poor web user which still use 800x600 resolution, which is dominant or sometime their main visitor

When I design a webpage (which I have done many times for me and others) I tend to optimize my page for a 56k user, and not to use to many images. Also, I make my pages easy to read for the visually handicapped.

Some designers use design diferent layouts for the different screen sizes and use javascript to direct users to the correct ones, but I feel that this is rather time-consumuing

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It might be time consuming, I'll give you that, but it is one of the best ways to do a layout in my humble opinion. I think that it leads to a more professional looking site to have it customized by what resolution the person looking at the website is using.

About web layout... I design my layouts in photoshop and use it in my website...
have a look at my website... i designed completely in photoshop.... not completely exactly... the layout i mean....


My homesite

i use photoshop 7 to make layouts, like many others, which is very efficient. you dont need muich HTML knowldge to create one in PS. But you will need knowledge of PS, of course..nice tutorial Pokona

well if you go to http://www.good-tutorials.com/ they show you how to make a basic layout

An excellent combination for producing a good website is using Adobe Photoshop and Image Ready.

For N00bs:

Adobe Photoshop- Excellent for the designing the graphics your site layout.

Adobe Image Ready- Good for slicing the design you creating using photoshop and exporting it to be a xhtml compatible page with image slices.

For more information visit: Adobe and possibly download a trial version of these software if you hav't got them already.

Image Slicing

If you don't have the Adobe products, you can use GIMP which is Free and sufficiently adequate:

Get GIMP from any of the sources listed on these pages:

Unix: https://www.gimp.org/unix/

Mac: https://www.gimp.org/macintosh/

Windows: http://www.gimp.org/windows/

Here is a tutorial on how to slice in GIMP:

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

After you are done slicing, you can use tables or css (I prefer css) to arrange the images.

CSS Layouts

I usually start off with pen and paper to get the basic layout right. Depending on the theme of the site, I might then use an image editor such as Photoshop, GIMP or FireWorks to replicate the (portions of the) css layout and thus render stuff like backgrounds and the edge of boxes.

Here are some more tips on good web layout designing.. I got these from experience, observations, and advices from my fellow weavers.. Hopefully, these could help..1) Know your audience I think that this is one of the most important things. Knowing your audience helps you decide on how simple, or how flashy your layout would be.. 2) Observe SimplicityWhen designing layouts, one should keep in mind that "You can never go wrong with a simple layout." 3) Put yourself in your audience's point of view.Being a designer, we may tend to lack the state of being open-minded.. It is important to put yourself in the reader's point of view, and try to browse your layout as if you are not the one who developed it. In that way, new flaws, (especially with navigational structures) will be determined..

THis is a good topic, giving basic info to newbies.

I'm not the best web designer in the world, so this tutorial isnât going to be great. But if youâre baffled heres some short tips that might help.

 

Colors

 

I always thought that the main color of your site had a big influence on the visitor. Like each color has its separate emotion. If your website is all black it could hint that your hiding something. It also tends to looks slightly amateur. But on the other hand, if youâre trying to appeal in a younger audience and your selling something you want to look "cool", then black might be a better option. I usually have about 3 or 4 different colors, usually within a shade.

 

Organization

 

Things should be easy to find. Navigation should never be confusing. Try to make sure the labels youâre put on your links are direct or to-the-point as possible. I personally like things small. To me itâs easier to see, ironically enough, and get around. 

 

Headers, or Labels

 

I always state what the user is reading or looking at boldly at the top of the page. Its not that I'm assuming they forgot what the topic was, it might just have a reassurance factor.

Thats all I've got for now, hope it helps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sometimes a a light gradient header strip won't hurt (like the one on this forum where it says Latest Shouts In The Shoutbox -- View The Xisto Shout!)

An excellent combination for producing a good website is using Adobe Photoshop and Image Ready.

 

For N00bs:

 

Adobe Photoshop- Excellent for the designing the graphics your site layout.

 

Adobe Image Ready- Good for slicing the design you creating using photoshop and exporting it to be a xhtml compatible page with image slices.

 

For more information visit: Adobe and possibly download a trial version of these software if you hav't got them already.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Adobe Photoshop- Excellent, but very expensive, program for the designing the graphics your site layout.

Adobe Image Ready- Good for slicing the design you creating using photoshop and exporting it to be a xhtml compatible page with image slices. Same except it comes free (or should I say is included in the cost) of Adobe Photoshop

nice tips for beginners there...one more tip... use some software like macromedia fireworks and first create the basic layout of the whole page... don't add stuff like all the content and all.....then modify each part of the page and "slice" the whole image into the different parts..in the end, publish to html.. after that, insert the text and content using any html editor.there is one problem with my approach though.... if you want to modify the overall design and keep the content intact, you will have a hard time doin it.