Site Designing

Do any of you guys have a particular process you go through when designing a site? I always find it really hard to get started on a site, and often have to have 4 or 5 gos before I get it right. Is there a "perfect formula" out there for getting your designs right every time?

I either get the rough idea how the site should look immediatly or I won't even start doing it. Usually it's not a problem to come up with the design. Sometimes I just start my doing some graphics. I'll mess around with Photoshop, use different colours, fonts, brushes filters and so on. If something turns out to look neat and fitting the site topic I'll base my entire design to it. Sometimes all I get is crap. What results closing photoshop and trying again tomorrow. Messing around with Photoshop is also a good way to learn new tricks.

Sometimes all I get is crap. What results closing photoshop and trying again tomorrow.

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LOL Happens to me all the time. I always have a go at doing some kind of logo/header image, and if that turns out all right I might carry on. I never do a whole layout in PS or whatever though - I can never seem to get it to the right scale for some reason. I'm working on something at the mo, which I think looks alright - I'll put it up when I finish it.

Usually i take a site i've previously build, then edit the CSS file of it (what a little css file can't do ). But IF i happen to create one from scratch I just start thinking of an nice color combo and then play around with PS or Gimp to get a basic idea of where everything should be placed.

Do any of you guys have a particular process you go through when designing a site? I always find it really hard to get started on a site, and often have to have 4 or 5 gos before I get it right. Is there a "perfect formula" out there for getting your designs right every time?

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Hi budy,

 

Before Starting Website designing you need to collect these basic information

1) What the Site is about (Educational,Personal,Gaming,Add Purpose, or a portal )

2) What are the Contents are going to be Dipsplayes in site

3) At what rate Site content are going to be changed

 

Then start Your Site Designing

 

Cheers

Arunkumar.H.G

ok here is my process in starting a website1: decide what the website is going to be about2: Think what kind of layout you are going to make3: if u are a gfx designer start to make graphics for the website4: start coding the website so everything is rightand the last step is to start making pages for the content to go on

the main thing to do is figure out what layout you need. As in, how many menus there will ever be(including sub menu's), how many options there will be in those menus, and so on. At that point, you have narrowed down the number of possible layouts there are(realistically) to choose from. Pick the layout that makes the most sense for your content/audience and go with it. This will give you a decent site. Write it with as much CSS as possible, so that if you decide there is a more optimal way of doing things, you only have to mess with the CSS file once and be done with it.

What I do when I create a website is to first decide my topic for my webpage, then I create a quicky sketch of what my website is going to look like, and create the graphics that I think that I need. Just make sure there are no 'loud graphics'. That is a number 1 mistake that web page designers seem to make. If the graphics conflict with the text (means that you can't read it), or the graphic seems unnessecery, then the viewer may decide to visit a different website. Neatness and smaller pictures count. If the image has to be bigger than the web browser window, then create a thumbnail for the image. A thumbnail is a smaller version of the image that links to the larger image. Also, if your images are too large for a photo gallary, then the wait for the viewer will cause him/her to go somewhere else. That is why it is a good idea to use thumbnails in a Photo/Image Gallary.

my process is simple... and yet powerful...1.)think of the goal2.)think of the target audience and visitors3.)Collect every tastebuds4.)find everything for each tastebuds5.)make a scenario for the long term effect of the site...6.)collect graphics and images or create myself...7.)design the layout8.)export it and code simple htmls9.)Separate Scripiting from the htmls10).Bring it all together11.)Test it and show it to your friends and community12.)if ok launch it... else dump it... start again...thats simple isn't it...

Designing a website, can be fun and easy, just make sure you follow these steps. 1. Learn CSS- the more you know about CSS, the easier it will be for you, and less frustrating for you, and you will enjoy designing your site.2. Always test the site after you have finished, make sure you tested with all the browsers you can and if you need to make adjustments, I reccomend Microsoft Frontpage for easy editing.3. Get other people's opinion of your site.

My Process is this. 1. Get a rough idea of the sites content and purpose.2. Do a search on the subject at hand and see how sucessful site like it are.3. Start jotting down ideas.4. Start gathering a staff around me that is willing to help out. (sometimes I skip this one.)5. Start the design and find an acceptable layout.6. Make a few pages of the site as kind of a demo site.7. Launch the demo.8. Watch the stats of the site to see the hits and how activity is.9. If its good, luanch more of the site. If its bad, scrap it.10. (if its bad.) Do it all over again...

It's important too, for web designers to maintain the website once it's designed and availabel on the Net. You've to fix broken links, and so on. The point is, site design covers site maintenance as well.

If you are designing a site for small businesses, the place to start is in the initial conference concerning the project. You have to understand what it is they are attempting to accomplish with their site.Next I consider the scripting that will be required. Scripts requiring templates will play a factor in the final design decision. I pay close attention to the client, trying to gain a perspective on their personality in hopes of incorporating it into the design. It is also important to review their current marketing strategies and advertisements. Get any digitized logos, ads, text about themselves as possible. If the meeting is at their location, it should be so that you are able to get a better understanding of exactly what it is they do, and how they go about it, take alot of pictures of the facility, the employees, equipment, etc. When you actually sit down to do the site, do a mock up on paper. This is primariliy for navigation purposes. I usually only mock up the index page. The goal is to have any piece of primary information within 3 clicks of the index page, hopefull this is accomplished in 2 or even 1.I have found that doing this mock-up for link purposes really helps to get the creative juices flowing. From it you will be able to determine what kind of, and location of the navbars, the rest of the page usually falls into place after that You begin to visualize the various pieces of art and photo placements, then it is downhill from there.It also dosen't hurt to search related sites on the net for ideas. I usually do this after the mock up, looking for a better possible way to the navigation for the links Ineed to accomplish the clients goals.One thing to remember, if you do this for a living, you have to find some middle ground between design time and the compenstaion received. In the beginning I gave away alot of scripting time in order to impress the client with quality of work I could do. That doen't feed the family. Getting paid for the scripting your doing does. If they want a Lexus, let them have it, but charge them for it. Hopefully this will help. We all get writer's blocks and stare at blank screens, regardless of how many sites you have designed.

I have found as an artist, musician, writer, and graphic designer that no matter what 'creative' project you are working on, there is a necessary amount of revision that must be done to obtain your best results. If you focus on trying to get a creative project "perfect" on the first try, you are only going to create a writer's block type dilemma. People who tell you otherwise are usually amatuers who haven't yet come to appreciate the advantage of being able to revise one's work. Usually they are so in love with thier initial creation that they are unable to see how it could be any better and thus never pursue the revision process. This usually leads to doing the same types of works over and over. I suggest that instead of trying to 'get so good you do it right on the first try', you embrace your ability to revise your work and come up with better material than your initial attempt. That ability to revise is, in my opinion, a major advantage over those who cannot revise. I might also add that Thomas edison, while creating the light bulb, tried some 2,000 different materials before he settled on the tungsten filament or whatever he ended up using at that time. As have countless others in many area's of creative output. Successful business owners also share this 'ability to revise' as many of them have several failures under thier belt before they become largely successful. Failure is only failure when you refuse to learn from your mistakes.Revise ReviseReviseBest of luck to all with creative ventures

If you're talking about just designing the layout, here is what I always do.1) - open up Photoshop, and make a blank document with a transparent background. I usually make sites around 750x550, but the length of the site varies. I will never go above 1024x768.2) - The first thing I do after that is black out an area where I want my banner to go. I then copy the dimensions of that area, and start a new image where I can make my banner seperate from the rest of the layout. Once completed, I put the banner back into that black box. I design the rest of the template using the color scheme or look I choose for the banner.3) - Next I'll creat a navigation bar or box, this usually goes at the top or some other prominent place where users will be able to see it easily. You don't want users confused as to how to get around your site...so the navigation bar usually goes right below the banner on my sites.4) - After creating the nav bar, I'll make other necessary items on the site. These include an affiliate box (if needed), a login box, or whatever else I may need for the site.5) - I'll then make the main box (if I plan on using iframes) where all the pages will be displayed in. If I don't plan on using iframes, I'd make an area where the news posts would go (I prefer iframes to expandable pages, though, for my small sites)6) - Finally, once everything is finished, I'll add a watermark (usually) and then slice it up. Once sliced how I want, I save it for the web (file>save for web). 7) - I then use notepad to code it and create pages...but that doesn't have to do with creating the layout :DJust make sure the layout is easy to view, easy on the eyes, small in filesize (don't make it too graphics heavy), and easy for users to navigate. The worst possible scenario is a beatiful looking layout that is gigantic in filesize, or too cluttered for the average user to find there way around. IMO, if the viewer can't figure out where to go within 10 seconds then you've designed the site poorly.I hope this helps whoever reads it, if they want to know how I make my templates. 8)