Web Design All-in-One For Dummies

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Keywords isn't used by most engines. Make page titles complete, informative, keyword-rich sentences.

Create a sitemap and link to it from the footer and head of HTML. Add a Google Custom Search Engine to the site. Additional notes The site should explain the benefits of the client's products or services to their ideal visitor.

The client isn't always right. If they make unreasonable requests, explain why the idea is bad, then offer alternatives. Make images as small as possible 10 KB or less, or 30 KB for larger graphics. The author recommends Lunarpages for domain registration and hosting. Designate a day for site updates. Have clients send a list of all updates at once, rather than sending as they think of them. Jul 20, Marisa rated it liked it Shelves: It also includes basic design standards when designing websites for other people.

A comprehensive guide to the basics, written by designers for designers.

For example, you learn to create a design mock-up which includes colour pallet, the company name and logo, font etc. I reference it here and there and don't regret buying it. I found that some information you can easily find on the web, however something about a physical I liked it.

I found that some information you can easily find on the web, however something about a physical book in front of me helps to re-enforce information better. I didn't like the books assumption that the reader owned Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 since some of the tutorials incorporated it's use. But MS notepad or a free code viewing software is just fine if you don't own Dreamweaver.

Be aware that this book is definitely for amateurs and I wouldn't recommend it for professionals since basic html, css and webdesign standards are things they would or should already know. Overall, I recommend this book to amateurs looking for basic knowledge in html, css and design basics. Mar 01, Ralph Zoontjens rated it liked it. The 'for Dummies' books have this image like they're written for complete computer illiterates but they're just good for anyone seeking to learn a particular skill. Tracy Fairchild rated it it was ok Jun 25, Mary Hicks rated it really liked it Oct 15, Akshay Goyal rated it it was amazing May 04, Tara rated it did not like it Oct 07, Terri rated it liked it Dec 10, Chris Seal rated it it was amazing Oct 21, Joanna rated it liked it Feb 08, Max Mabood Sabet rated it liked it Apr 12, Daniel rated it liked it May 06, Heba Aldebany rated it really liked it Nov 29, Dan rated it really liked it Sep 10, Sep 06, Linh Chi rated it liked it.

Steven Bakewell rated it liked it Oct 17, Andy rated it it was ok Apr 05, Jason Radmore rated it did not like it Oct 11, Mr P Thompson rated it really liked it Jan 01, Ben Moran rated it liked it Jul 28, John rated it it was amazing Jun 24, David rated it liked it Jan 29, Dave Jones rated it really liked it Feb 16, Mohamed Fouad rated it it was amazing Jan 26, Wibee rated it really liked it May 23, Jon rated it really liked it Dec 19, Remember what I said about learning typography first?

The Internet is text. Those words should look amazing. Typography is about more than picking the right font, though. Typography is about usability. You have to choose the right font sizes, and font types, for example, to make your text readable to the majority of people, on the majority of screens. You have to set the right sizes for headings and titles to create a visual hierarchy. You have to make your text make sense to the largest number of people possible.

This book has everything: You should read the whole book. You can do that online, for free, or order a real-life copy. Even if you never get around to designing your first website, the advice in this book will improve the look of every document you make. There are a lot of good free ones out there, so look around.

Creative Bloq

Many people, myself included, choose their fonts from Google Web Fonts. Even better, some great designers have gone and compiled lists of font combinations for you to try out:. For a more advanced typography planning tool, try Typecast. It has a free plan that will suit most beginners and lone designers. Typecast will also give you access to paid fonts not in the Google Fonts library.

Another place to look for web fonts: Font Squirrel has a massive library of free fonts for use on websites. Last, but not least, there are a lot of great fonts, free and paid, listed right here at the Webdesigner Depot. We also have a lot of great articles on typography that move beyond the basics. Look around the site for the fonts some of them are in the Freebies section.

You can find the typography articles here: Color theory has little to do with learning the technical names of colors. Color theory deals with combinations of colors, and the human emotions they can evoke. For a great introduction to color theory, check out this article by Tutsplus: When you finish that article, do check out the two color scheme generators shown at the end. That problem gets worse with screen glare, badly configured screens, and visual impairments. Every website you have ever looked at is made from HTML.

Your browser then translates that into what you see on the screen. CSS tells the browser which font the text is supposed to be, and which colors to use. Learning these languages is simple enough. However, they are also extensive, and can be combined in tons of ways, to make tons of awesome designs. I suggest starting at Code Academy. The explanations are kept simple. You are provided with coding exercises, and live feedback on your work.

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Once you know the basics, there are a truly staggering number of websites out there where you can learn more. It is, however, one of the most important technologies associated with web design, and so I mention it here. What can you do with it? Oh, things like fancy slide shows, calling in new content without reloading the page, improving website usability, and lots of other stuff! If you want to learn how to do those things, my recommendation is the same as in the last section: They are just that awesome. Code Academy will also teach you how to use jQuery, if you so choose.

It facilitates using JavaScript in web pages by making it easier to select and manipulate the content. Learn a bit of regular JavaScript. Software can be a touchy subject, with some people swearing by one image editor, and others preaching the good news of their favorite text editor. They can sometimes get pretty intense; but you can safely ignore most of that.

This mindset is death to any designer or programmer. Everyone should take time regularly to experiment with new tools, workflows, and processes. If you like them, great! If you feel you need something different, there are lists upon lists of alternatives. Not one of them is quite the same. They all have their little quirks, and websites can look a bit different in each one. They can also look radically different, depending on how the website was coded.

Thankfully, browser capabilities have reached the point where websites are starting to look almost exactly the same in each one. At least website layouts are, in general, no longer a problem. Still, the keys to ensuring the quality of your work is to test it in as many environments as possible.

If your computer runs a Linux derivative like Ubuntu, you can test Safari 5, and Internet Explorer 8 and below—It must be noted that IE 8 and below are the most painful versions of IE to work with, and are hardly in use anymore. Indeed, Internet Explorer is falling out of favor in general, and fewer people use it every year. Your mobile browser testing will be limited by the devices you own. That said, the well-known mobile browsers all have fairly similar capabilities.

You can, however, install Chrome , and Opera Mini right now. You think this a lot of browsers to test? There are tons more! However, their user bases are comparatively small.

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Using quick, disposable wire-frames to start with allows you to refine your ideas a little bit before committing to anything at all. It comes with all of the basic shapes I could ever want, great sharing features, and live collaboration. Oh, and you get about 15 GB of free space to work with. For tablets, we have a list of apps that can get the job done here: How to design wireframes on your tablet. A code editor is really just a glorified version of Notepad. The difference is that these text editors come with lots of extra functions designed to make coding websites and programs easier.

Remember what I was saying about people getting obsessed with their software? It gets bad with the text editor crowd. You can literally build websites in Notepad, if you want to. So which one should you start with? It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Again, use whatever works for you. Net, or one of the Corel apps.

Lastly, you might want to install a web server on your personal computer. Instead, you can install a server to imitate the way things work online. Learning how to work with a server on your computer can save you a lot of time when you upload your files to an actual hosting server. Alternatively, we could say you want to try your skills out for the first time.

While there are certain things that simply should be done first, a lot of the details are up to you. Your process affects the outcome, almost more than anything else, including your skills and abilities. Make sure it works for you, and any clients you might be working for. Get it from your client, or write it yourself. You could hire a copy writer and a photographer, or look for decent stock images.

Whatever you have to do, get the text, images, and what-have-you together and organized. They have years and years worth of advice about how to write good content for the Internet. How will these pages be connected to each other? Here is an example of a mind map that I made for a client some time back, detailing the content architecture and navigation structure for a mid-sized site.

This site included basic pages advertising a few services, and a product catalog:. Now, take everything you learned about wire-framing from the articles linked above, and have at it! Start with disposable wire-frames, and iterate quickly. Give each page of your site no more than, say, half an hour.

Actually, that might be a lot. Remember, these first wireframes need not be very detailed. Create the basic layout, and nothing more. Create more detailed versions of the wire-frames for each page, including as much of the actual content as you can. Try to define, as much as possible, exactly how the user is expected to interact with each page. If you have a lot of the same type of page, for example, in a product catalog, just make one of each type.

So you have your website structure, planned. Style Tiles are a great way to do this. Style Tiles are a design deliverable consisting of fonts, colors and interface elements that communicate the essence of a visual brand for the web. They help form a common visual language between the designers and the stakeholders and provide a catalyst for discussions around the preferences and goals of the client.

Web Design All-In-One for Dummies

Style Tiles are similar to the paint chips and fabric swatches an interior designer gets approval on before designing a room. The files you download from this website will be Photoshop files. Basically, you open up your text editor and your main browser, then you start typing. You keep typing code until a page forms in the browser that is a combination of the structure you planned in your wireframes, and the style you planned in your style tiles.

The text editor I linked to above, Brackets, has a great feature for this part. You need Google Chrome installed for this. The browser window will update live with any changes you make. People used to clicking and dragging things onto their canvas may get quite frustrated, at first. Once you have your workflow in place, however, designing in the browser can be a speedy process.

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