First time web design

[ian124]

Hi all in the past I have used a free web hosting company, weebly. I have had no problems with these but I have been talked into buying a domain and setting up our own website as we would have more flexibility with what we use it for. I have never done any type of web design before.

I have worked through an online tutorial for creating your first web page in dreamweaver on the adobe site which was OK. I have now started to put my own together. Lets say its not going as well as planned. I have got it so I have a banner, main image, an animation and a few words. I am unable to get a footer at the bottom of the page it just goes were ever it wants and when I make pages for the other sections in our group and put a menu in it wont link up and then when it does the menu moves to a different location. I have set up some basic CSS for the page and text

All that said I am wondering if anyone knows of any web design package that works as a drag and drop I can put the things were I want them and the software works the rest out?

Thanks

Ian

[Rob Pomeroy]

Dreamweaver is quite possibly the best WYSIWYG editor out there.  Not sure it would give you quite the results you're looking for though.  Ideally, learn CSS thoroughly and code in plain text.  With understanding comes better design and more importantly, more easily maintainable web sites.

[Base2]

Hi Ian,

I agree with what Rob was saying.  So here is a link for you

http://www.w3schools.com/html/


B2

[2x3i5x]

Dreamweaver is impressive yes, but I think it's not free.

I use Microsoft Web Expressions 4 for making web pages and it seems to do fine for being a free software (at least for me), and so you might want to see if it is able to do what you are looking for.

[Veltas]

Anyone who wants to try and rent out a server would certainly have time well-invested in learning the basics that hold the pages together; HTML 4 or XHTML, JavaScript, CSS 2, and PHP or ASP for larger websites.

Keep in mind that the basic layout of a webpage is that of an article, as that is what HTML was originally designed for, a footer should just be able to be entered last and appear at the bottom!

[zeroburn]

I agree with everyone on that you will find it very valuable to learn HTML and CSS at the least.
I could help with a bit of the code, however, i would either need a link to the site or the codes themselves.

The basic css for the footer would be as fallows:

Code: [Select]

div#footer{float:center;background-color:#550000;color:#ffffff;width:800px;hight:20px} 
the html would be as fallows

Code: [Select]

<div id="content">
<center> bla bla </center>
<a href="evilgoth.webs.com">my site where you can look at my codes </a>
</div>
<div id="footer"
<center>something to put in the footer </center>
</div>
 
At least this is the way i made it on my websites.
Dreamweaver is an awesome tool to make editing websites easier, but it will never do everything for you.
Hope i helped a bit.

[kpac]

Well if you're gonna use CSS, don't use <center>.

[Raptor]

And what's the deal with stating div in front of the #footer ID? ID's are unique and should appear only once on the same page. Therefore, you can't (or shouldn't) have a div#footer and a whatever#footer so that makes the div statement irrelevant.

It should either be #footer or div.footer. The latter would require turning it into a class.

[kpac]

And what's the deal with stating div in front of the #footer ID? ID's are unique and should appear only once on the same page. Therefore, you can't (or shouldn't) have a div#footer and a whatever#footer so that makes the div statement irrelevant.

Well it does work, and can be handy for remembering what element you styling. But the best option to use would be a class.

[Rob Pomeroy]

And what's the deal with stating div in front of the #footer ID?

Might be useful for clarity if you're working with multiple levels of CSS selectors...?

Code: [Select]

float:center;[code]

In CSS2, there is no "center" value for float.  You might be thinking of margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto; perhaps?

Also, "hight" is spelled "height"...

[Raptor]

hm.. I never thought of it that way.

Does it pass CSS2 validation if you use it?

[Rob Pomeroy]

Yes.  (Although the code suggested by zeroburn wouldn't, for other reasons.)

[bacskai79]

You can also build web site with content management (e.g. Joomla). If you host your web site at HostGator, in Control Panel you select Fantastico De Luxe. With Joomla is very easy to maintain your web site.

[routik]

You can also build web site with content management (e.g. Joomla). If you host your web site at HostGator, in Control Panel you select Fantastico De Luxe. With Joomla is very easy to maintain your web site.

This is another easy option for you BUT like they have all advised, HTML and CSS is the basic of web design so learn it if you can.

[Rob Pomeroy]

Thread died in January - let's leave it there.