| |
| |
|
Web Design Information |
|
|
|
Creating a Basic Web Design Template
A "template" is simply a design format which you can apply to all (or most) of the pages in your web site. The first advantage of using a "template" system is that it allows you to make your most important design decisions at the beginning, and then just focus on content. The second advantage is that it allows you to quickly create new pages based on your standard design. The disadvantage is that many template-based websites look homogenized and seem to lack a unique character. Designers who sell templates tend to use the same formats over and over again, insert the same generic images, and use the same techniques. Just as important, templates are often not ready-to-go right out of the box. They almost always need modification, and often modifying a professionally prepared template is difficult because the designer will have used techniques you may not fully understand or are specific to the tools he or she used to create it. So it is preferable not to think of a web template as the kind of thing you buy from an online template store. Rather just think of it as a basic page format that can be used over and over again. The best template is therefore one that uses "standard" techniques that can be modified without the use of specialized tools or programs (like Front Page or Dreamweaver). Creating a Basic Template If you are not familiar with web design, try working with a "bare bones" template to begin with. There are two ways you can go. You can work with basic html and tables, or you can create your basic template with CSS. Since CSS is rapidly becoming the new standard, it is probably better to begin with CSS -- especially if you have not yet become used to constructing web pages with tables. CSS stands for "Cascading Style Sheets", but at the beginning it is not important to understand what that means. What is important is to understand that CSS allows you to create a set of formatting parameters in a "style sheet" (a seperate file) which you then can very easily apply to your individual pages. In other words, you seperate the "style" from the "content". A simple style sheet can contain just three or four design elements. Here is an example which you are free to copy (right click and "Save target as" to a location on your hard drive, then change its name to "sample-1.css".) Style Sheet Sample (be sure to change its name to "sample-1.css"). This template contains a definition for the body text, a header component (with a background image), a "navbar", and a definition for two headline styles, h1 and h2. Now that you have a style sheet you can begin building your web site by creating a basic home page. Here is an example which embeds the style sheet referred to in the previous paragraph. You can get the html code by just opening the page in a browser window, looking at the "Source" code, and saving the resulting file on your hard drive as, for instance, "sample-1.html". Now you should have two files in the same location on your hard drive -- "sample-1.css" and "sample-1.html". You can get the image file by just right clicking on the image in the sample page and saving it to the same location on your hard drive. Your second step will be to create the pages referenced in the "navbar", so make sure you think of names for these pages before proceeding (e.g., howitworks.html, products.html, about.html, sitemap.html, contact.html). Then build your hyperlinks into the navbar. (Look at the code of the sample file to see how it is done.) Once you have your basic home page with links, this then becomes your template. Just save it as "howitworks.html", "products.html", etc., and make the changes to the specific pages. The result (once you upload it all to your host server) will be a basic, functional website containing a number of properly interlinked pages. It will also be search engine friendly because the design is not cluttered with scripts, and the most important elements are clearly laid out at the top of the page. For more web design tips and techniques see the Linknet Marketing Resource Library. Rick Hendershot is a marketing consultant, writer, and internet publisher who lives in Conestogo, Ontario, Canada. He publishes several websites and blogs, including The Linknet Network of Websites. This network provides an inexpensive way to advertise your website, and get as many as 100 low cost links.
MORE RESOURCES:
Web-Design - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Congratulations! You've Gotten Visitors To Your Site! Now, Can They Find What Theyre Looking For? As search engine marketers, we spend an enormous amount of time trying to get targeted traffic to our site. But, once those visitors get to our site, can they find what they're looking for? If not, guess what? We've lost a customer. Your Website Hurts My Eyes: 7 Reasons to Tone Down Your Advertising So you're on the computer, as usual. Your eyes are smarting. Web Design for Dictators No question about it, web design is an art. Finding the right blend of style and usability is a delicate balance that few, if any, fully master. 20 Tips to Creating a Profitable Website As an online Entrepreneur you require a successful website.One that you personal own. 6 Reasons Why Using Flash is a BIG Mistake Most web designers and web design companies will try to convince you that if you want your business to have the best site possible that you MUST have a flash site. Flash, for those of you who are newbies, is a software program that can create really cool special effects and animations. Professional Web Design Companies - How to Avoid Getting Ripped Off Building a website that is exactly what you want and has all of the components you believe will impress customers is not easy. Your website needs to make searching and buying as easy as possible for your visitors and sometimes it is best to seek help on your website design. The Psychology of Color in Web Design Persons engaged in website design, here's a scoop for you! Would you just like to know that by understanding the basics of cognitive psychology around color and patterns, we could further improve our Web design!Designing a Web site does not only concentrate on making web pages of a certain site interesting and impressive. This skill and talent must also be used to ensure the user-friendliness of a certain site and must strive to reach the widest range of users possible. If Content is King who is Queen? It's been said again and again, when it comes to getting people to visit your site (and stay there for more than 5 seconds), the quality of your content rules supreme. But once you've bowed to interest, saluted relevance and kow-towed to originality, who else must you pay homage to for recognition in the court of website stickiness?The two jewels in the crown of Presentation, for it is of course Presentation who is Queen, are structure and graphical design. Design vs Content: Who is KING? Well it is not Elvis, that's for sure.I am a firm advocate of good design but most of the time people tend to interpret design as amazing graphics and astounding visuals they tend to forget that design is the culmination of every aspect of good and effective presentation into one. 5 Website Design Tips to Make Your Site More Attractive The question that I most frequently hear from people is "How can I attract thousands of visitors to my site each month?" Well, driving high traffic to your site is important, but what's even more important, is designing a website that makes them stay.After all, what's the use of spending all your time and money on creating a unique product that many people want, building a 100-page site, winning top rankings on search engines, and spending $5,000 in advertising if visitors don't stay once they arrive?In this article, you're going to learn 5 important website design tips to make your site more attractive. How to Create a Favicon for Your Web Site One of the simplest things you can do to give your site 'identity' and to make it stand out from other sites is to use a favicon (favourite icon). They are the little logos that go next to the website listing in your favourites folder, and pop up in other places, (depending on your browser and operating system). Every Website is a Human Being's Attempt at Achieving a Goal or Obtaining Happiness Have you ever thought about the real stories behind all the websites on the Internet? There are over 10 million sites out there and a human being with some hope or dream driving the process constructed each one. Too much of our modern world is presented to us in a barrage of superficial pictures that only show a very external glimpse of the true reality beneath the surface. Custom Website Design - 3 Must Have Tools Creating your own website can be fun and easy, as long as you have the right tools. Fortunately, all the tools you need are available at your fingertips and all you need to know are which tools will allow you to design the best website possible. Images: How To Make Them To Load Fast On Your Web Pages? 1. Use . Explode Your Homepage And Replace It With Something Dynamite! You know that I'm always extolling the virtues of an all-round website marketing approach that doesn't just focus on search engines? Well, you'll be suprised to hear there's a big problem with this.The big problem with this is that it assumes your website is ready to start receiving lots of visitors in the first place! Before you start marketing your site you need to know. Successful Flash Tips Ever browse across a website that took ten million years to load or required a road map to find the navigation bar? True, Flash Technology might impress your clients till their eyes fall out. However, Flash Technology requires a skillful balance between gaudy and elegant. Website Design Mishaps - How to Avoid Costly Errors That Can Crush Your Chances of Success Designing your website can be a difficult task especially if you decide to do it on your own and you have no experience. There are many websites and web hosts that provide tools to allow you to build your website, but if you have no knowledge of what works and what does not work in web design, you could be setting yourself up for a big fall. 12 Essential Web Site Design Tips 1. What's the purpose?The most fundamental thing to do before designing your web site is to define its purpose. The Technology May Change, But Human Nature Remains The Same Let me repeat that.. Welcoming Your Website Visitors Imagine you're going on a blind date. You've heard wonderful things about this person, and in your heart of hearts you're thinking -- hoping -- this might just be "the one.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
