Building your web site...

1.      Revise your existing web site.  
2.      Build one from scratch using your own design ideas!     
3.      Modeling from layouts and styles you like from existing web sites...
4.      Use templates --free or buy a set

Penciling it out!

And, What in the world has that to do with web design?

Fibinacci and the Rule of thirds   (0·61803)

      

Always Use the Rule of thirds to aid your layout.

A visual collection of very sucessful web sites....

What are the 7 main elements that make a web page useable???
Before you take a peek, write down what you think they are...

Okay you can peek now...

Web Colors

Use a color wheel to determine complementary colors. Don't make your web page hard to read by putting text over clashing or similar colors.>

The color wheel and web colors

For help in choosing color schemes and readable backgrounds and using colored text check out this web site http://www.colorsontheweb.com/

Color Theory and More...

Ever wonder why some color schemes work better than other? Or what colors mean to other cultures? Check out this article, suggested by Sarah at teachersguild.org color tips at printerinks.com!

How do you place colors on a web page?

See lesson 2!

Now, Sit down with a pen/pencil and paper and sketch out ---block it out--- layout, design elements, colors and links.

Make it simple, the eye is attracted to groupings of 1, 3, 5 ie, odd numbers of elements. Make it clear what the visitor is to do when they open your web page. Don't make them guess, don't make it hard for them to contact you.

Use ideas from other web sites, including your competitors and sites you like. If there is something you don't like list those too.

Some home page Layout ideas..
Get out a pencil and some paper and draw your own

Remember, people read web sites! "Of users' first three eye-fixations on a page, only 22% were on graphics; 78% were on text. In general, users were first drawn to headlines, article summaries, and captions." --Jakob Nielson

Collect Stuff for your web page. 

Make a file folder called "Web Stuff" in it put a file folders called graphics, bars, photos, backgrounds, buttons,  snippets, interfaces, dividers, templates, etc

Include research and articles and links to related web sites.  You can find web page templates, graphics, buttons for free or for pay...

Here are some places for you to check out.

• http://www.webpagebackground.com/
• http://www.backgroundcity.com/
• http://www.allfreebackgrounds.com/

Choosing Web Editing Software

Some considerations...

Content on a web page is controlled by HTML. Content is the most important feature of your web site... you want the content to be easy to read, clear and concise. You will want to be able to easily change, add or update the content of your web pages. Once you have the "content" for your web site you can work on how it will appear, it's "style".

Style is controlled using CSS.

Here are some software suggestions for you to consider as you "grow" your website and you become familiar with HTML and CSS

In the beginning...

No matter what kind of Web Editing software you use, you need to have a good text editor. A word processor like Word, WordPerfect, or Pages won't work as they embed code that makes browsers "go wonky".

On the PC, Windows provides Notepad and on the Mac you get TextEdit. You can build your web sites using just a text editor!

For more about finding web editing Nirvana read the Class Blog "Finding Web Page Editing Nirvana"