Website help

CrazyAva · Jan 25, 2005

I have a website, however, I use an ftp uploader and it only has certain options for the designing of the site and I really don't like it. I know you can make web pages with photo shop and have even attempted to do so, but I am completely lost when it comes to web design. Even if I were to come up with a really nice page for my site, I would not have the slightest clue how to get it uploaded to my site. Is anyone any good with website building? Or know of any really good website builder software? I am ready for a change and want to completely renovate my entire site.

This is what it looks like right now.......

http://www.avapadgett.com

I want it to be similar to something like this...........simple, elegant, not so lame as mine........
http://www.portraitsbydawn.com/

jmraso · Jan 26, 2005

Dear friend,

I know a little bit about webdesign, I am not an expert though.

I took a look at the website you mentioned you liked and not been too complicated to make it involves some knowledge of JavaScript at least the part where you see images and change images just putting your mouse over (I saw that in the weddings section).

Check mine (I made it myself) www.jmraso.com is quite similar in terms of technical complexity.

The rest you can do it with FrontPage

Jaime

CrazyAva · Jan 26, 2005

jmraso said:
Dear friend,

I know a little bit about webdesign, I am not an expert though.

I took a look at the website you mentioned you liked and not been too complicated to make it involves some knowledge of JavaScript at least the part where you see images and change images just putting your mouse over (I saw that in the weddings section).

Check mine (I made it myself) www.jmraso.com is quite similar in terms of technical complexity.

The rest you can do it with FrontPage

Jaime

Well, I have no knowledge of javascript, so I guess I won't be able to do that part and I have front page coming to me. I purchased it. Someone suggested it to me, so I figured I would give it a try. Thank you.

Rob · Feb 1, 2005

You should be quite happy with Frontpage, it has quite a few quirks but otherwise is nice and easy to use like MS Word.

Tip: use tables to position text and graphics, not absolute positioning, cos it'll look different to other people.
Tip: keep using the preview button at the bottom to check WYSIWYG.
Tip: it is probably easier to use Internet Explorer to upload FTP files like a folder on your computer enter ftp://ftp.sitenameurl.com into the browser and it will prompt for the username and password. Frontpage's "Upload to web" can be a bit finicky by comparison.
Tip: there are good bits of software out there to automatically create galleries, have a surf for them if you're doing a photo album, otherwise it's a ton of work to update your site.

Canon Fan · Feb 1, 2005

Photoshop can create decent albums for you automatically by using the "Automate>Web Photo Gallery" command. It can be customized if you are more advanced, but the options given to you in PS are probably enough. This creates the thumbnails pics for the menu as well as all of the page HTML files you need to upload to the server in one shot. It's nice in a pinch or to save time.

Here is an example of one I literally THREW together in about 10 minutes time in fall for a project I did on one of my cars . . .

http://aurigenmedia.com/camaro/wheel/

CrazyAva · Feb 2, 2005

Canon Fan said:
Photoshop can create decent albums for you automatically by using the "Automate>Web Photo Gallery" command. It can be customized if you are more advanced, but the options given to you in PS are probably enough. This creates the thumbnails pics for the menu as well as all of the page HTML files you need to upload to the server in one shot. It's nice in a pinch or to save time.

Here is an example of one I literally THREW together in about 10 minutes time in fall for a project I did on one of my cars . . .

http://aurigenmedia.com/camaro/wheel/

You did that with PS???????? I can't seem to get it to do anything even remotely close to that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ksmattfish · Feb 2, 2005

My web site service uses Coppermine Photo Gallery, and it's super easy to use.

Sharkbait · Feb 3, 2005

I've designed my own site as well (www.whitesharkphoto.com). Best practical advice I can give you is to sit down with a pad and paper first and draw up how you want the site to look--different pages, how each page will be laid out, etc. Then come up with a good standard. If you look at all the pages on my site, they all share the same format--company logo at the top, main heading, photo galleries, and a master TOC at the bottom.

Also, keep it clean and clear. Don't gum it up with goofy backgrounds, dark colors in the background, lots of stuff on the main page, etc. Don't put music in the background (at least not without an option to turn it off).

I use MS Frontpage 03 for my site design and upkeep, and it's pretty much a wysiwyg editor. The 03 incarnation has some fantastic functions for free-forming design--I can place graphics, text boxes, etc., wherever I want on the screen without having to worry about setting them up into tables.