Aspects of Web Design Monty Paul RGSE March 2003

Code Head or Dreamweaver Junkie? Use Notepad for programming at code level Use Dreamweaver, GoLive or Front Page for wysiwyg design Use HotMetal or Hotdog for dragging and dropping code

Common Errors Lack of whitespace Less is more Avoid dense pages whenever possible Use pictures to balance text A picture is worth 1000 words…

Controlling Layout Using frames minimises editing Using tables within pages for effective control of layout

Controlling your Site Keep all files within a main directory/folder Use subfolders for images, sound etc This makes uploads to the web server quick and easy Backups! Cut to CD and keep an extra copy on another computer at home

Register your own Domain Your domain is your own unique web address Shop around – prices vary. Try Dot.co.uk? Dot.com? Dot.org? Dot.net? What do they all mean?

Hosting Issues Hosts abound, but you get what you pay for. Full 24 hour access? No Ads? Control panel for creating and managing s.etc? Security (

Uploading FTP software varies Cheap and limited Expensive and full of features On line editing directly on the server Automatic synchronisation (but host server must support)

Images, images Keep images small for rapid downloads Invest in graphic software that optimises images Jpg or gif? Progressive images and interlacing Slice and dice

Animated Gifs with Xara3D

Getting Known Metadata provides search engines to find and publish info about your site. Some vendors offer submissions of data to specific search engines at a price SeekCentre.net

Need Webstsats? TheCounter.com offers a counter and webstats Minimal info free, full info at a cost See for an examplehttp://clarendon.net4u.co.za

Forms These allow you to capture data from those looking at your site. Examples: e-commerce sites, financial sites, school sites See Clarendon.net4u.co.za as an example

Extras… Special cursor / mousepointer? See Code can be downloaded for pasting into your page

Some Useful Books from Amazon.com