web design need some pointers in a direction for web design and hosting....best ways to ethier design my own or maybe someone out there who would do it for me need 2...one for music...the other for business thanks
If you want to do it yourself, get hold of Marcomedia Dreamweaver, its not to hard to learn to use. I'd recommend Photoshop or Paintshop Pro for the graphics side of it, although both can take a little time to learn to use. I'd try to keep the design nice, clean and simple avoid flashy buttons and GIF animations etc. Putting together a nice looking site might take a little time, but within a couple of weeks im sure you could come up with something. I guess for a business site it needs to look pretty profesional though, generally getting someone to make you a site can be costly. Hosting, it depends what/how much/bandwidth etc, for my own use I just use the space provided by my ISP that does me but your requirements are probably larger.
I freelance a lot for Wildcart Internet. Their rates are pretty good for both design, programming and hosting. http://www.maxmedia.uk.com The site isn't up and running yet as I'm still designing it.
HTML is by far the best way to make a site.. Everything I've ever made has been using Notepad, none of these fancy programmes for me.
aye but its a right pain in the arse had to teach myself it cos i mite have told a fib in my interview
I used to just use Notepad when I started designing web sites, but in all fairness if something can make my life a bit easier then I'll use it (Dreamweaver). Plus the designs I'm doing at the minute are far more complex than they were a few years ago. However I do agree that if you're serious about web design then you need a good knowledge of HTML. Judging by his post however, he wants to use a professional, which is probably the far better option than learning from scratch.
at the moment,and the ways things always go.il never realy have much time to do it me self if someone wonts the work,al email details,plans of what we would like the site like. both sites are totaly different,the music site is for dj/production etc.so would need to be able to host matbe downloadable mixes/tracks. the other is for a garage business,so needs plenty gallery space due to we do alot of cover cars n posh shit. like i say,if ur skint......giz a shout
deal possibly struck ... notepad?? html?? do people only design for the disabled only nowadays like?? keep up with the times peeps... XML, XHTML, PHP, ACTIONSCRIPT, CSS... the way forward....well currently until new standards come out.
A business website is just a digital brochure any business would have, it just costs alot more to make, it doesnt come through your door and doesnt waste trees
Cant agree more mate, a website is simply a tool, a medium and just like anything else in business this tool must do its job right. Thats the priority. Functionality comes first for me, ive seen far too many sites out there which look beautiful but dont do the job required and i bet it hasnt met the spec the customer wanted. This new disability act has 3 levels though. You HAVE to meet the first one. Me being a qualified designer I obviously look towards the aesthetics more and making a site look 'pretty'. But the best websites (and i have to keep telling my clients this) are a fine balance of functionality, with good design. Sometimes you have to compromise on the frontend design with a lot of issues and thus creating a fairly poor design you know yourself can do better, BUT it does the job. Thats where the success is. Problem you get is not a lot of people understand this and shrug their shoulders at the site upon completion. There is a way around this disability act, and thats to do two versions of the site depending on what the customer wants. But just to take note, Flash does have an option for Screen Reading, you just have to know how to use it and this is acceptable in the disabled ranks! Balance this with the right design and those fines arent gona even be thought of.