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Thread: First website

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Location
    The Highlands Scotland
    Posts
    350

    Default First website

    I want to make a website for myself, something I have never done before. If I go to file, new, then there are three web page sizes. My question is which one should I use or is there another way I should be going about it....

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2000
    Location
    Placitas, New Mexico, USA
    Posts
    41,486

    Default Re: First website

    You can start out with a template and customize it. Or just have fun and make your own from scratch.

    As for the three sizes, I would go with the 955px and make the page less deep.

    It's a entertaining process. Just play around with it.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Bradford, England
    Posts
    1,827

    Default Re: First website

    I would always suggest around the 955px width, you can go upto 1055px as well but try not to go any wider than that. As Gary suggested I would create your website from scratch, I have never used the templates but if you want to have a play around with one to see how everything works and then create one yourself from a blank page, just follow the basic design guidelines of:

    Your site is 3 elements;

    the header; your logo, your main message, your navigation menu.

    the content or body area; all your text and photos.

    the footer; contact details, and navigation links (simple) so that visitors don't have to scroll to the top again to navigate, perhaps a compact feedback form or even a twitter widget. This is the most neglected of the 3 elements but just look at some good sites and you'll see how effectively they use them.

    keep body text a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 14, headings can be 20-24px

    Keep to 1-3 different fonts, sometimes only one is required, just change the weight of the font (bold or normal) for instance for headings

    Don't use too many colours, 2 to 4 are fine

    Don't have too many images

    Optimise all images

    Give alt text to images (>web properties, >image, >image caption)

    Don't group text

    Don't have massively long pages, about 1400px to 1600px is a nice page length

    Keep it Simple, have a look at the sites of apple or microsoft to see what I mean

    Look at as many good sites as you can to get an idea about what is good practice

    Don't go looking for animated gifs to add to the site, they look horrible

    Use as much white space as you can, don't think that just because you have some space that you have to fill it with something.

    Keep to a consistent look for the whole site


    the hardest thing is getting used to the navigation, either make a navigation bar or just use plain text (can sometimes be more effective)

    And as Gary said; enjoy yourself!
    Flawless Form. Faultless Function. Crafted by Cloud

    https://www.cloudwebagency.co.uk

 

 

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