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Pointers to starting with professional website for self

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 12:54 pm
by manoj.wolfpack
I am planning to develop a professional interactive webpage, I would want to keep the design simple yet interactive. Can anyone guide me with pointers to where do I start from ? Should I use a tool like Dreamweaver or directly go ahead with coding from scratch.


Note: I have used HTML,CSS,js, jQuery, so coding ain't a problem.

Thank you,



--regards,
Manoj

Re: Pointers to starting with professional website for self

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:01 pm
by Christopher
There are many, many sites that have site templates you can use. You might want to look at those to see if one suits you.

Re: Pointers to starting with professional website for self

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 3:13 pm
by social_experiment
I think the type of editor you use will be irrelevant to the final product; code in dreamweaver is still code in netbeans or notepad++ :)

As for points on where to start (these might are fairly obvious and possibly already on your to-do list)
1. Get a good idea of what you want your site to do; - (seems like you have a fairly fixed idea already)
2. Compatible in a many browsers as possible; - it makes me chuckle when i see a 'web designer's' website that folds in different browsers. Each browser will have quirks but aim for a 80 - 90% similar look across the different platforms.
3. Avoid cms like wordpress, joomla. Personally i don't think it takes much skill to operate these systems and it's a bit of a cop-out if you install joomla and then load some fancy template you found and then call yourself a designer. End rant.
4. Professional shouldn't equal unusable and tough to figure out; user-friendly, easy to navigate are some keywords you might take into account when designing the site.
5. Avoid tables for styling, go with css. The average user won't ever know that you used CSS for the layout but imo it's a sign of a more experienced designer.
6. Keep the purpose of the site in mind. You want to draw clients so don't bore (and annoy) them with things that doesn't fit into your site. Show case your skills without showing off.

As a last thought i can probably say keep it simple; professional sites look good without trying to hard.

Hth

Re: Pointers to starting with professional website for self

Posted: Fri Dec 07, 2012 8:00 pm
by Eric!
Don't forget to validate your HTML and CSS. That's something that employers will sometimes check quickly just to see if you are following the standards.

Re: Pointers to starting with professional website for self

Posted: Sat Dec 08, 2012 12:30 pm
by califdon
I heartily agree with all the foregoing suggestions. That last one from Eric! is an excellent one. If you are familiar with validation sites, use them; if you are not, get familiar with them RIGHT AWAY! You can either use the web developer features of Firefox or Chrome, or you can submit your page to the official W3C site http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/. My personal advice is Don't use Dreamweaver; I'm biased, yes, but I think it's an abomination. I like Christopher's advice: google for templates for professional resumes. And finally, present your best qualities, but don't try to fill up the page with where you went to high school etc., the people you are trying to reach don't have time to wade through a bunch of boring info that doesn't help them decide whether to contact you or not.