Web design can be pretty intimidating at first. There are a number of resources available on the internet, but some are better than others. The best place to get started is with a basic tutorial that gets you writing html (Hyper-Text Markup Language: the foundation of most web sites).
HTML Dog is a site that can take you from beginner tutorials all the way to advanced techniques.
w3.org is another great place to start. W3 stands for the 'World Wide Web Consortium'. The organization is devoted to creating web standards.
Web standards are important! Conforming to w3c standards promotes accessibility for all users, including those with screen-reading devices. Let's work together to build a better internet.
Once you have an introduction, the next step is to incorporate cascading style sheets (CSS) into a Web site, and to integrate other forms of code such as javascript and PHP, which help to make your site more dynamic. For an example of the power of CSS, check out the CSS Zen Garden
The best practice for creating a new Web site is to keep things simple. Try to follow these simple tips:
- Identify the audience for your Web site, and try to tailor it to them.
- Don't overwhelm users with too much information.
- Use different font sizes to indicate which information is most important.
- Make the navigation to the site as straightforward as possible
Take a look at the following organizations - each offers valuable resources for Web design and development.
Adobe develops a number of software programs used in web design and development. The latest is the CS4 Design Suite. Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver and Flash are just a few of Adobe's products.
Google is so ubiquitous that it's become its own verb. But more than just a search engine, Google offers email and other small business solutions like calendars and maps.
Joomla! is an open-source content management system. It's used as the foundation for a number of Web sites, including this one!
