How to Design Websites

Web Design

Websites are more common these days than physical stores. So, anyone who is serious about a business or organization should have the skills to create a website. The process is quite simple, especially with the correct tools for design. Even those with little artistic skills can create a professional-looking site.

Things You'll Need

• Adobe Photoshop 6+
• Adobe Dreamweaver

Instructions

Creating the Graphic Design

1. Open Adobe Photoshop and create a new document with dimensions of 1024 by 768.

2. Use the filler tool to fill the background of the image with a color of your choice. Make sure that the color will go well with the rest of your design.

3. Navigate to the "Filters" section of the file menu and click on the "Texturizer" tool. Apply a faint texture of your choice to the background.

4. Create a new layer, and use the rectangle and rounded rectangle tools to create a navigation bar, logo bar and content bar for your website design.

5. Right-click on the layer these boxes are in and click on "Blending options."

6. Apply any effects to the bars as desired.

7. Save the file as template.jpg in your website folder.

Creating the Website

1. Open Dreamweaver and create a new HTML file.

2. In the "Layout Objects" section of the file menu, click on "Layer." This will create a new movable layer where you can insert code, pictures or text.

3. Insert the image you just created into the layer, and move the layer to fit perfectly on the page.

4. Click any blank section of the page. Then, at the bottom of the page, click on "Page Properties." Choose a background color for the page that matches the background color of your graphic design.

5. Click on the graphic design, and use the rectangle, polygon and oval tools at the bottom left corner of the screen to create hot spots around all your navigation bar options. Link these to the pages that will be in the website.

6. Save this file as template.html. Create all the other pages in your site with this page. Add new layers in the content bar to add text, pictures and other items to your website.

Tips & Warnings

• Take time to think out your graphic design before actually creating it.

• Always use your own work when creating publishable content.

Resources

• Adobe Photoshop CS4 (Professional Image Editing Software)
• Adobe Dreamweaver CS4 (Professional Web Design Software)