Beginner. Novice. Needs help....

[jayldean]

Hi guys.

As you can tell from the title I am an absolute beginner when it comes to web design. I have a really good idea for a website and want to build a decent website for my company. I have taken time to research the best software for design and purchased adobe dreamweaver. I have also learnt the very basics of coding and even installing templates into dreamweaver. However, I am still very frustrated with the process. I know how I want the web page to look in my head but actually processing that onto dreamweaver is proving to be very difficult.

Is it possible for a complete novice like me to get a decent website on the go?

I want my website to have SEO and also plenty of advertising space.

Is web design something I need to get educated on? At the moment I am using youtube tutorials, which although they are helpful it does get extremely confusing. I would like some advice from someone who knows that they are talking about!

Cheers! your help is appreciated......

Jay

 

[Phreaddee]

Is web design something I need to get educated on?

nope. any dumb arse can make a website apparently...

word of advice though.
dont let dreamweaver control you. dont let it do the work for you.
if you really want to learn how to make it "look" how you want it to, ditch design view for good, and work exclusively in code view.

 

[leroy30]

Completely agree with Phreaddee.

I never ever EVER use design view. It totally destroys your code and never works exactly how you want it.

Too bad you already bought dream weaver otherwise I could have suggested Microsoft's Web Developer Express which is 100% free, forever.

Simple answer to your question is "hire a web designer". Then you will get it to look how you want, work how you want, SEO friendly, mobile friendly and so on.

For example to put it in a different context... I have never built a boat in my life. I would like to build a boat and I know I am good at research and doing things I have n ever done before. DESPITE this I expect my first boat I build will either: a) Turn out shite OR b)Take a long time to build because I need to acquire the knowledge and experience along the way.

Not that it can't be done. But if you are doing this for your business I strongly recommend paying an expert to do it. If it is for a hobby then go for it!

Good luck.

Le-roy

 

[CaldwellYSR]

Wonderful analogy Le-roy

 

[Phreaddee]

I actually think design view displays with the same box model issues of IE of yesteryear.

hence why it NEVER looks right.

 

[ValiantShady]

I'm a novice as well, I'm studying this academic by a percent of 20% and the rest of the burden is on me, having the fact that I agree with LEE-ROY that Microsoft Web Expression 4 is amazingly handy, and very useful..

It also made me write the code myself instead of chasing after the designer's view and these lazy methods..

But I'd say no one shall ever lose hope as long as we're breathing we can still learn.. so try your best my friend