Building Web Sites All-in-One For Dummies®

BOOK: Building Web Sites All-in-One For Dummies®
12.03Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
Building Web Sites All-in-One For Dummies
®
, 2nd Edition

Table of Contents

Introduction

About This Book

Foolish Assumptions

Conventions Used in This Book

What You Don't Have to Read

How This Book Is Organized

Book I: Preparations

Book II: Site Design

Book III: Site Construction

Book IV: Web Graphics

Book V: Multimedia

Book VI: Audience Interaction

Book VII: E-Commerce

Book VIII: Site Management

Book IX: Case Studies

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Book I: Preparations

Book I: Chapter 1: Planning a Web Project

Defining the Audience

Internal stakeholders

External audience

Setting Goals

Creating a Scope Document

Preparing to Get Started

Defining why you're doing the project

Brainstorming and evaluating your ideas

Looking at budget and timelines

Considering collaborations

Selling the Idea

Holding a Kick-Off Meeting

Revising Your Original Plans: Using Feedback to Improve

Receiving feedback

Giving feedback

Preparing to Redesign an Existing Site

Book I: Chapter 2: Build a Web Team or Go It Alone

Flying Solo: Skills You Need to Go It Alone

Managing the project

Serving your customer

Dealing with HTML, CSS, and other scripting

Using Photoshop, Fireworks, and other graphics applications

Developing content

Considering basic computer and Internet skills

Incorporating multimedia in your project

Handling a solo project

Hiring Members of the Team

Project manager

Web designer/new media designer

Web developer/programmer

Content developer/writer

Webmaster/host

Other professional help

Managing the team

Handing Off a Project to a Client

Book I: Chapter 3: Developing the Content

Knowing What to Put on Your Site

Finding out what your client's visitors need

Dealing with copyright issues

Finding out what your client needs from site visitors

Reconciling the content with the goals

Keeping It Fresh: An Ongoing Process

Assigning content development tasks

Keeping the graphics fresh

Book I: Chapter 4: Creating Relevant Site Content

Portraying Your Client's Company

Defining your client's voice

Developing your client's look

Selling Goods or Services

Emphasizing key points

Highlighting the product

Providing Information

Handling large amounts of content

Presenting information

Including e-learning materials

Using Personas to Develop Content

Defining your client's customers

Delivering what they want

Book II: Site Design

Book II: Chapter 1: Conceptualizing Your Site

Deciding What Types of Pages You Need

Considering static Web pages

Freshening the content with dynamic Web pages

Evaluating multimedia element choices

Choosing the Right Delivery Method

Knowing when static pages suit your purpose

Using dynamic pages to manage complex information

Considering multimedia

Handling Printable Materials

Book II: Chapter 2: Creating Effective Layouts

Content Is Key: Making Sure It's All Included

Creating Order from Chaos: Consistency Is Your Friend

Including Things That Every Page Needs

Banner

Page headline

Global navigation

Page title

Page description and keywords

Page footer

Planning How to Emphasize Important Information

Understanding the Basics of Usable and Accessible Design

Creating a Layout Wire Frame

Book II: Chapter 3: Organizing Your Content

Starting with the Skeleton: The Structure

Considering File Management

Keeping It Tidy

Implementing Information Architecture

Developing section-level information architecture

Arranging page-level information

Avoiding Content Problems

Book II: Chapter 4: Ensuring Visual Appeal

Colors on the Web

CMYK color

RGB color

Hexadecimal colors

Making nice with established color schemes

Web-safe colors

Getting Familiar with Graphics File Formats

Using Fonts Effectively on Web Sites

Implementing Stock Images and Other Elements

Facelifting an Existing Site

Choosing a new color scheme

Figuring out which graphics to replace

Creating a new prototype

Applying the new colors to your CSS file

Book III: Site Construction

Book III: Chapter 1: Pulling Together Tools and Materials

Matching the Tools to Your Needs

Hauling Out the Hardware

A computer

Computer monitor

Backups and storage

Printers and scanners

Cameras and camcorders

Graphics tablet

Setting Up Your Web-Design Studio

Desperately Seeking Software

Researching software before you buy

Graphics software

Multimedia software

Web-design software

Browser software

Book III: Chapter 2: Making a Web Page with HTML

Getting Acquainted with the Basic Parts of an HTML Document

Starting Your HTML Document Right

The document type definition

The head tag and what goes in it

Now, for some body!

The anatomy of a whole page

Controlling layouts with CSS

Helpful Development Practices

Book III: Chapter 3: Creating a Web Page Layout with HTML and CSS

Understanding How CSS Can Help Your Site (And You)

Checking the source

Using CSS with other tools

Ways of Working with CSS

Inline styles

Styles embedded in the head of the document

External style sheets

Commenting your code

Creating a CSS Document

Setting default selectors

Setting class and ID selectors

Special Effects with CSS

Styling your links

Cool headlines

Custom padding and margins

Custom borders

Book III: Chapter 4: Introducing Web and Graphics Software

Choosing Graphics Software

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Other professional-grade graphics software

Considering Web-Design Software

Deciding on Multimedia Software

Touring Photoshop CS4

The default workspace

The work area

The Advanced button

Layers and the Layers panel

Tools and the tool panel

Book III: Chapter 5: Getting Started with Dreamweaver

Exploring the Dreamweaver Interface

The Welcome Screen

The New Document dialog box

The Files panel

The Document window

The Preferences dialog box

The Property inspector (panel)

The CSS Styles panel

The Insert panel

Creating a Web Site with Dreamweaver

Testing Your Pages and Validating the Code

Publishing Your Web Site with Dreamweaver

Book III: Chapter 6: Using Dreamweaver: Advanced Techniques

Creating a Site with Prebuilt Page Designs

Creating Templates to Ease Site Maintenance

Making a template

Including editable regions

Creating a page from a template

Updating a template

Exploring the Assets Panel and Library Items

Touring the Assets panel

Discovering library items

Adding Functionality with Dreamweaver Behaviors

Including the Open Browser Window behavior

Editing a behavior via the Behaviors panel

Creating a pop-up message

Book III: Chapter 7: Creating a Web Page from a Photoshop File

Taking a Wire Frame to a Finished Design

Finishing the Artwork

Placing a photo in your banner

Creating a clipping mask

Implementing filters, adjustment layers, and blend modes

Slicing a Photoshop Document

Optimizing Graphics for the Web

Making a Graphic Transparent

Book III: Chapter 8: Meeting HTML's Powerful Friends

Web Technologies Defined

Vary your content with variables

Conditional statements

Here we go loop-de-loop

Creating functional functions

Looking on the Server Side

ASP/ASP.NET

.NET Framework

JavaScript

PHP

CGI/Perl

Checking Out the Client Side

Java

VBScript

Book III: Chapter 9: Web Site Usability and Accessibility

Ensuring Your Site Is Easy to Use

Helping Users Access Your Site

Images need alternate content

Use more than one method to convey your information

Pictures are important

Orientation tools are helpful

Creating Accessible Web Pages

Using Dreamweaver to insert accessible elements

Using Dreamweaver to check your site's accessibility

Book III: Chapter 10: Publishing the Web Site

Look before You Leap: What to Do Before Launch

Develop a checklist

Get opinions

Going Live

Using Dreamweaver to upload content

Uploading pages with an FTP client

What Next? The Launch Is Not the End of the Project

Submitting the site to search engines

Implementing marketing

Requesting link exchanges

Book IV: Web Graphics

Book IV: Chapter 1: Finding Inspiration

Finding Fresh Ideas

Respecting the Copyrights of Others

Protecting Your Own Copyrights

Working with Colors (Web Safe versus Not–Web Safe)

Creativity Tools — Color Charts and More

Font/Type Issues on Web Sites

Print to Web: Making Your Web Site Work with Existing Materials

Understanding Image Formats for Web Design

Using the GIF image file format

Using the JPEG image file format

Using the PNG image file format

Book IV: Chapter 2: Bringing Your Vision to Life

Introducing Fireworks CS4

Vector and raster images

The PNG file format

Fireworks interface mini-tour

Creating Art with Other Tools

Adding Photoshop CS4 to your graphics toolbox

Getting Images ready for the Web with Photoshop

Creating painterly images in Corel Painter

Book IV: Chapter 3: Workhorse Graphics

Creating Buttons in Fireworks

Introducing the Button Editor

Creating a simple two-state button

Creating buttons with pizzazz

Creating a Navigation Menu

Creating a Pop-Up Menu

Recycling: Reuse Everything

Making a reusable graphic template

Organizing a site

A Doodle to a Working Page: Concept to Completion

Mind mapping

Creating a client mockup

Optimizing Artwork in Fireworks

Optimizing GIF artwork

Optimizing JPEG artwork

Exporting Artwork from Fireworks

Book IV: Chapter 4: Creating Compelling Graphics

Creating Banner Graphics

Using Photoshop to create a banner

Including all the important information

Working with an existing logo

Create Promotional Graphics

Emphasize your point

Complement your style

Creating Fast-Loading, Beautiful Photos

Resizing your photos for the Web

Using professional optimization techniques

Using the Photoshop Save for Web & Devices command

Creating a Photo Gallery

Choosing your photos

Using Dreamweaver to create a photo gallery

Book V: Multimedia

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