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Many people create their first web pages in pretty much the
same way that they type up word-processing documents. The
next level of design is using tables to arrange the content
on a web page.
For a long time, I used tables exclusively to organize the
content of my web pages--a lot of people did and many still
do. It's relatively easy if you have a very basic layout,
plus it's very easy to create a table in Dreamweaver—just
insert one.
Working with tables is a little tricky to get the hang of,
but it just takes some good old fashioned fiddling around.
For instance, if you like webpages that have a long colored
bar down one side next to a big area of text, insert a table
into a fresh clean web page—a table with one row and
two columns. Make one column narrow and give it a pleasant
background color. In the other column, insert your text and
graphics.
If you get into Dreamweaver
and have a book about how to use it, spend some time on the
section that talks about tables.
However, if you want a very professional-looking
and easy-to-manage website, spend a few weeks learning about
HTML code and then about designing web pages with CSS. It
will be time well spent!
Here are a few links to some exceptional,
free online tutorials about HTML and CSS:
For HTML, I recommend running through a tutorial
on Davesite.com first, then moving over to the w3school.com
HTML Introduction.
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As far as CSS design is concerned, I've found
it to be a little more abstract than HTML, and so I'd recommend
going through a few tutorials, in the following order:
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Now be sure to hang in there! You may feel
overwhelmed at first, but spend a couple of hours a day
and in just a month or so, you will have a foundation in
the fundamentals of good web design that will open the door
to all the opportunities the internet has to offer--the
possibilities are limitless!
Once you've begun to get a grip on HTML and
CSS, there are tons of sites that offer free CSS web page
templates.(You still need to understand HTML and CSS to
make the templates really work for you!) These templates
make a good starting point for web page design, and they
can save you some time.
Lots of the CSS templates offered out there
on the web are really juiced up and a bit beyond most beginners,
but you'll find some quality, basic CSS templates at FcssT
that even a rookie can easily adapt and modify for his or
her own use. Here's the link:
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