[I'm pretty sure this goes here, if not, feel free to move it]

Are you a web designer? If so, what's your favorite coding (ie: HTML, CSS, PHP, etc)? How about programs, which do you use (ie: Dreamweaver, WYSIWYG editors, etc)? Do you make your own graphics for your web designs, if so with what programs (ie: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Paint Shop Pro, etc)?

So many things go into making a web page, it's crazy. I guess I consider myself a web designer, I'm more of a graphics designer, but I have built websites in the past.

I'll go a little more in depth for those who have no idea what I'm talking about or for those who are interested in being a web designer but don't know how to go about it...or both.

First off, coding. You have a lot of different source codes to choose from, the most common are HTML, PHP and CSS. I'll explain those.

HTML, aka Hypertext Markup Language, is the universal coding. It can be used for pretty much anything, and if coded correctly, is compatible in every browser (ie: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, etc). Although it's confusing at first, HTML is probably the easiest coding there is.

PHP, Hypertext Preprocessor, is a variation of HTML, a much more complicated variation involving symbols and numbers and what not. I only use PHP once in a while, but it does help a lot. PHP is mainly used, in the web design world, to shorten the HTML code. It's effective, but if you code it wrong, it'll be hell.

CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, these show how your pages should be set up (width, height, colors, etc). This is also fairly easy once you get the hang of it, and it's even possible to make a web layout entirely from CSS, but that's a little bit more complicated. CSS is mainly used for colors and headings (ie: coloring the scrollbar).

With HTML, CSS and PHP, you can make different kinds of layouts (Dividers, Tables, I-Frames). I won't go into depth on those in this topic.

Next is source code editors. Basically, there's 3 options: Notepad, WYSIWYG Editors and the programs which code for you (the most common program is Dreamweaver).

Notepad - A free source code editor, many consider this the best code editor. There's no complicated buttons, no multiple tabs to worry about. However, with Notepad you have to know the source code (for example, the basic scripts of HTML). Notepad does not generate the code for you, it's all "hand written". For beginners, it's a little hard at first to get used to writing out all the codes, but after a while you get used to it.

WYSIWYG Editors - What You See Is What You Get Editors (more commonly referred to as WYSIWYG editors) are source code editors kind of like Notepad, with the exception that they allow you to see your web page while you edit it (if that makes any sense). In one tab, you see the graphical part of your web page, but it's empty, no content, no navigation. In another tab, you have your source code (usually in HTML). When you're viewing the graphics part of your design, you can highlight the content and navigation, the basic coding for that will be produced in the codings tab (at least with the WYSIWYG editors I've used), to which you are free to alter to your likings. I don't advise using these kinds of editors, they tend to screw your web page up, for example they sometimes don't produce the correct codings, and that's really bad for a web page; even if it's something insignificant, it'll screw it up.

The last, is the kind of program that does the coding for you (I'll use Dreamweaver for this example). Originally, these kinds of editors were WYSIWYG editors, but as the time passed they progressed into something more. Instead of just HTML, like traditional WYSIWYG editors, they will code CSS, PHP, Javascript, etc for you as well. It really does all the coding for you, all you have to do is add the content and you're done. I'm not fond of using these kinds of programs, I feel that they rob you of the practice/learning you get when you hand write the code yourself. But hey, that's just my opinion.

Next are image editing programs. Yes, you can have a web page made solely from HTML with no images, but it'd look kind of crappy. A couple of good image editing programs are Adobe Photoshop (for standard layouts), Adobe Image Ready (mainly for animations) and Jasc/Corel Paint Shop Pro (basically it's Photoshop, with a few different quirks here and there).

That's basically the fundamentals of web design.

Now, for source codes I use HTML, CSS and PHP. I use Adobe Photoshop CS2 and Adobe Image Ready CS2 for my graphics (with an occasional Cinema 4D render in there).

As for programs, coding-wise, I use good ol' Notepad, it's a lot more simpler an accurate for me. Although coding is sometimes tedious, it's also "fun" (yeah, I'm a nerd). I love hand coding web pages from scratch, because when I see the final product I feel so much more accomplished.

If you wish to start your own web page, I suggest the first thing you do is learn yourself some HTML. After that, try moving onto some more complicated stuff and keep going on from there.

So yeah...any questions/comments?

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Hi there.

Wow a lot of information Yes I'm a web designer, both as a hobby and professionally.

You have pretty much the basics covered there. Although I wouldn't call PHP a variation of HTML, PHP is a server-side scripting language, very useful for handling backend application logic and business rules, interaction with a database, etc. Whereas HTML is a client-side mark-up language that can do little more than format static text into something that gets interpreted with more meaning.

HTML is a universal language in a sense, but it's just the language that browsers receive from the Internet that they then parse and display in a nice way (just like your description of a WYSIWYG editor). It's a static language that has no dynamic qualities. If it is written correctly it will display (almost) the same in all browsers, but this depends on the version of the HTML, whether you're using CSS or not, and the version of the browser.

As for me, well I am very strict about how I code my HTML. I'm like you, I use a simple text editor, except I found Notepad to be a little too basic for my liking. I found using Notepad++ or Textpad is much better, it contains syntax highlighting, multiple undos, many more features. Might be worth a look :-) I also code in Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict whenever possible, the Web Standards are there for a reason and I like to adhere to them. This also means that all my designs use CSS to control layout and presentation. It's not possible to create a website entirly from CSS, you need a basic level of mark-up to produce a webpage of any description, but shifting the design away from the HTML and into the CSS makes your website more efficient and flexible.

My main server-side language preference is PHP, as it's easy and contains many useful functions. However most of the time at work I'm programming in VBScript and VB.NET. But programming is programming, if you can program efficiently in one language it doesn't take long to pick up on another one, it's all down to experience and your understanding of logic.

Yeah like you said, if you want to be a website developer you can't get away from learning HTML. It is the easiest, and once you have an underdstanding of it you can move onto CSS, PHP, and JavaScript.

Have you got any example of web pages you've built? I'd love to see them

Yay, I got response XD

Haha, at first I thought someone had changed my name to Alex (Er, my name's Alex too, lol).

Anyways....Seems to me you know a lot more about this than I do, that's cool.

Right now I don't have any pages online, but I'm working on something so once I get that finished, I'll be more than happy to PM you the link.

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Oh cool, yeah I'd like to see. What kind of stuff are you working on?

Well, it's kind of a like a review site....On anime/manga, video games, movies, music...the usual. And other stuff like tutorials and what not.

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I'm not very good at web design. But I did make this.

http://www.freewebs.com/dinocrisisfan/

Anybody fancy helping me out on it?

html..cake lmao..hmm i'll help =] i'm good with html php.....flash css etc

oh man.. i suck at website making, yeah im more into making games. i guess if you wanna know about that i know dm, visual basic, c++(somewhat), and a bit of java.

Cool! I'd say game making is a more beneficial skill than website development, obviously it's totally different, but game programming certainly teaches you useful things about logic.

I've tried making a game once, written in Python, got as far as making a little sprite move around the screen using the keyboards direction buttons. I want to take it up again though, when I get some time.

What games have you made?