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Time to Design


mpoer

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I've been working for a few hours on redesigning my company's web site, and I'm curious how long it takes people to build their web sites?I've got seven pages, one CSS file, and I'm learning the javascript as I go. I've put about 4-5 hours into and I'd say I'm around halfway there. I'm using some of the content from the old site, but some of it I'm editing as I go.Also, i use one file for layout, main.php, then include that into each file (about-us.php, services.php, etc.) with the $content defined. kind of like theming, it seems a lot faster to me :)So how about you guys? How long does it take to design a decent web site (also say how big the site is, because obviously that makes a differance).

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I've been working for a few hours on redesigning my company's web site, and I'm curious how long it takes people to build their web sites?I've got seven pages, one CSS file, and I'm learning the javascript as I go. I've put about 4-5 hours into and I'd say I'm around halfway there. I'm using some of the content from the old site, but some of it I'm editing as I go.Also, i use one file for layout, main.php, then include that into each file (about-us.php, services.php, etc.) with the $content defined. kind of like theming, it seems a lot faster to me :)So how about you guys? How long does it take to design a decent web site (also say how big the site is, because obviously that makes a differance).

I usually design the layout (XHTML,CSS) in 2-3 hours...if the content is cut and paste then it is a snap...my websites usually only have 2 page styles...a homepage and then the rest of hte pages follow a similar layout with minor tweaks as needed. With no programming involved I can wip a site together in 5-6 hours (10 or less pages).BTW this would not be graphics intensive...graphics take me a long time.
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So how about you guys? How long does it take to design a decent web site (also say how big the site is, because obviously that makes a differance).

You could say i've got it easy just now, most of my work is done on my company's intranet and we use oracle 10g, i maintain dozens of pages but it's a piece of cake. You could easily get away with no HTML, CSS experience :)
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I'll usually take a day or two, and that includes thinking up/drawing a concept on paper and coding it to achieve the same result in all browsers (IE, Opera, FF, NN, Windows versions)http://www.home.no/jvelde/ipod/A good example of a page/layout that took two days to make. I had to find a proper sized picture of an ipod, cut the pieces I wanted and make them transparent around the edges to let the yellow color through. Then I had the problem of making it work in all browsers. I played around with absolute positioning and IE hacks, but then I found it didn't work when I changed the resolution. I tried margins, and got it to work in 1280x1024 as well as the standard 1024x768. Once you have the css file for one page, the rest is just generating content.Then again, I've only made personal websites so far, and when it comes to usability, I'd probably have to think it through more.

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  • 2 weeks later...

well the page i am working on now are reallly takes time. heheits around 18 mb with almost 1000 files. its coded with html,css,ColdFusion and use MSSQL databas. and the site has a admin funktion,forum,webbpolls and much more.have worked on this now for alittle over 2 month. and its 80% finished. just need to fix the databas and the Coldfusion tags for the forum and some other funktions and add a few more files :)

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Guest jaideep

Sorry for being so novice. I know the individual components of web building techniques like HTML, javascript but I do know how to start with.I.e, how to integrate an HTML with inbuild java script with tables build in access. How to incorporate functionality wrt credit card validation!! How to include security feature where you type in the alphanumeric number displayed!! How to transfer your contents to your web-site host.Is it preferable to do hard coding or use tools like frontpage!! What are the other possible tools for design of a simple web site !! Other concern is if it is preferable to use tools like frontpage etc. how to get free downloads for my personal use as getting a licensed copy for individual use is not cost effective!! Immediate help in this regard will be highly appreciated. Any links to info required will be equally helpful if can not reply in totality.

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To make a site (design, simple content), all you need is HTML/XHTML, CSS and maybe a little JavaScript.Those are the languages that are most often referred to as client-side programming languages, because they are executed on the client side, meaning the languages are processed and interpreted by the browser.However, if you want to make a page with advanced functions and dynamic content, you'll need a database like SQL, combined with a programming language like PHP or ASPThese types of programming languages are called server-side programming languages, as they get processed on the webserver, and then the server sends what is left (html, css, javascript) to the browser, for further interpretation. Server-side languages are dynamic because they can work on the server to change the content that the viewer sees on-the-fly.I would advise you if you're building an advanced web application and not just a personal website, to use something else than a WYSIWYG editor like FrontPage or Dreamweaver. Here is a list of different editors that have color for different syntax, so it's easier to find what code does what.

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Just a note on Jonas' comments...I just finished building a site that took all weekend, plus a few evenings during the week last week. I used Dreamweaver 8, and IMHO, it looks decent - even professional. :) The trick was, I did use a server-side language (PHP) to make the site more dynamic and powerful. Dreamweaver helped make it "look" cleaner. I disagree that WYSIWYG programs can't make good sites, but I would agree that you would have to incorporate some other helpful programming yourself.

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Just a note on Jonas' comments...I just finished building a site that took all weekend, plus a few evenings during the week last week.  I used Dreamweaver 8, and IMHO, it looks decent - even professional.  :) The trick was, I did use a server-side language (PHP) to make the site more dynamic and powerful.  Dreamweaver helped make it "look" cleaner.  I disagree that WYSIWYG programs can't make good sites, but I would agree that you would have to incorporate some other helpful programming yourself.

Sure you can make a decent looking site with an editor but have you looked at the HMTL it generated???? gross!
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Just a note on Jonas' comments...I just finished building a site that took all weekend, plus a few evenings during the week last week.  I used Dreamweaver 8, and IMHO, it looks decent - even professional.  :) The trick was, I did use a server-side language (PHP) to make the site more dynamic and powerful.  Dreamweaver helped make it "look" cleaner.  I disagree that WYSIWYG programs can't make good sites, but I would agree that you would have to incorporate some other helpful programming yourself.

Well, I never said WYSIWYG editors can't make good sites, I just adviced him to code from scratch. You learn more, the code makes more sense (instead of being gross as aspnetguy so excellently put it :)), and you have FULL control of layout/design/graphic elements used.
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Well, I never said WYSIWYG editors can't make good sites, I just adviced him to code from scratch. You learn more, the code makes more sense (instead of being gross as aspnetguy so excellently put it :)), and you have FULL control of layout/design/graphic elements used.

I understand that. I started off always coding everything myself (to learn mostly). I still go back and edit a lot of the code even when using programs like Dreamweaver.
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I understand that.  I started off always coding everything myself (to learn mostly).  I still go back and edit a lot of the code even when using programs like Dreamweaver.

Ain't nothing wrong with that. However, as I've said before, not everyone can afford Dreamweaver. Bluefish is a good OSS alternative, but it's not quite the same. Us poor folk might just stick with hand-code in an OSS text editor :)
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Ain't nothing wrong with that. However, as I've said before, not everyone can afford Dreamweaver. Bluefish is a good OSS alternative, but it's not quite the same. Us poor folk might just stick with hand-code in an OSS text editor :)

I still understand your point. I still agree too - just wanted to point out that WYSIWYG programs can be ok too.Poor me started about 10 years ago with Notepad and HTML. :)
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Designing a site for me really depends on the customer. If they are selling stuff and need all the bells and whistles, it can take days, weeks, or more. Tossing together an info page(s) can take mere hours. Unless, like was said above, it is graphic heavy. I too get bogged down when graphics come into play.

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