Webdesign question

[-fp-]

Hello everyone,

I have finally finished my first website which I designed and programmed myself with Dreamweaver.
www.organic-food.com

I know that is is not the best ever website but it is a start for me!

I have tried to teach myself the basics of HTML first and then go more into CSS.
As you can see have I not done any Java or Java Script and I have used framesets to make it easier for the design and so on.

To cut a long story short:

I want to keep on learning and design other websites in the future but better and more professional.

So my question where do I go from here in terms of web design and programming? I want to be able to design nicer and more interactive websites, etc.

I am happy to hear all suggestions and tips.

Thanks.

Fabian

 

[zk0]

Nice site!

A tip, dont use frames in you other websites. :P

 

[Albino]

not bad for a first attempt, some of mine were awful :p

A few tips though are:

Dont use I frames, as stated above.
Dont let your navigation links change background colour when you hover over them, unless you make the background/hover area the full size of the button.
Dont put borders like you have on the navigation either (by that I mean sloped ones), it the majority of times look unprofessional.
Finally, when you make a hyperlink, dont put "click here", as if a blind person was to come to your site, all the hyperlinks would be read out as that, and it would make the site near enough unaccessible to them

I hope they help, keep it up!

 

[xxll_martin_llxx]

Looks decent apart from the frames which has already been noted.

Also your navigation links are a little weird...
"http://www.organic-food.com/organic-food.com/seiten/organicfoodnews.html"
Is this done on purpose or something?
Usually a link would be "http://www.organic-food.com/seiten/organicfoodnews.html"

I'm no pro, I'm just wondering why it's like that though

 

[Barrucadu]

1) Dont use frames
2) The borders around the nav bar looks terrible
3) The hover effect dosnt cover the whole button
4) The link URL's are a bit weird (as stated above)

But apart from that, the style in the content frame looks quite good

 

[StudioWorks]

Well, you have a long road ahead

First of all, try to look at other sites to get an idea about what is trendy and what not. You can find a lot of showcase sites out there.. look at them, pay attention and learn.

Second, you need to improve your skills. As far as graphics are concerned.. you can learn a lot from sites like www.tutorialized.com.

As far as programming is concerned, if you are interested in PHP, there are a lot of tutorials out there, you just need to find them.

Also, dont use frames, they are awful, really! Dont place a big border ( like the one in your navigation ) a smaller one would look better

BEst of luck,
SW

 

[-fp-]

Well, you have a long road ahead
SW

I know ! But the comments from you guys are really helpful and the tutorial site really good. :tu:

My next steps are to get rid of the frameset, change the URL names and add a proper navigation bar with buttons etc. I am not sure whether to do this as a left menu or as a top menu. For that I will try to figure out how to use photoshop I guess.

Would anyone advice me to use Fireworks if I use Dreamweaver? Or is Photoshop okay?

My aim is to expand and experiment with this website in order to go ahead and develop my skills and other sites in the long term (Taking into account that I am doing all of my work on this website on the daily train commute next to my full time job). :td:

Anyway keep your comments coming if possible. I am always open for new suggestions on how to improve my skill and this website!

Regards,
Fabian

 

[WhiteWebServices]

Good first attempt; keep at it.

You've had plenty of constructive criticism already, so I'll leave it at that.

 

[netzilla]

Start to try and learn a scripting language like PHP it can do you wonders in the long run!

 

[zk0]

I know ! But the comments from you guys are really helpful and the tutorial site really good. :tu:

My next steps are to get rid of the frameset, change the URL names and add a proper navigation bar with buttons etc. I am not sure whether to do this as a left menu or as a top menu. For that I will try to figure out how to use photoshop I guess.

Would anyone advice me to use Fireworks if I use Dreamweaver? Or is Photoshop okay?

My aim is to expand and experiment with this website in order to go ahead and develop my skills and other sites in the long term (Taking into account that I am doing all of my work on this website on the daily train commute next to my full time job). :td:

Anyway keep your comments coming if possible. I am always open for new suggestions on how to improve my skill and this website!

Regards,
Fabian

Dreamweaver and Photoshop are the only tools you need.

Also, you might want to check out Easy Webbers.

 

[-fp-]

Start to try and learn a scripting language like PHP it can do you wonders in the long run!

This is definately my aim in the long run.

I what sense is PHP different from HTML?

And from your experience how much harder is ti to learn in comparison to HTML?

Thanks for the tip zk0!

An thank you everyone for your opinion and very useful suggestions.

Fabian