No. 1 DESIGN TIP
I used to just make my websites straight away. Just design as I go along. The outcome was TERRIBLE
But. Remember this as it will help loads:
Design your site on paper, and then design it on the computer using Image software, frontpage etc.
Busy posted this at 22:41 — 16th September 2005.
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Just when the tip was going so well it was ruined at the end.
frontpage, ewwwww
kazimmerman posted this at 22:51 — 16th September 2005.
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Haha, yeah. No need to bring in cheap useless software. Come on!
Megan posted this at 00:20 — 17th September 2005.
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Oh, no need to pick on the newbies either
That's a pretty good tip. One of my best tips sort of builds on that one - make sure you have a clear idea of what the site should accomplish (in terms of functionality, content, usability, look & feel etc.) before starting your design.
Megan
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kazimmerman posted this at 00:23 — 17th September 2005.
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I wasn't trying to be mean. Just playing around. In fact, I think FrontPage can be pretty good for beginners.
I always like to go into generic MS Paint or something and using the different shapes and colors and that kind of thing, go in and figure out the basic layout. This way I can see how everything will fit together and can figure out the dimensions.
Kurtis
Busy posted this at 11:13 — 17th September 2005.
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No no no, frontpage can never be good for anyone, if you must use an editor use dreamweaver or one of the many other semi decent ones around.
Frontpage is closer to MS Publisher or Word than to a useful editing tool
The Webmistress posted this at 17:20 — 17th September 2005.
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I have a big white board that I use, that way you don't waste paper with all the changes
popinsiteads posted this at 16:06 — 18th September 2005.
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frontpage is not that bad! except for the support for PHP etc)
Busy posted this at 22:38 — 18th September 2005.
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and html, css, javascript ... other than that, yeah frontpage is great
demonhale posted this at 03:25 — 19th September 2005.
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Yeah and it comes with the best Office Suite too! LOL!
The Webmistress posted this at 07:58 — 19th September 2005.
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Any WYSIWYG editor is ok as long as you can hand code in order to clean the coding up at the end!
popinsiteads posted this at 08:49 — 19th September 2005.
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you all look for the easy options. Code it yourself! Its better because you get to know how the language works
Megan posted this at 16:37 — 19th September 2005.
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That's another good tip, especially for beginners! I find, though, that now that I know the mark-up intimately, coding everything by hand isn't the best use of my time. I prefer to spend my coding time working on complex CSS and things like that. Dreamweaver can do the simple things just as well as I can.
Does anyone else have any good design tips? I could probably come up with a slew of them if I had a chance to think about it
All in due time 
Megan
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The Webmistress posted this at 15:59 — 19th September 2005.
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LOL - it was you that kicked off the Frontpage debate as you said
Julia - if life was meant to be easy Michael Angelo would have painted the floor....
timjpriebe posted this at 17:21 — 19th September 2005.
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If I'm experiencing designer's block, I'll go to a site like http://www.coolhomepages.com/ or http://www.templatemonster.com/ and write down different aspects of designs there that I'd like to incorporate in my design.
I try to not draw anything or bookmark any of the sites, so that I don't end up copying them.
Tim
http://www.tandswebdesign.com
Megan posted this at 17:40 — 19th September 2005.
She has: 11,421 posts
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I do that with the CSS zen garden. I'll just make a list of URLs I like for that project and note what might work for me - could be just the way they did the headings, or the navigation or some little detail like that.
Cameron Moll had a good article once about how good designers don't just borrow - they steal. I think this is part of what design is about. Just borrowing little pieces from other designs (doesn't even have to be web designs either), and combining them into your own creation. No need to reinvent the wheel every time.
Here's that article:
)
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/copy-great-designers-steal
(the second-best thing Sitepoint has ever published
Megan
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demonhale posted this at 01:06 — 20th September 2005.
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Yeah a good one too, the other one was about that good web sites sucks or something...
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