|
|
Updated: 03/27/2004 12:07:20 PM (Broken Link? Report It Here) |
|
|
Design Area
What can you learn from Design Tutorials? Design tutorials are nothing more than one or more people passing on what they have learned from their own experiences or research efforts. My design tutorial will pass on to you what I have a learned about website building through a lot of trial and error, lots of research and loads of hints and tips I have received from visitors such as yourself. Membership requirements for Giz Gears. This interactive area within Giz Gears does not require an active Giz-Net Network membership in order to participate.
Think about your favorite things in life. Perhaps your favorite singer, actor, actress, movie TV show, animal, pet, cartoon, book, or game. The possibilities of making a website about one of your favorites are endless. Or perhaps there is something about the world or some issue that you feel strongly about? War, world poverty, environmental issue, people or animal abuse are just a few issues that come to mind. Again, there is literally a whole world to choose from.
Remember, the Internet connects computers all around the world. Through these connections come the possibility to share the same interests as someone else in Georgia, Israel, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Oman or anywhere else in the world as long as they are connected to the rest of the world through the Internet. The potential for making a website that shares common interests with possible visitors is very great regardless of your subject.
Visit any popular search engine website; such as Google, Yahoo!, or MSN, and conduct a search on your subject to see what comes up in the results. This will give you a general idea of how popular your subject is on the Internet. Keep in mind that few results may not necessarily mean one-of-a-kind and rare subjects, but instead may mean lack of interest for the subject on the Internet. Most people do not build websites and maintain them unless they have a population of visitors who are interested in the subject. Another way to determine the popularity of your subject is to search the various members directories of some of the web host providers. These directories; such as Yahoo! GeoCities, AngelFire, or FortuneCity provide listings of websites that are currently hosted on their servers.
While you're surfing around visiting other websites that share your interest, don't just breeze through! Leisurely take a look around and see what the webmaster has come up with for the website layout, graphics, navigation control, accessories and content. Does the website please you as a visitor? Why or why not? What has the webmaster done to capture your attention or to make you lose interest? Remember these thoughts as you go through each website. You will likely use them as your lists of do's and don'ts for building your website.
The next step of my tutorial is called "Choosing Tools". The assumption I will be making throughout your visit here is that you are totally new to the concept of website design. Based on that assumption, I am also going to assume that you are not likely to want to purchase anything if at all possible until you decide if this will be a full-blown hobby for you. Those of you who are looking into building a website for business purposes can also follow this tutorial as a learning tool for the basics before you jump into the serious stuff.
Contributions for Giz Gears. If you have a great web design source you would like to share, please let me know! I give credit for all sources of contributions; links, tutorials, downloads, hints, tips, etc. If you would like to see other pages added to this area, please let me know either through email or through the Forum. |
||
|
|
||
