# I am the web master



## tysonbarber (Feb 23, 2005)

I am the web master for alizegallery.com
I am very new to web page design and can't write html. I am learning html and xml but need some qick help. Check the site out please, the collectables page. As you can see i have everything centered. I would like to have two pictures side by side. I am using Dreamweaver MX. I have tried a couple of things but with no success. Please help me with this problem.

Ty


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## tysonbarber (Feb 23, 2005)

I need to have two items and descriptions next to each other but not touching, like having two colums. Thought i should clarify that


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## brianleahy (Feb 23, 2005)

I'm not a dreamweaver user, but try creating a 2-column table & drop each picture into a different column.


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## tysonbarber (Feb 23, 2005)

no option for creating colums, that i can see. do you know of a way? The only thing that i have managed to do is create two pages in one. and that screws everything up. Please keep the suggestions coming. one of these times it will do the job.  Thank  you brianleahy


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## brianleahy (Feb 23, 2005)

You can look at the html on my page for an example of using a table. (My page is 1 big table).   It doesn't help with Dreamweaver, but you can at least see what it can do.

http://home.comcast.net/~bdleahy/index.html


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## tysonbarber (Feb 23, 2005)

Thank you. Tables! That was the answere i was hoping for. Thank you. Must of had a mental block. Feel free to visit the site any time, please e-mail me at alizegallery@spymac.com with any suggestions


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## lnoelstorr (Feb 24, 2005)

My god!  Why are you people encouraging him to use tables for layout? Is it still the 90s or something??!

Here's how to do multi-column layouts:

http://www.thenoodleincident.com/tutorials/box_lesson/boxes.html


Also, not meaning to sound rude, but why the hell is your text only page heading done in Flash??


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## Pardus (Feb 24, 2005)

If you plan on doing more web design, i would encourage you to pick up some web 'design' books from the library or spend some time looking around the web for resources on planning and design. The site looks like it was your first time and you would benifit from some theory and insight from expert designers. You can even save some web pages and reopen them in DW to see what the designer did. When I start a new site, I will do some mock up sketches and then recreate it in photoshop. The client will usually want some revisions and then will select one, I will save that image and in dreamweaver start a new page and then go to page properties and select tracing image and the layout will appear faded in the background so you can build your layout around it.
Its ok to use tables a bit just so you can understand them and how they work but you should move on to CSS fairly quickly. LYNDA has some great Video tutorials for dreamweaver that will get you up to speed in no time. 

Stay away from flash right now... learn the basics first. Nothing kills a sight faster then * flash movies.


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## Jeffo (Feb 24, 2005)

Pardus said:
			
		

> Nothing kills a sight faster then * flash movies.



well said.

there is one tip i can give you.  ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS plan your site with expansion in mind, even if you think you will never ever use more then you are now.  it can be such an incredible waste of time to go back and redo an already large site just to add one more page or something like that.

oh yeah, one more.  learn to use includes.  they are such an amazing little time saver.  you can make your header (for example) the same on all your pages and if you want to make a change you only have to change it in one place for the entire site!


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## tysonbarber (Feb 24, 2005)

keep em coming guys. I am taking your comments to heart. Please any other things to keep in mind?
Thanks again
ty


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## Mat (Feb 25, 2005)

Just a quick grammar check; Collectables is spelt Collectables, not collectibles, like your links say.


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## scruff (Feb 25, 2005)

It can be *spelled* either way:

From dictionary.com

col·lect·i·ble also col·lect·a·ble  Pronunciation Key  (k-lkt-bl)
adj.

   1. That can be collected: a collectible loan.
   2. Worthy of being collected: collectible antique coins. n.

One of a group or class of objects, such as period glass or historical memorabilia, sought by collectors.


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## Jeffo (Feb 25, 2005)

Here is a link you can use to check your code syntax and maybe debug your pages.


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## ian27 (Feb 27, 2005)

Pardus said:
			
		

> Stay away from flash right now... learn the basics first. Nothing kills a sight faster then * flash movies.



Whilst I agree in part with this statement, I can not agree entirely. The guys at 2advanced.com have made a very nice living out a Flash.

Ian


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## Pardus (Feb 27, 2005)

ian27 said:
			
		

> Whilst I agree in part with this statement, I can not agree entirely. The guys at 2advanced.com have made a very nice living out a Flash.
> 
> Ian



I guess my message got edited. nothing kills a site faster then *bad* flash. I love flash and develop some half decent flash sites but poorly built flash is way more detrimental to a site then say a poorly layed out HTML page. Flash can make a site way better or wayyyy worse.


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## ian27 (Feb 27, 2005)

Hey Pardus,

I agree, that bad flash can ruin a site, and if it's slow loading the chances are your users will not even see the site. It's also got the problem of sites using flash not been indexed correctly for SEO purposes which is another kettle of fish. Personally, I've been trying to steer away from flash more and more as I think its value is very limited. However, there are a handful of excellent flash designers out there who really bring their sites and projects to life with it. I believe these designers should be complimented for their excellent and innovative work.

Enjoy your evening!

Ian


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## j79 (Mar 17, 2005)

lnoelstorr said:
			
		

> My god!  Why are you people encouraging him to use tables for layout? Is it still the 90s or something??!
> 
> Here's how to do multi-column layouts:
> 
> ...



While I agree, I also have to disagree. 
Tables is a great way for novice webdesigners to learn basic layout. I mean, think about it - when people begin webdesign, they tend to start out with the most basic code - Centered. Inline images. Background color/image. 

When tables enter the picture, new layouts are possible, opening the level of creativity for designers.

In the long run, I'm sure he/she will learn CSS (along with the headaches and understanding why designers DESPISE Internet Explorer and their lack of non-compliance for standards)

It's a means of progression and learning more advance HTML (eventually XHTML) and design fundamentals (multi-colored tiled backgrounds are BAD as well as pointless flash files)

BTW - checking out three sites, Yahoo.com, Google.com, and Apple.com - all three use tables one way or another. 

---------------------------------------------------------

My tips to the original poster (some which have already been posted)

Definitely check out other sites - maybe even other art sites, as to get an idea of what works and what doesn't work. Check out their source, but don't steal. Be "inspired" 

One thing I would work on is layout - centered pages with no sense of "layout" (images here, there) feels amateurish. 

Another thing that would go a long way is a set color scheme.
Read up on colors and check out some color schemes you like (for instance, say you wanted to work with that cream colored background - you could use a color for the text that compliments it. A great piece of software is ColorDesigner at: http://macosx.narcissisme.dk

Finally, you need to fix your images on your collectables page.They take much too long to load. I'm suspecting your linking to a high-resolution image but changing the height/width in HTML.


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