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I just registered the domain www.down-time.net, and I currently have a hosting service. I am very creative, and I know how I want to set the site up, but what are the best tools to use. I would like an animation as the intro, I have never done anything like that, but I know what I want to do. Is artistic skills really neccassary? Any information that you think I could use would be greatly appreciated.
Unless the point of your site is to showcase/talk about/give tutorials about/something to do with animations, you shouldn't have any animated introduction in my opinion.
Flashy graphics are not going to make your site anymore useful, just slow it down and make it harder for you to build. Now you do need a good, nice looking layout, but overdoing the graphics (especially with animations) makes sites look tacky. Don't do something like that just because you can, make sure you've got a reason.
Most animated introductions I've seen are either marketing ploys or some guy who did it just because he wanted to show off what he could do, either way it is just wasting time for each and every visitor.
Anyway, you can check out www.macromedia.com for the tools.
I wanted to make it appealing..
There's no reason for a site to be if it is not usefull and to much graphics will render your site useless.
In my opinion, the first priority should be content.
The second one is the facility to navigate.
The esthetics in last place IMHO!
Sorry for the english!
Not to sound like a broken record but I have to agree with the previous posts. I use Macromedia Dreamweaver to make my web pages. It is extremely easy to use after a little time to play around with it. To make the flashy animation you can use Flash but I do not recommend it. If you dont need them I definatly wouldnt do it. You can do many fancy things in Dreamweaver that dont make the webpage overly engineered.
good Luck!
What I think Tek Weasel is trying to say is that he want's his website to have a little pizzazz to it. If you want, I can make you a flash intro and/or a flash navbar. It's up to you.. If this isn't what you were asking, I'm sorry. If it is, Pm me and we'll work out everything. Hope I helped!
P.S : If you want help with webdesign or anything, come to me on that too! :)
Dream Weaver is the only program i havent used for web design yet, but i'd like to. Does any1 know where i can download a "free" version?
ChrisWuk......just as a warning (im not neggin you cause you may not know) you might want to delete your last post. We don't do pirating and black-hat hacking here. You might want to read the newbie faq before you post anymore. It'll keep you out of trouble and allow all of us to enjoy our time here. Take care
These guys are right. Using a flash document can really slow down your site if you've got enough of them, and the average flash document is two to four megs as a SWF.. so I wouldn't recommend it. But on the other hand, if you've got a message that you would like to deliver to the public that's easy to get out, flash can be a very nifty tool, and it's not that hard to get the hang of (you said you had never done any animation before).
I'll explain the really basic controls for flash.
Keyframes are used most often in flash (at least I do) and all you have to do is place the data that you want to use on the frame how ever you want, and then you click F6 to go onto the next frame. You can hold F6 until the desired time interval is achieved, and flash will be nice and tell you what time your at. You can create the effect of sliding or dropping by creating moving an object in one keyframe and advancing it in the next, or doing so in few frames.
The libraries are meant to hold different objects for that particular documents, most commonly graphics and control tools. You can add your own graphics to the library by clicking CTRL + R to import a file to the library, CTRL + L to go to the library, and dragging that particular file onto your keyframe. Library-objects work just like data on your keyframe; they never are deleted unless you do so, and they never move unless you do so, again.
And finally, you can create a hyperlink by selecting text and going to its properties. There is a URL box that's a long rectangle where you can fill in the web address and specify how to open it (in the same window, new window, etc.)
Hoped that helped you a bit if you are looking to use flash. It's really called Macromedia Flash MX if you want to find it with greater ease. There are also other programs that allow you to create animated pictures or SWF, but they are not as good as Flash. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, you don't have to save your flash document as a *.swf, but you can also choose a number of those, but for animation, if you're looking to save space, *.gif (animated GIFs) are compact and don't take up much space. Good luck.
Regards,
Silentstalker
Ahh, I just saw that pirated post. We don't condone illegal activity here man, please delete that post. You have to be fair to copyright laws and buy the program.
Silentstalker
I would like to do a small not even 30 second media introduction...
check out www.flahskit.com they have some cool stuff. just remember the more involved and detailed your site is the more time you have to spend on it to keep it up. personally, i just dont have the time :(
Flash animations are nice, but maybe you should offer a non-flash version for dial-up users. And if you were thinking about how long it might take for your images to load on slow connections, try saving them in the right format, and you can optimize them. That should help load time. And you can get a dreamweaver trial from Macromedia.
You can download a lots of free macromedia products here including Dreamweaver :).
Remember to buy the full product if you like what you get.Quote:
Originally posted here by ChrisWuk
Dream Weaver is the only program i havent used for web design yet, but i'd like to. Does any1 know where i can download a "free" version?
~micael
That's a fairly good size. You want something that will catch a reader's attention (or watcher for that matter) and that it doesn't involve a twenty second load. A good example of a nice flash introduction is here:
http://www.megasecurity.org
Its the only one I can think of for the moment.
Regards,
Silentstalker
I'm much into web design (what I know best) and to be truthful, if your web site has no substance, than a flash intro will not save it. First off, focus on the context of the site (the text part), and from there build up. Don't worry too much about a flashy intro that a viewer will only see once while they are there.
I also find that flash intros (as swanky as they are) tend make people impatient. So they end up clicking out during the loading process. Gotta remember, the majority have 56k modems (which never work at full capacity). So at the vary least, place an option there to skip the intro (which I often do :D ).
We live in a day and age where we all get annoyed if something takes more than 30 seconds to defrost in the microwave. Sad, no? People are no different on-line.
Take care, and hope your site building goes well.
::Chelle::
Another cool idea, which I see a lot of people do, is not directly link people to the flash intro at all, but to hyperlink it on the main page of your site for people to click on, kinda like your personal advertisement, that way, people aren't forced to see something they don't want to or be forced to wait, possibly ending in a lost visitor due to wait time.
flash is a secondary thing, lay MORE EMPHASIS on the content part. The visitors generally stick to a site, and keep coming back only if it has some nice content, not for it's flashy intros.
If you are really interested in the flash part, make sure to put a small link on the flash page to skip the intro. Users on low BW connections will love this feature.
Manpreet
wow, websites are a lot of work. I have so many things I would like to do, but to be honest a lot of the suggestions I get fail. First, I would like to get a discussion board ON-SITE, but I have not much knowledge if any in Java/CGI/ASP etc... Another thing I'm looking to do is get an IRC server running, but I was trying to get is web server based so its ALWAYS ON!. We're putting on a battle of the bands soon, and I would like to set up a voting system that will help me track all the votes so that way we get input on what band to choose, and I would like to get it fault free so the votes are fair. Another thing I can't get working is my counter it never seems to appear. So you wonder why I even have a web site in the first place? The stuff I'm promoting is the stuff I love, and I would like to learn how to get these features running. I'm currently using front page as my web editor, and I can't seem to get any of the features working such as their discussion forums and etc... If anyone has the time to work with me on this stuff my e-mail address is admin at down-time dot net. I will also check this site frequently.
I have my own hosting/webdesign/graphic design bussines. I would be glad to help. :)
I mostly work with Flash MX, Photoshop 7.0 and for all coding/html 1stPage 2000. 1st Page has all html tags in the program reference itself, and when somethings missing, there's a link directly to the subject. It also has color coding, about 150 pre-made javascripts, html tidy (a tool to make your webpage, well, tidy). You can download the proggy here >> http://www.evrsoft.com/
If you want to learn any XML, XHTML, HTML, CSS etc, go to http://www.w3schools.org , its THE reference site for these particular subjects.
For any flash, http://www.flashkit.com
If you want to really program your site, I would recommend PHP. All functions are explained at http://www.php.net , it also has some tutorials on how to start bulding your PHP script.
If you have any questions on CSS, html etc. or PHP, you can always reach me at #generalchitchat at AO IRC, or you can mail me. I'm always happy to help a starting webdesigner, cause I know what I've been through when I started. :)
Greetz & Respect.
Also there's something on
http://www.download.com
Called something like Code Red HTML Editor and you can pick certain things and it will generate the HTML for them... very nice for a newbie at HTML...
Regards,
Silentstalker
I believe it is http://www.freeflashintros.com where can download and use free flash templates and flash intros. There are also free flash guestbooks, flash counters, flash buttons, and a whole lot more. You should definitely check it out. Hope I helped!
or provide a skip intro button and set up your splash page so that the first time the person views it and the intro it stores a cockie on their machine - if they then go back to the site and the cockie is prsent it skips the intro and goes straight to the main page - you can then put a link to the intor from your main page incase they want to see it again....saves people from constantly having to click the 'skip into' button if they have been there before
v_Ln
hey!!! for ur animation as intro better use macromedia flash which can be downloaded from www.macromedia.com well if u wanna use only little animation i mean parts of animations better use java applets.visit this it has a kool java applets for imaging www.taijisoftware.com.and anfychat applets are also good.but the better is flash.design it with dreamweaver or frontpage.dreamweaver has predefined animated buttons which are mindblowing if u need more u can download it from www.macromedia.com too.
well thats all for now
good luck.enj0 designing.
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