new to web design

[ksw]

Hi all,

I'm at the very beginning stages of starting my site. I'm not sure exactly where to start in terms of designing the site. I have been fooling around with Dreamweaver and getting to know a bit of html. I'm assuming its best to start with some sort of web template or content management system right?

I also need to get the site's logo done, which i will probably have to get some graphic designer friend to help with. Do affiliates normally pay people to do their design?

I really dont have any money to invest in this, it will just be me working my butt off.

Id appreciate any tips or advice.

Thanks,
ksw

[ThePokerBank]

I would recommend getting a nice free template from www.oswd.org and working with it in Dreamweaver. If you can customize it then great, but be careful not to hack it apart as the designs are already good. It's good to test, but be sure to keep a backup of the orginal template if you go too far off the edge.

Getting a template would be my #1 way to go if I was going start affiliating again and if I had little to no money to spend. By working with a template in Dreamweaver you can get closer to the code and familiarise yourself with the basics of xhtml and css, which is going to be really handy in the future.

Using wordpress with a free template may well be the simplest way to get a site going these days, but you might be shooting yourself in a foot a little as wordpress does a good job of distancing you from the code, so you won't have as much of a chance to get your hands dirty and learn as you go along. On top of that, your site may not be best suited to a blog-style layout, which really won't help to send your first site in the right direction.

As far as getting a logo goes, the majority of people here outsource their design work, both for actual website design and for the logo. If you are on a tight budget, you can get a nice logo on a free template, just ask the designer if they can make it fit nicely. If you're on an even tighter budget, you can always make your own. Honestly, you will be suprised as how a nice looking font from www.dafont.com can be as a logo on its own. If you want to get a bit fruity, look for Photoshop tutorials (if you have it) on making simple logos.

[TheShortStack]

Just wanted to echo ThePokerBank's sentiments about Wordpress. I can't say enough about it, especially for people in your position who are trying to learn loads all at once.

It's nice and easy to use, and some of the free templates you can get for it look really professional.

[ksw]

I was under the impression Wordpress was just for blogs and such. Can it be used for any kind of site? I will check it out, thanks for the tips!

[ThePokerBank]

Originally Posted by ksw

I was under the impression Wordpress was just for blogs and such. Can it be used for any kind of site? I will check it out, thanks for the tips!

Yes, it is mainly used for blogs, but you can make adjustments so that it comes across as a standard site.

It can be a little tricky to do this however, especially if you are new to making websites. That's why I would recommend that you you start off without wordpress and go for a nice xhtml template from www.oswd.org (or from anywhere that does nice and free templates).