Hi,
I am new to web design. i am going to develop in VS2005. I would like to know the following
1) Cross-browser support like IE6, IE7, Firefox , Chrome.. I want the page to be same in all the browser.
2) I wanted to know whether it will be good to design the page using tables or div tags.
3) What are the best options to develop a site using SEO?
Can someone give suggestions, tips or help on how to do develop a site?
Thanks
Raja.

First I want to say, welcome to web design. It is a very exciting and fast paced world.

Another thing I would like to add is, I would just learn the straight code and use a text editor, like notepad ++, or E Text Editor, or any of that.

1) I would do what I recommended above. Usually the microsoft software creates websites that work well in Internet Explorer and that is it. It is much easier if all of the code is 100% you.
2) NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER use tables. You should always use CSS and Div tags.
3) Make sure that you use the proper meta tags, you have your site validated for errors, and keep your code clean, and avoid using CSS and HTML hacks.

If you follow these steps, you should be well on your way.

notepad ++ is a very good alternative to Dreamweaver its cheap or I should say its free. but if you had a cash to shell out Dreamweaver is an excellent idea.

Hey rajaseeth,

Yes welcome to web designing world .

Before answering your questions. I would like to ask you to use aptana studio rather than any other software. Its free and it is very very very powerful .

1 ) For this, you need all the browsers .. LOL [ to actually check whether its working fine ] , but yea, you need a software that lets you have a look at what you have done till now in all the browsers, you can do that in aptana or DW [ DW is paid ] . would help a lot and make sure you add safari in your browser compatibility list .

2 ) Following what Leopard says, NEVER NEVER NEVER use tables, use CSS . tables have great compatibility problems and you will go crazy some day .

3 ) Read a few articles here and there about how to optimize your site, including to what leapord says, make sure your Title tag is relevant, use <h1> tags and <strong> tags properly and you should be doing well enough .

1 more tip i would like to add is , follow a proper method.
1) start with the designing of the web page, on paper or on Photoshop, make sure what you want where and stick to that.
2) next create a tracing image of what you have made and then place all the div's in place , like header, nav, body [ with or without sidebars ] and the footer.
3) Check it in all the browsers.
4) add your content and other codes, like the navigation code etc.
5) check whether code is valid [ validate your CSS ].
6) Look at your website and make sure you are happy. Dont give a **** about others .. lol just kiddin. make sure its looking good. ask other people for suggesions. [ use this step before step 1 and after step 1 as well ]

Prateek,
PDJSolutions

Its so simple, use CSS and javascript.

To really understand web design, you need to learn HTML hand-coding; it's easier than you think.Tools like Dreamweaver are great, especially if you are building old-style web sites based on tables, sliced images, et cetera.Learning to build your web sites using HTML will give you far better control over the process and ultimately your web sites.

Originally Posted by Bestone

To really understand web design, you need to learn HTML hand-coding; it's easier than you think.Tools like Dreamweaver are great, especially if you are building old-style web sites based on tables, sliced images, et cetera.Learning to build your web sites using HTML will give you far better control over the process and ultimately your web sites.

Like bestone said, you need to learn it yourself. Any WYSIWYG (What you see is what you get) web design programs will produce code that works, but isn't as accessible by all browsers, and it can be hard to change the looks of it later.

You should just code it 100% yourself, and there is no need for tools like Dreamweaver because it costs a lot of money and the free text editors will make your sites code better.

Just make sure that you install all the main browsers like IE, Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Chrome so that way you can test your site in all of them.

a web design company that STILL builds with tables for layout?! with 58 coding errors?

no use of semantic headings? (h1, h2, ... ) with poor grammar and spelling mistakes?

not sure how "reliable" they would really be.

Originally Posted by davemies

a web design company that STILL builds with tables for layout?! with 58 coding errors?

no use of semantic headings? (h1, h2, ... ) with poor grammar and spelling mistakes?

not sure how "reliable" they would really be.

Yes, I agree with this!!!

I would say for a beginner Dreamweaver although expensive is definitely a good buy. You can learn both design and coding aspects of a build and it's so easy to use!!

Hang on, surely you can't say never use tables! Not for page layout, obviously, but there are some kinds of information where that's the most convenient and easily-understood way to present it.
"Product name - Colour - Size - Price" for example. Or is even that use for tables deprecated nowadays?

Originally Posted by elvira

Hang on, surely you can't say never use tables! Not for page layout, obviously, but there are some kinds of information where that's the most convenient and easily-understood way to present it.
"Product name - Colour - Size - Price" for example. Or is even that use for tables deprecated nowadays?

that's what we mean: no tables for layout, but - obviously - tables for tabular data

The absolute best tutorial site for programming,web,graphic design is www.lynda.com. They have the most comprehensive and detailed video tutorials that you can find. It's 25 bucks a month, but well worth it as an investment

Do not aim to make the page same looking in all the browsers. It is not possible. One or the other will mess with the page to make it look a little different.

this looks great and really easy to follow - thanks a lot for posting and sharing it

Originally Posted by blackmamba

great tips... thanks for sharing mates...

this looks great and really easy to follow - thanks a lot for posting and sharing it.
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You are all making it seem like designing websites is about as fun as sticking one's hand into a meat grinder. It is easy to forget why most of us started to do this in the first place: we enjoyed it. Sure, (some of us) got professional and started to worry about proper coding, standards, and blah blah blah, but is that really what got to being professional in the first place?

The best thing that will drive you forward is a keen interest in what makes a good website, and a curiosity for what drives the web. In addition, you need to enjoy solving problems and tinkering with things to make them right.

It's easy for some of us to shout out things like "use standards!", or "whatever you do, don't use tables!", but are those the real driving incentives that make someone a better web designer / developer? I'd rather see someone passionately learn something the wrong way, then make a correction, then dully learn something correctly, but with no passion.

My advice: figure it out. Enjoy figuring it out. When you're done, figure out a way to do it better. Do it over again. When you're done, figure it out again. Rinse, wash, repeat.

Originally Posted by wayfarer07

You are all making it seem like designing websites is about as fun as sticking one's hand into a meat grinder. It is easy to forget why most of us started to do this in the first place: we enjoyed it. Sure, (some of us) got professional and started to worry about proper coding, standards, and blah blah blah, but is that really what got to being professional in the first place?

The best thing that will drive you forward is a keen interest in what makes a good website, and a curiosity for what drives the web. In addition, you need to enjoy solving problems and tinkering with things to make them right.

It's easy for some of us to shout out things like "use standards!", or "whatever you do, don't use tables!", but are those the real driving incentives that make someone a better web designer / developer? I'd rather see someone passionately learn something the wrong way, then make a correction, then dully learn something correctly, but with no passion.

My advice: figure it out. Enjoy figuring it out. When you're done, figure out a way to do it better. Do it over again. When you're done, figure it out again. Rinse, wash, repeat.

That is great advice,

You are absolutely right, love what you are doing, and do it because you want to.

My advice is just coming from the perspective of a web designer who creates themes for people that want table-less clean code, but I suppose I have forgotten about the people who just make a standard site for themselves.

@Leopard:
Of course, the information you gave is for the most part correct. It's just that sometimes I put myself in the newbie's shoes and see how it could be intimidating or a turn off to be given a bunch of rules immediately to follow or else.

I'd also like to see people learn things the correct way, but if someone truly has the creative urge, I'm happy if they learn and are self-driven.

@rajaseeth:
One thing I would suggest is not to worry too much about SEO to begin with. Just design your site for users and remember that search engines are dummies. Say everything as simply as possible, to make it readable by robots and humans alike.