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Design

Posted by Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

Web Design help?

Hello everyone! I am sort of stuck on how to design websites. I have been learning a lot on Treehouse and I am proud of that, it's just that how do I start creating professional websites? For example, I love the Treehouse website because its simple and minimalistic. I don't know where to start, currently I am on the CSS Deep Dive I just want to make a personal website for myself starting out. However, once I get a feel on creating websites I want to make bigger projects. I just don't know how to begin, where do you get images from? Do you need to really code 600+ lines to make a website that nice? Or is their other ways to create them, I have becoming frustrated because I don't know how to put these skills to use. Any help/motivation would be appreciated very much, thank you!

Julian Price
Julian Price
11,760 Points

Check out the CSS frameworks course that's demonstrates both bootstrap and foundation.

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

That is in the CSS Deep Dive correct? I'm going step by step...

Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points

you can snatch it from the library if you want to dig in right away....may be advanced though, so be ready.

Julian Price
Julian Price
11,760 Points

There some additional courses in the library that's not included in the project tracks I believe . It you are wanting to get up fast pace Guil Hernandez course on http://teamtreehouse.com/library/framework-basics . May help you grey up quickly however I have learned its most helpful to have understanding of the basic of html/CSS

4 Answers

Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points
Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points

Many reputable web designers will actually purchase a theme for a site that provides valuable framework. They will then adjust that theme to fit their needs. Check out www.themeforest.com.

Julian Price
Julian Price
11,760 Points

Why are you promoting themeforest when I believe people are here to learn like Jabran Shakil ...just asking!

Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points

Julian, why re-invent the wheel if you can improve on an already great invention?

Julian Price
Julian Price
11,760 Points

Your right but words of caution: it all depends on what you trying accomplish.

I've purchased numerous themes there...some great and some so not. In addition it's extreme learning curve to try to understand the file structure and/or accomplish teaks. Most notably how everything ties custom post type functionality to theme which is lost when you change the theme instead of being a plugin.

Word of advice to others:

Look at theme based on the:

  1. content--not the flashy sliders
  2. Theme developer profile of other projects
  3. Comments of the past and present for theme developer you are interested in.

  4. Make sure they present screenshots referencing the options/admin panel and other meta fields/boxes that you have to navigates.

  5. Most importantly insure theme documentiion (and better a link to it pre-purchase ) & check out their support forum/website.

I personally believe that most of the time; everything is such production to learn the theme you purchased and installed than you have to change to another theme the learning cycle repeats itself. It just best to get the basics and learn how to create your own base theme to extend for your purpose because everything else gets in the way.

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

Julian what do you think would be the best option to do? I am going to check out the website Kyle reccommended, but I am going to continue to learn on treehouse because to be honest I love coding, and I am pretty fast at it too, catch up quickly. Just don't know, after reading your comment which way to go...learning the code or just purchasing the theme. Most likely both?

Julian Price
Julian Price
11,760 Points

Themeforest is a great option if you want to get a site up fast especially via wordpress just be cautious of developer repetition and purchase something after bugs have been tweaked out instead of the newest theme.

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

So you need wordpress to use Themeforest? Or you can just purchase the theme of themeforest and you're good to go?

Julian Price
Julian Price
11,760 Points

No themeforest is a marketplace for themes/templates so if you are just looking to purchase a html/CSS template (frontend framework) look for that menu item.

Most people want to utilize a cms like wordpress in order to quickly edit & publish content so they have those themes too. Which cms (content management system) consider more of backend framework (php/rails/ $sql database)

You may also want to check out Guil Hernandez course on http://teamtreehouse.com/library/framework-basics

That utilizes bootstrap and foundation (html/CSS - frontend framework)

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

Alright, sorry for all of these questions. So themeforest is where you purchase the themes and wordpress is where you can apply that theme and have an up and running website. And Guil does teach you how to use the cms? So if I wanted to start making websites right away. best bet would be to use themeforest and wordpress. Correct?

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

By the way is their a tutorial to learn how to to use WordPress to make websites?

Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points

Yes, there are quite a few. Here is one from wordpress: http://en.support.wordpress.com/using-wordpress-to-create-a-website/ ; Here is one from Treehouse: http://teamtreehouse.com/library/wordpress-for-website-owners .

I just ran a simple Google search for "Wordpress website tutorials." Keep in mind that WP is primarily a blogging platform, so try to find those sources that mention using it as a legitimate business website.

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

Thats what I tried to do, all I found were blogging sites. Thanks Kyle, I knew their was one on treehouse, I'm probably going to look that up after I finish this CSS Deep Dive. Appreciate the help a lot.

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points
Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

So that sitle is like, wix.com and webs.com? Pre-made themes and you adjust the content of the website?

Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points

pretty much, yes. The way I see it, why build all of the framework if someone else can do 60% and I do 40%? Just make sure that you have the proper license and you're set!

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points
Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

That site does look pretty awesome. So correct me if I am wrong, purchase a theme for personal use or commercial use and then adjust content to your liking and you're set? I can still add html or css to the website? And do you personally use this Kyle? I appreciate the help, I never knew this. To be honest I thought if you were a good web designer you have to build from scratch using HTML and CSS, but I'm starting to believe thats not the case, you just buy pre existing themes and templates such as wordpress, or in this case themeforest and you go from there? If this is correct I guess I can start designing then!

Kyle Brooks
Kyle Brooks
6,753 Points

everything you said is accurate. I used this for a website that I built for non-profit and just made minor changes to the coding. The key here is make sure that you read the license agreement. I haven't personally run across anything ever saying you couldn't edit the code, but it doesn't mean they don't exist.

Regarding the "good web designer" part, I've had tons of different opinions on this. You have people that are polarized to each side and have strong opinions. Ultimately, it comes down to your client, how much they are willing to pay (yes, you need to charge more if you're writing hundreds/thousands of lines of code), and how much work you want to do :)

Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points
Jabran Shakil
Jabran Shakil
2,734 Points

Ohhhh, alright I see. Man that's tough writing 1000 lines of code, takes a lot of practice. I'm going to continue to learn on treehouse but I'm also going to dig deeper into themeforest, it looks legit, has different sites for audio files, and images. Thanks Kyle!