Web Design Basics

What is Internet?

What is a ISP, Modem, Web Browser?

How does information get displayed on the Web?

What is a website? (basic elements)

Graphic formats: JPEG, GIF, PNG

Image compression

Lecture Outline:

What is Internet?It is a vast collection of computers all over the world that store information and send it out. It’s like a virtual highway and your computer is like a private on-ramp.

What do you need to connect to the internet?• An ISP (Internet service provider)

• A modem (internal or external) - Dial-up via a phone line- Broadband cable connection - DSL high-speed phone connection

Why Do You Need a Modem?

Modem SpeedsThe biggest difference between modems is speed which is called the baud (bod) rate. The rate refers to how many bits (digital pieces of info) per second can the modem send and receive.

Ex: 56K or 56,000 bps (the most typical dial-up modem speed)

Broadband (high-speed) connections refer to:• Satellite or cable• T1 Lines• DSL or ISDN• Other variations of the connections mentioned above

The World Wide Web

A collection of related pages is called a web site.

Each website has a home page (similar to a table of contents). It’s usually the 1st page of the site.

A site can also have an entry page (splash page), which will lead you to the home page.

Entry Page vs Home Page

Reverse Though web site – entry page.

Entry Page vs Home Page

Reverse Though web site – home page (table of contents).

Browsers & URLsTo see pages on the web, you must have software called a browser.The browser reads the info on the web page and displays it on your screen. Ex: Internet Explorer, etc.

Every page on the web has an address = Uniform Resource Locator.

http://www.ratz.com/robin/hats/html

Hypertext transfer protocol

WorldWideWeb

DomainName(tells youwho owns the site)

A path telling the browser where the page is located

Indicatespage format:HTML file

The basic elements of a web page

How do you know what’s HTML text and what’s an image?

- View Page Source in Firefox, Explorer, etc.- Right click on the image to copy it, to save it, to find out it’s size, etc.

Ex: www.gavilan.edu

What is the standard Web resolution?

72 dpi (ppi)

Decoding screen size and resolution

What screen size should I use?In Photoshop, go to File, New and choose Web

Which color mode is used for Web?

Web Graphic Formats - GIF- GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

- 256 colors max

- Not very good for photos, but perfect for black & white graphics, line drawings

- Small file size (less than 10kb)

Web Graphic Formats - JPEG- JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

- Lots of colors = JPEG… Solid colors or no gradations = GIF

- Perfect for detailed photos as it supports 16 mil. colors

Web Graphic Formats - PNG- PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

- Supports RGB only (not CMYK)- Employs lossless data compression

- Was designed to improve upon and replace GIF- Can help you produce images that have transparent bkgr

Web Graphic Formats

PNG, JPEG and GIF files

What is GUI?A graphical user interface is the link

between you and your content.

Example: A screenshot of a modern GUI (Windows 7).

A GUI is a type of user interface that allows people to interact with computers, MP3 players, gaming

devices, etc. in more ways than typing.

- Wikipedia

What is GUI?

Examples of GUI:

Good GUI> makes a user feel in control> presents the most up-to-date info> makes info easily available> is transparent & intuitive

http://www.sensisoft.com/ (Advertising Agency)

What is Navigation?Navigation is the term used for the structure of the menus and all of the other kinds of links to help theuser find their way around.

Dreamweaver – 1st Steps

What is Dreamweaver?

Watch this video (www.lynda.com)

Where to store files?

Local Drive Remote Server

Upload final filesto make the site public

Where to store files

- You can store files under your Gavilan account

- Each student enrolled in the class will have a Gavilan account and server space

- It’s very important that you back up files on a regular basis (i.e. bring a USB drive or

a portable external hard drive)

Organize Your Files WellIt’s important that you create a Root Folder before starting to

work on your site. I suggest that you create smaller folders inside the main Root Folder to organize your files better:

images text layered Photoshop

files

- contract- notes

CSS files

File Naming Conventions

The primary concern for any web developer should be accessibility. Is your site designed to

be easily accessible to the wide variety of browsers that are currently available? One of the ways you

can ensure that your site is user-friendly, is to ensure that all files follow these naming rules:

- Use only low case letters

- No spaces between words, but you can do this:art_portfolio.html

or this: art-portfolio.html

- Don’t use any special characters such as:#, &, /, @, etc.

- Make file names descriptive, but short

- Use well-known abbreviations

Defining a New Site

Watch this video (Adobe TV site, by James Williamson)

Web site – Background Graphic

- Gradients (Photoshop)

- Repeating backgrounds(Tiling images in Dreamweaver)

- Rollover Images (Photoshop & Dreamweaver)

Student Work - Examples

Discovering Bodie website by Nick Gariaeff

Santa Cruz Muzzleloaders website by Jacqueline Kiel

Hair Salon website by Ramon Mendoza

Website for Nicole & Brittany by Zachary Pettibone

“The Non-Designers Web Book”by Robin Williams and John Tollett

Good Books: