[...]... out, and manage your Web site, create textual and graphical content to place on it, and test and debug your pages While many quality software applications can handle these sorts of jobs, here are my recommendations as you assemble tools for your Web makeover toolbox These are the tools I swear by for all of my Web design work 6 Macromedia Dreamweaver: Your Command and Control Design Center Let Macromedia... comparable alternative tool) serve as your “command and control” center throughout your Web site design and development process Available for both Mac and Windows, Dreamweaver’s integrated design environment packs in all of the page -design and site-management accessories you need with a mouse click A powerful Web page editor is crucial to performing great makeovers After all, whether you are working with textual... know-how and the right tools Web Design Before & After Makeovers is going to help equip you with the information you need to successfully make over your Web site But you’ll want to be sure to gather the right tools for the job before you start In this chapter, you explore the essential software tools that you need for getting the most from your makeovers These tools help you design, lay out, and manage... extends into cyberspace as well You create or maintain a Web site that you put a lot of work into, but you see how poorly it compares to other sites you visit on the Internet You realize that what your Web site really needs is a makeover Before & After Makeover: The Concept Web Design Before & After Makeovers is written to enable you to make over your Web site With this book, you get a chance to work with... Invitation to Participate! After you’ve had a chance to use the makeovers in this book on your Web site, I invite you to come up with your own If you come up with something that you think would be helpful to others and would like to share it, feel free to send it to us at makeovers@digitalwalk.net I might select it for use in another edition of Web Design Before & After Makeovers 3 Before After 1 MAKEOVER ESSENTIALS... you’ll encounter as you revamp and overhaul the design of your Web site These challenges include such tasks as making your home page a compelling place that visitors will want to bookmark and return to often, placing great content on your pages without cramming it in, making your site easy and intuitive to navigate, and ensuring your pages load blazingly fast Before After How to Get Around in This... visual and code views of the Web page and that has the site support features you need as you design pages Adobe Photoshop: Your Visual Sidekick Nice-looking, optimized graphics are an essential component to nearly every welldesigned, professional-caliber Web site As such, even if you don’t consider yourself a graphic artist, you’ll still want to opt for a professional-grade image editor The handsdown... Browser MSN Explorer Opera 1% 1% 5% 5% Chapter 1: Makeover Essentials 9 10 Web Developer Extension for Firefox: Your Interactive Debugging Environment For much of the lifespan of the Web, debugging Web pages has been a trial -and- error process It usually goes something like this: You do your best to design and code your page and then open it in your browser to test it If something displays or executes... sampling of the many features and capabilities of the Web Developer extension You can download the Web Developer extension at http://chrispederick com/work/webdeveloper The extension is made available under the terms of the GNU General Public License Chapter 1: Makeover Essentials 11 Before After 2 PAGE LAYOUT MAKEOVERS W here do I begin? That’s the question you have to answer before you can start any project,... whether you created a Web page by hand or through a visual Web page builder, chances are you used tables to lay out your Web page For much of the Web s history, HTML tables were a useful way to precisely position a page’s layout The problem is that table-based layouts are kludgy: Tables were meant to display spreadsheetlike data, not to be used as the primary building block for Web design (Not sure what . “com- mand and control” center throughout your Web site design and development process. Available for both Mac and Windows, Dreamweaver’s integrated design environ- ment packs in all of the page -design. provides both visual and code views of the Web page and that has the site support features you need as you design pages. Macromedia Dreamweaver: Your Command and Control Design Center 04_783234. given a little know-how and the right tools. Web Design Before & After Makeovers is going to help equip you with the information you need to successfully make over your Web site. But you’ll want