How do I make my own website and layouts like you do?
I actually have really been contemplating about creating a new section for my website about my work and experiences with web design and graphics. I do however, list all my favorite and most used graphics and icons specifically for website and web design under the 'Fun Stuff' link on the navigation menu. They will be under the 'Add Ons' section. But back to the idea about making a section for web design, I most likely will do that in the near future and also post up a couple tutorials for HTML and different website and layout information. Unfortunately until then, to make a website like all mine, you really would have to learn HTML coding. HTML is the abbreviation for HyperText Markup Language and is the standard markup/computer language used to create web pages, layouts and other different website and design related options. It is commonly used in most websites and it can be a pretty complicated thing to some people or just take time to learn. I learned more and more over the past years since I first studied it in Middle School and by High School I was almost a pro. You can also take college classes for Web Design and learn HTML hands on that way. Or you can just look up tutorials on the internet or wait till I put some of mine up too ;)
If you really don't have the time or patience to learn HTML coding (nobody will blame you), there are plently of webhosting sites out there that you don't even need any expereince when it comes to making websites. Or you can cheat and use premade layouts and just get the HTML coding for that layout then copy and paste it, then go over and edit it/design it the way you want (But in order to do this, you would really need to have some kind of basic knowledge of HTML which is usually easy to learn and you can definitely read my tutorials when I post them soon!). A lot of them will host your website(s) for free and usually have a collection of different templates/layouts already made and ready to use that you can pick from to start out. Or you can start from scratch and use their website making tools that they usually have as well and make your own layout and designs. A couple of awesome free web hostings sites that allow you to do all of this are listed below (however some of them may only support HTML coding):
Wix.com
Bravenet.com
Neocities.org
Weebly.com
Also, one of the best sites to grab a beautifully designed and premade layout using the HTML codes provided for it is:
www.createblog.com
You can pick different websites by the categories you need them such as; websites, blog layouts for Tumblr, Blogger, etc, and they provide a ton of different codes and tutorials as well for web design and layouts.
To create your own layout isn't easy either though. Not only do you need to know HTML but it's always a good thing to have certain programs on your computer to create them as well. Adobe Photoshop is definitely one of the most popular programs to have, but there are so many new and improved programs specifically for web design and layouts; Dreamweaver is another great program. There's also Fireworks, Flash, etc. I already planned on ordered some of these for this coming Christmas so once I do finally get them and am able to use them to see for myself how well they work, I will definitely give some more feedback on them. It's just been so long (since my High School web design class and college courses) since I was able to even use some of these programs but I do know they work very well usually for stuff like this. And Photoshop was always a must have favorite for me.
Once you got all that down, you're pretty much golden. So let's break this down into steps real quick and go over it again:
1.) Learn HTML (optional)
2.) Find a free web hosting site. (Depending if you know or what to learn HTML or not then the web hosting site should be based on that. If you don't know it, you need to find a web hosting site that provides you with premade layouts and templates and/or also a web designer or layout designer that has web tools and different options that you can use to create or edit your website, layout and pages. Best one for that? Wix.com or Weebly. If you do know HTML and prefer to use that, then just find a web host that will mostly support that as well. Best option for preferred HTML use? Neocities.org).
3.) Create your account, pick your domain name and start building or creating your website on this webhosting site.
4.) Once you start making your website, you should definitely most always start and finish your main or home page first. Then it will be pretty time consuming, but you will need to make different pages for your site to come together and edit and update them depending on what kind of site you are going to be working on.
5.) Have fun with it and if you are serious, it will take a lot of time and effort but will turn out awesome and totally worth it! Search the web or check out my Ashlee In Wonderland website for my new section about web design and layouts to get different and creative ideas for you website! Good luck! ;)
