# Man, website designing is HARD!



## 7deadlysins666 (Jul 25, 2009)

Especially when you can't come up with any really good ideas...but need a website asap. I want to do a flash website, with a badass zombie header with animated maggots falling out of one of the eyes or something....but I don't know Anything about flash. I've looked up a billion tutorials, and didn't really find any that was what I was looking for. (No money to pay anyone to design a website for me). Anyone know any tutorials that would could help me? I just want to know how to make rollover links, something like when you hover over a link it fills up with blood or something, and then of course the random maggots falling out of the eyeball would be sweet. I have no flash knowledge...its all new to me. Damn im such a DIYer


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## 7deadlysins666 (Jul 27, 2009)

I scrapped the Flash idea..... made some progress. Now I just gotta figure out how to make the iFrame work right, or make all the parts of the sites pop up in a new window. I did do something i've never done....use slices in photoshop. It works Very well, I wish I would've known about it before. I also worked on my photochop skillz some more by turning a city into a flooded masterpiece. I put that picture below too.


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## DarkKnight369 (Jul 28, 2009)

First of all, you do not need a band website. IMO no unsigned band or even small to mid level acts need a site outside of myspace. I have yet to see a band do a full out website that looked fantasic, served a purpose outside of myspace, and remained up to date. I mean seriously, why do you NEED a website? What is it giving you? You would seriously be much better off focusing on a great myspace design and maybe purchasing a redirect URL. As I presume part of the reason for wanting a website is to give out an easier web address than myspace.com/whatever. Again, I have seen small to mid level signed bands do this exact thing.


Flash is complicated. Its not something you can easily pickup. I have been working with it on and off for 4-5 years now, and I am no expert by any means. I don't use it enough, and my skills are limited. The average salary for Flash designers is $80K, and this is for a reason. If anyone could pick it up and do it, they wouldn't be paying that much.

Flash has its own scripting language called Actionscript. Trying to coast your way through Flash without any knowledge of Actionscript will only allow you to do extremely basic things. In order to do what you want, you really have to have an idea of how it works in flash and how its structured, otherwise you won't be able to find tutorials.

For instance, to do the rollover buttons you described is complicated. A button is an object or symbol in flash. You also have grpahics, and movie clips. The buttons have 4 states: up, over, down, hit. The up state you have the button look like it always looks on the screen. The over would be the animation you describe. To make that animation, you would have to create a movie clip and design that animation. You then would place that movie clip on the over state. You then have the down, which would have the same look as the up state I believe. Finally, there is the hit state, in which you draw a box around the button to define the clickable area.

All that is just to make you button to function from a rollover animation standpoint. To make it function requires actionscript, which is slightly different from CS4-CS3 (Actionscript 3.0 vs. 2.0). So say you wanted to make your button open a new window and link to something. You would have to give the button symbol you created an instance name and put in actionscript in the main timeline that would look like this...

_
example.addEventListener(MouseEvent.MOUSE_DOWN, mouseDownHandler);
function mouseDownHandler(event:MouseEvent):void {
var jscommand:String = "window.open('http://examplelink.com','win','location=no,height=810,width=810,toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,status=no,menubar=no');"; 
var url:URLRequest = new URLRequest("javascript:" + jscommand + " void(0);"); 
navigateToURL(url, "_self"); 
}_


Now for that code, I put in a bogus link, example link. I also named the button instance example, which you would do by clicking on the button that is on the stage of the main timeline, going to properties, and typing in the name in the blank field.

Still with me? Confusing isn't it? That is all just to make a button animated? I know you abandoned Flash, but before ever doing anything with it you need to ask yourself if you really need it? What is the point of having flash? You just want to do cool animations for no reason? If that is the case, I would suggest maybe doing a flash banner with subtle animations, something that wouldn't distract the user and not become irritating after multiple visits to the site. Just because something can be done, really doesn't mean it should be done. Flash has its good points and bad, and right now, I would not recommend a full out flash site, or heavy flash use. You essentially kill a good portion of mobile phone users right off the bat. Additionally, the more flash, the more you potentially hurt your search engine optimization. Google is supposed to pull out text from flash, but its still has a long way to go.




> I scrapped the Flash idea..... made some progress. Now I just gotta figure out how to make the iFrame work right, or make all the parts of the sites pop up in a new window. I did do something i've never done....use slices in photoshop. It works Very well, I wish I would've known about it before. I also worked on my photochop skillz some more by turning a city into a flooded masterpiece. I put that picture below too.



iFrame = Bad
Image Buttons = Bad

I violate that on my current site, but I am changing that. There are "standards" when it comes to web design. All browsers and operating systems interpret code and web sites different. So there are a set of general rules to follow to maximize compatibility across all browsers. 

First of all, its a good idea to do links in CSS. Sure, you loose a little bit of cool factor. Swapping images for rollover effects requires javascript or other scripting languages. Most people have javascript enabled, some don't. Its a good idea not to use too much javascript in case someone does not have it enabled. There supposedly are some ways to do image swaps with CSS. I tried them, and they did not work in every browser. I ended up having to put in javacript to preload the images anyway, which I was trying to avoid. So the next iteration of my site will have text buttons with CSS. Not only is the better for the reasons I talked about, but it also helps with search engine optimization.

When designing a site, to be compatible with the current "web standards," its a good idea to stick to a few things.

1.) Use CSS and divs to design the site. This is currently one of the most compatible and consisten ways. It gives you the most freedom and its the most friendly with search results. Usually it involves cleaner code too, which potentially will have the pages load faster.

2.) Avoid tables when possible. There is a use for tables, but the entire layout of a page isn't really what tables should be used for anymore. Tables can be more unpredictable across different browsers as well. I designed a site in image slices and tables, then CSS and divs with much less slices. CSS was better for compatibility, and it loaded faster and more consistent.

3.) Avoid iFrame. I am sure it has its use, but I never needed it. It can mess up search results, and for what you are trying to do, you can do the same with CSS and divs.

4.) Images. Avoid excessive images. I know you want a good looking site, but huge images isn't the only way to do that. The more images you have, the slower the page loads. This might not matter on a fast internet connection. Many people are browsing on their phones these days, and not everyone has high speed access. Also make sure the images you do used are saved appropriately in Photoshop. If you are not familiar with it, get used to the saved for web and devices option in the file menu. Its there for a reason.


There is a lot to web design, and its not easy. Again, that is why there are jobs and degrees in the field. It takes a lot of learning and experience to really know how things are going to turn out before you do them. For instance, I have a bachelors degree in Multimedia, and I have been working in the web professionally for the past 5 years. I still have a lot to learn, but I have learned a lot. Much of it, the hard way. There are just so many things to take into consideration when designing for the web, and its ever changing especially with the advancement of mobile phones and their networks. You always need to think about multiple browsers and operating systems, and test on as many as you can. You also need to consider monitor resolution, and common capability. Designing for 800 x 600 has pretty much been the standard, but its swinging more towards 1024 x 768. Since the world has been going wide, its good to stay withing the 1024 width, but chopping the height if you want a wide page. 


Again though, this all comes back to just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. Why are you doing anything of this? Looking at your links, you are just duplicating the information on your myspace. You can do all this for free and in a format that will be better to maintain. All I will say is be aware, because if you miss the mark on a website you can end up hurting your bands image more than helping it. Your image heavy designs aren't too modern as far as web sites go, and they aren't offering anything that your myspace can't, so what reason would your fans have to visit it? 



Also...

Since you have no money, I am assuming you do not want me to continue with your logo redesign? I know its been a while since the concept I delivered. I am quite behind on my side work as my main job has been overwhelming me lately. Let me know for sure. I have been worried about it and its in the back of my mind. If you do not want me to continue I will forget about it and move on to other project though, so just let me know dude.


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## ralphy1976 (Jul 28, 2009)

@ Dave Z : you should get 1 hour paid for typing all this!!!!!


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## DarkKnight369 (Jul 28, 2009)

I will take that as a compliment, so thank you.


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## Ancestor (Aug 14, 2009)

Yeah, don't bother with flash. Even the best sites have issues with their functionality. I like both the designs you came up with. They look great. 

Content is king. Put cool stuff on your website and people will dig it.


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## Methilde (Aug 16, 2009)

I usually put the stress on userfriendlyness, easy browsing and indeed: content!

It's my freelance job to do some basic webdesigning for artists usually, just centered, not too much thingamabobs on it


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## DarkKnight369 (Aug 24, 2009)

So much boasting about the content, yet most people who want a band website can't answer this...what content are you offering beyond myspace? If you can't answer that, or don't have a good answer, you shouldn't bother. You will be wasting time and money unless you have something to entice fans and others interested in your music to go beyond your myspace page.


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