Hey, there

I just realized that I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on Dreamweaver or Frontpage to design my own website. I just need to learn HTML and how to design some elements in Adobe Illustrator (ok, I'm a little slow...lol). So, last night I sat down and found a great website that teaches HTML and started taking notes and trying it out. THEN, my aunt (we share a house) came out of her room, saw what I was doing and gave me two HTML books!!!! Woohoo!!! I can't wait to teach myself. Both books are outdated a bit (one is HTML For Dummies), but I'm sure the basics are there. I know that it will take a while to learn it on my own, especially if I want to try to design my own website, but I'm pretty good at teaching myself things and my aunt designs websites for the advocacy group she volunteers with, so she can guide me a bit too if I need it.

Now I just need to find the time to squeeze that in...lol

Oh, and I downloaded that NVU program someone mentioned and plan on playing with that a bit too. I'm sure that it's not as good as Dreamweaver, but it's an actual design program and it's FREE!!! So, hopefully I can figure it out.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Great Job Stephanie! It's empowering to know that we CAN do it!!! I did the same thing a few years back when I wanted to learn HTML and didn't want to shell out the cash for Dreamweaver.

My recommendation is to learn as much about it as you can and get a good reference book that has lists and lists of the different tags and what they do AND a visual example of the tag. I have "HTML For The World Wide Web" by Elizabeth Castro. It too is pretty outdated but a great resource for me still.

Good luck and show us some of your sites as they come along!

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Administrative Support Group
Jenifer D

I think everyone should start with basic HTML whether they're going to use something like Dreamweaver or not. Invariably, even if you do use Dreamweaver, Frontpage, etc, you will have to do some tweaking right there in good ole HTML.

You could also download NVU to support you as you go. You can construct in the HTML window and check your design as you go in the Preview Pane.

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Jeanne
NowAssistingYou.com
Virtual Assistant :: Web/Blog Design & Hosting :: Writer

Already done

I was so excited, but I haven't got it figured out yet.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

Woohoo excellent Stephanie. When I use dreamweaver I actually have the view on split so if necessary I can dive into the code and fix any problems.

I also recommend www.w3.org for information and tutorials.

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Kylie Short
Tilda Virtual Services - Making virtual personal

Good job Stephanie! HTML Dog is another great resource for tutorials.

Thanks for all of the great advice. I think I actually have a picture in my mind of how I want my finished product to look. Now I just have to figure out how to get there. I know there are a lot of great sites where you can find free elements (buttons, bullets and the like) but they're not customizable. Or at least I haven't found any that are. I have Adobe Illustrator CS3 at work, so I'll probably try to create them in there if I can't find exactly what I want. My problem is that I can get a vivid picture of what I want in my head but I can't seem to make it work on "paper". I am definitely no artist. But I have created buttons before using tutorials, so I can probably work something out.

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Stephanie
New VA in the research phase :daisy:

I agree 100% that we should know basic HTML coding. I learned a fair bit from Codehead's class. And I borrowed several HTML tutorial books from the library and more.

I've found that it's extremely helpful to know basic HMTL even if you use dreamweaver or any other web builder software. It's very helpful if you run into a problem.

Have fun!

As of creating buttons, you can play, play, and play with various design, colors, shapes, etc until you find one that just clicks nicely with you. Also you can post a thread in Web Development forum here how to make a button and I'm sure someone can help you!

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Brenda A. Jones
www.brevos.com

This is exactly what I did, but i was lucky enough to have help with the basic template.

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Sarah Bernstein
Jackson Administrative Outsourcing
www.jacksonao.com