[thelist] starting a website

Hello fellow evolters. Got a semi-little-opinionated question for you.

What do you do when you are first creating a design with a website?

Do you just start with a raw html file and code away? Do you use dreamweaver
and just start moving things around until it looks pretty? Something else?

What about finding unique colors for a site?

I'm just starting to look for a more optimal way of starting things off on
my next project as I want things to go faster than usual.

thanks for the suggestions

-ted