[thelist] starting a website

[Tony Grimes]

> 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?

     First I do the information design. This is when you scope the site,
gather and group the site's content, and define the architecture. This
takes up most of te development time, but MUST be done (at least to create
a decent site, IMHO). 
     THEN I start on some sketches of the placement of navigation (which
is designed with the architecture) and content on each page (or groups of
similar pages). I use those little Hilroy 72-page note-books (7" by 9")
that we all used in elementary school. I have one for each project and is
where I keep all my notes, ideas, research and design sketches for a site.
That way I have everything in one place if I need it and is handy when the
job is done and you want to archive your development process.
     Depending on the project, I then either do a (mostly) text-only
mockup in HTML for easy alteration in design or content if I need to, or I
do photoshop mock-ups with dummy content, but all the eye candy (i.e.
colors and graphics).
     Once the design has been tested (which I rarely get to do,
unfortunately; some clients are cheap and don't want to pay for it) and
the client signs off (I have two major "sign-off" periods) I do the full
blown site in HTML (or whatever) for final approval.
     For colors and artsy-fartsy stuff, I sometimes contract out if it's
over my head, but here is a great set of books for color:

Designer's Guide to Color (ISBN 0-87701-317-9)

This is a five book series that provides 1000's of color comparison
examples based on randomness, mood, emotion and shape. It's made for the
print media and doesn't apply to web-safe colors, but it'll provide a
lot of inspiration.

OTHER GREAT RESOURCES (Very Highly Recommended)

Web Navgation: Designing the User Experience by Jennifer Fleming (ISBN:
1-56592-351-0)

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web by Rosenfeld and Morville
(ISBN: 1-56592-282-4)

DESIGN EXAMPLES 
     One of my current projects has a text-only prototype:
http://www.ucalgary.ca/UofC/eduweb/engl392/492a/index.html
     This site is a storage place for content (which is still being
written by the content expert) and is used to test the architecture for
flexibility and the navigation for non-suckiness (technical term). Initial
indications are that I'll have to rebuild it from the ground-up (I came
in near the end of the project, which will quickly become the beginning).

     This is a mock-up that I'm playing with to help my client promote the
site to other university instructors (which the kind folks hre on thelist 
helped me with):
http://www.tonygrimes.com/492/

This has been a lot more long-winded than I planned, but I hope this
helps. Information design and testing seems to take up a lot of time but
trust me it actually SAVES a lot of time in the long-run. HTH

.tony