Stephen said:
I was just using FP as it seems it was designed to be used. I've found
nothing in the help files that would help to improve the appearance of the
site. I also did
http://1stresponsecprtraining.com/ for a friend which looks
a little better but no matter what theme I use it comes out looking like it
was designed "by someone who started yesterday." BTW links to several other
of my lame attempts are at
www.stephenhorrillo.com. Look, isn't the whole
idea of a program like Front Page to make it so that even a novice can
create a professional looking site? If someone like me who's used a computer
since the days of DOS and trains people for a living can't figure get decent
results, how is the average person who buys MS Office going to figure it
out? It's like it's too complicated for the novice and unneeded by the pro.
Am I missing something here?
Yes. All the most important aspects of the design process.
FP is a site building tool. A pretty lousy one, but that's besides the
point. It doesn't do ANY design. It's software. You have to ignore all the
hype and all the sales pitches and actually use your own knowledge of how
things actually work.
So first you have to clearly establish what the purpose of the site is and
how that can best be achieved. IN DETAIL. That's before you even think
about content, let alone design. The vast majority of web sites have
already failed before they start simply because this stage of the process
isn't fun. However it makes all the difference.
Then you can start deciding what needs to be on the site, how visitors
will want to navigate around it, and how they'll find it in the first
place. It's not until you've done that bit that you can even start on
anything visual.
When you know the structure you can start on making a template because you
now know what navigation is needed and what people need to find most
easily on each page. It means you don't have to simply slap everything on
to every page. It means you'll be able to do something that isn't
cluttered and too confusing.
At which point using a tool like FP or a CMS will enable you to progress
without learning html.
What you can't get is ANY software that will get adequate results unless
you do all the thinking for it.
It isn't using the software that's complicated or difficult, What's
complicated is all the stuff about your own business and customers that
you've learned over the years. What's difficult is breaking through all
the preconceptions and the hype and actually working out a design process
that has nothing to do with software sales pitches.
