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General discussion

okay im starting my first website

Mar 18, 2008 4:24PM PDT

but before I get to far, iI would like to know some good settings. I'll be using photoshop, fireworks and dreamweaver but Im not sure of the resolution and page size i should start with. my tutorial shows 750*500 but this cant be right.

Any help would be appreciated.

Discussion is locked

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Re: website
Mar 18, 2008 6:04PM PDT

The average visitor will either have 800x600 (some of the vertical space of course is being used for menubar, toolbar, address bar, status bar in the browser) or 1024x768 resolution. Or maybe a much bigger screen, but if you design for that some of your visitors will have to use the scroll bars.
For pictures 72 dpi is the usual resolution on the web.

Kees

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ok thanks for your reply
Mar 19, 2008 12:06AM PDT

im going to try 1024x768 but am wondering how to change the background colour eg someone with a higher reolution will see a white background outside the 1024x768 area. is this done in dreamweaver?

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There are two other options...
Mar 19, 2008 7:20AM PDT

There are two other options...

1) Your website could detect the screen resolution and it would show either the website in 800x600 or 1024x768.

2) You could use percentages instead of a static width/height. That way even if a user has a widescreen monitor, they can utilize the space to see more content on one page as opposed seeing just a color or a picture.

Just an idea.

~Sovereign

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ok thanks, im learning slowly im guessing these options will
Mar 19, 2008 6:36PM PDT

im guessing these options will be done in dreamweaver what resolution should i do the initial design in photoshop?

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Depending on which option you choose
Mar 20, 2008 5:08AM PDT

If you choose (1) then you will have to make graphics for 800x600 resolution and for 1024x768... depending on the users resolution, it will call either graphics.

If you choose (2) then you can start with 800x600. Look up on google fluid width versus fixed width. You can probably find some more info that goes in better detail than I could.

PS: It's a little different whether you are designing in HTML or CSS. I personally prefer HTML because that's what I'm used to, but I'm also learning CSS now simply because it has many more benefits than HTML. If you're starting off and really don't know too much about either, I recommend CSS.

~Sovereign

Another PS: A whole different approach would be using a CMS (Content Management System) ... then you just have to develop a skin for it and would be able to manage your website ultimately from any PC that's internet connected. If you're interested in that, look up Wordpress or Joomla.