DIY coding?

bigdave

bigdave

Well-Known Member
I'm redesigning my website but don't know what extent I should DIY it. The existing site was made in iWeb (an experience I never want to repeat) with the intention of having it professionally re-coded after a couple of months and ironing out a few issues. That never happened and now I'm redesigning the whole thing I don't know if I should have a stab at the coding side of it too (with the aid of a few books and the internet)? It's going to be a fairly simple affair but I don't know if it's something that'll be beyond me? Having built my current site in iWeb, I then spent quite a long time farting about with the html and css to make things work properly, so have a basic knowledge of things web related.

If I do successfully code the site myself is it something I can then hand over to a coder to 'tidy up' and sort SEO or is it better/more cost effective to just let a professional do it right from scratch?
 
Personally, I'd go for it yourself. At the end of the day, if you discover that you like doing it, want to do it more and explore it further, then, it's another string to the bow really? And, then, if it doesn't work out, all you've lost is time. Fair enough, time is precious, but, if it doesn't work out, you can then go down the professional design route afterwards. But, definitely worth having a stab at first.

Also, if you post your design up in the forum, I'm sure people will be able to point you in the right direction to achieve exactly what you're after.
 
I had that same idea Dave. I thought it'd be a great idea for me to learn the coding side, then once I'd got to a decent standard, could offer it as a service. However I realised it was going to take a LOT more time to learn than I had and havn't re-started since!
 
This is where I'm up to with the homepage design. Is it a Big job to animate the red bar above the page title so when you click on a page it slides across to it?

12084b32.jpg
 
If you're just going to look at HTML and CSS then it shouldn't be too much of a problem to pick it up. As with everything it will take time to become particularly advanced or proficient, but for putting together a working site it isn't too much of a problem so it's worth having a go at it.

As for the moving red bar, that would be a little more complicated to do I suppose (though I'm ready to be proven wrong!). If you go it yourself could be easier to just include the red as part of a rollover whereby it doesn't actually move along as such, just reappear across the side.
 
I agree with the others Dave. If you have the time then have a go at it yourself. There should be some options for what you want menu-wise with JQuery. Although all we have is a static image I wonder if this could be adapted; jQuery LavaLamp menu plugin ?
 
With regard to jQuery etc.. I think I'm going to have a blast at doing the site with just xhtml and css THEN look at adding the extras. With regard to workflow.. how is it best to work? Get the xhtml in and then create the css or create the css then do the xhtml?
 
bigdave said:
With regard to jQuery etc.. I think I'm going to have a blast at doing the site with just xhtml and css THEN look at adding the extras. With regard to workflow.. how is it best to work? Get the xhtml in and then create the css or create the css then do the xhtml?
Click to expand...

I would do them both at the same time; set up the first part in xhtml and then start to place it with css and so on.
 
What about fonts? The design uses Alternate Gothic No.2, which isn't websafe as far as I'm aware. A similar font would be Helvetica Bold Condensed (not sure if thats websafe either). Is it a difficult job to embed a font within the CSS?
 
I'm going to disagree with the others, I think that you are better to just pay someone to do it properly first time round as to be honest to do this isn't going to cost a fortune...and the time you would have spent tearing your hair out could be better spent on winning orders and making profit.

Just my opinion.
 
Thanks for your honesty. I'd like to do it because it's the kind of thing I'd consider 'fun to learn' (yeah, I'm weird) and I do already have a rough handle on code (all be it html & tables circa 2003)..
 
bigdave said:
With regard to jQuery etc.. I think I'm going to have a blast at doing the site with just xhtml and css THEN look at adding the extras. With regard to workflow.. how is it best to work? Get the xhtml in and then create the css or create the css then do the xhtml?
Click to expand...

I tend to do both at the same time but I've heard some people say it is a good discipline for noobs to mark up the HTML first and then do the CSS. This 'keeps you honest' as far as making your code semantic/meaningful without thinking about the design all the time. To be honest though, whatever you feel comfortable with is best.
 
Cheers mate. During my research, I've come across google webfonts which already holds a very similar font. Would it be ok to use that or are you then left to the mercy of google deciding if or when to remove the font?
 
bigdave said:
Cheers mate. During my research, I've come across google webfonts which already holds a very similar font. Would it be ok to use that or are you then left to the mercy of google deciding if or when to remove the font?
Click to expand...

I doubt Google will remove a font from its library but I have also found Google fonts to be a little inconsistent at times. In particular serif fonts don't seem to work in IE (which is nice). I know yours is sans-serif but it just leaves me wondering... So I'd recommend font-squirrel's offering over Google's right now.
 
Cheers.

*EDIT*

One last question (for now)...

Dreamweaver or TextEdit to code the whole thing?
 
Last edited:
I use Dreamweaver for coding, I just like the way it highlights tags, gives suggestions and the like.

Textedit can be a mess if you've got tons of code.
 
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