Discover the many ways to create a Web site today

Before you start building (or learning new skills), choose the best tools for your a Web site project

By Janine Warner

When I first started designing web pages, it was relatively easy -- and vanilla boring.

More than ten years and a dozen books later, web design is much more complex today, and a lot more exciting.

You can learn to design a simple web site (like a tribute site to your teddy bear) in an afternoon, or you can spend weeks creating a great business site.

If you want to sell teddy bears you'll need ecommerce features, and if you want to ship ' teddies' to the global bear market, you may want to promote your efforts with a blog, facebook page, and search engine tips.

As you explore my Digital Family Web site, I want to help you discover the best way to create the site you need. My goal is to help you find the best way to get your web site online without blowing your budget or taking forever to finish.

Oh wait, web sites are never finished -- that's part of the attraction, and challenge. You can update your web site anytime day or night, but you need to prepare for growth from the start.

Today, I can teach you to design a simple web site with Dreamweaver in a matter of hours, or set up a basic blog in minutes. But it can take years to master the programming and design skills it takes to create Web sites as complex as Amazon.com or CNN.

That's why most big Web Sites are created by a team of experts -- and why I never call myself an expert at anything -- I'm a perpetual student of the internet, and if you want to work here, you should be, too.

And don't feel you have to do everything on your own. Learn from the mistakes of web geeks like me who have been creating sites for more than a decade...

Throughout this web site, you'll find different kinds of training, such as this article about how a little planning can save you a lot of time building your web site. (A lesson I learned the hard way.)

If you want to see what you can do with Dreamwweaver right away, you can watch a video in the Dreamweaver training section.

As you consider what is the best way for you to create a web site or blog, consider the skills you already have. Most of us did something else before we became Internet geeks, web designers, or digital alchemists (choose your title or make up a new one).

If you already have some skills in Photoshop, or you know programming, or have some other specialization, that should influence how you decide to build your site. If you're great at marketing, but not so comfortable on the computer, you may prefer to hire a web designer.

When Adobe Dreamweaver is the best design choice

Adobe Dreamweaver is the most popular professional web design program because it offers the most design features.

If you love Photoshop, Illustrator, or InDesign, you'll probably like Adobe Dreamweaver.

Adobe's influence on the interface and integration with other programs in the suite, gives Dreamweaver a similar look, and it's got the best design features of any web program on the market.

If you use every program in the Microsoft Office, or you work in a Microsoft shop, you may like Expression Web (just don't use FrontPage).

If you want to create something like Jasper Johal's Photography site, Dreamweaver makes it easy to create custom gallery designs, rollover effects, and more. Using Adobe Dreamweaver I had the advantage of many powerful design features, so I could give Jasper lots of control over the layout of each gallery, and he could make sure his photos take center stage on the site.

For portfolios, galleries, and almost any site that's less than 50 pages or so in size, Dreamweaver is my first choice, and all the program you need (visit the Dreamweaver help section for tutorials and videos).

When to a WordPress blog is the best choice

Blogs are best when you want to make it quick and easy to update a site and publish and manaage hundreds or thousands of pages and posts.

Almost anyone can manage the basics of creating a WordPress blog, but if you want to design your own WordPress theme or add complex menus, galleries or other features, the learning curve gets steep fast.

You can use Dreamweaver to edit a blog, but it's more complicated than creating and editing a simple static page web site entirely in Dreamweaver.

It's also possible to combine Dreamweaver and WordPress. When I wanted to start a conversation about design trends for the mobile web, I created the Mobile Web Design Blog with WordPress.

I used WordPress for this blog because it's easy to post quick notes and explore ideas with a community. Blogs come with commenting features and an easy interface for many people to post to the same place at once.

The administrative features that come standard with WordPress blogs make it easy for anyone to post stories and photos.

In WordPress, the administrative page you log into to compose and edit posts is called the Dashboard.

But with ease of use, comes limitations in design control.

The more consistent you keep the design on each page, the more efficiently you can develop a blog, the more design variations, the more complexity -- it's a tradeoff.

Choose the one that's best for your site

Only you know if your greatest talent is as a designer, writer, programmer, photographer, project manager, or all-around techno-wizard who is just dedicated enough to pull it all off yourself.

Although there are some efficiencies to creating a blog, for design control, designing with a program like Adobe Dreamweaver is still my first choice (You can even use Dreamweaver to edit Wordpress pages, pages and themes for a best of both worlds solution).

Where to start if you know what you don't know

Here at DigitalFamily.com you'll find dozens of tutorials on Dreamweaver, Expression Web, and WordPress blogs, so if you've come here with clear goals in mind, by all means, jump ahead the links below to learn more.

• What is a blog, how does blogging software work, and how can I create one?
• What should I do as I begin planning my site and considering what I want to publish on the Web?
• What are the advantages (and challenges) of a blog, content managment system (CMS), or other dynamic database site?
• What are the advantages of creating a custom web site design with Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft Expression Web? And which one should I use?

• What graphics program should I use: Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, or Fireworks?
• If you just want to post a lot of photos online, you may find a photo site a great option.

Most of us in the world of Web design work with a team of specialists on big web projects. My background includes writing, teaching, project management, and a few quirky things like Dreamweaver, WordPress, and CSS... but keep in mind, I live on the Web. (Learn more about Janine Warner.)

Publish Your Pictures Fast with Online Photo Sites

If you're a professional photographer, you may appreciate the more advanced site features at http://www.zenfolio.com/.

Even if you plan to create a more complex Web site, you may want to start with an online photo album.

Not only is this an easy way to share your photos on the Web, you can also link back to your own site, and add photos, like this Flickr badge to your site. (Learn more in our Share Photos section.)

Registering a domain name

No matter what kind of Web site you choose to build, you should definitely consider registering your own domain name to make your site easier to find and provide you with your own address.

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