i'm getting back into web design since being on hiatus (for over 5 years LOL)
when i used to code, the left navs and headers were built using frames, so that you only needed to code in one place and they showed up everywhere...but i'm aware of the limitations of frames through searches and i don't like the way it looks.

so is css the way to go now? can you create the same left nav and headers using css method?

what about dynamic navs? many sites have dynamic navs where once you enter a subpage, the left nav changes slightly.....can you still use css somehow or do you have to code each page individually to have their own left nav?

thanks!

4/12/2007 4:57:48 PM

http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp

[Edited on April 12, 2007 at 5:01 PM. Reason : http://www.php.net/]

4/12/2007 5:01:31 PM

http://www.csszengarden.com/

4/12/2007 5:01:54 PM

you're misinformed in what CSS can do for you. It is not at all a replacement for frames, in the sense that you used them.

To create headers, footers, menus and common areas of a site, there are a couple ways.
1) use a program like Dreamweaver and take advantage of its template and library systems. Dreamweaver templates allow you to create a basic structure with all the common areas (header, navigation). Then you create pages based on the template that are managed in DW, and for the most part, the pages end up just being static HTML pages. Then when you update the template, DW will automatically update all the pages for you. This does not scale incredibly well, because if you end up with a huge site and DW has to update 100s of pages everytime you make a change to a template, you still have to re-upload each changed page to the server. DW can also handle sub-templates (or templates based on templates) so you can create sub-menus and navigation and stuff.

2) the more popular and efficient method now is to use dynamic technologies like PHP, ASP, JSP, etc. Let's just take PHP, for example. You would create, for example, a header.php file that you put all your header stuff in.
Then each file that uses the header (like index.php), you just have to put a statement like
<?php include("header.php"); ?>
then when index.php is called, the webserver parses the file and includes the header file before sending index out to the browser. This is very nice because all you have to do is update header.php and all the pages that include that file are more-or-less updated automatically for you.
PHP and templating systems like this are what all the major Content Management Systems are based on today.


---
having said all that, CSS plays a critical role also. you need to learn it and figure out how it can be used. But just keep in mind that CSS dictates how data is laid out and formatted and presented. CSS does not actually contain any website data (i.e. you use CSS to make your menus and navigation look nice and function well, but CSS does not actually contain the menus)

[Edited on April 12, 2007 at 5:09 PM. Reason : .]

4/12/2007 5:07:05 PM

Quote :

"use a program like Dreamweaver and take advantage of its template and library systems"

4/12/2007 5:07:59 PM

^ that was one of 2 methods i suggested. It's certainly viable, and will work on many small and medium sized projects.

4/12/2007 5:10:40 PM

1. i have been playing with DW and i hate it.....i can't even do simple stuff like make tables look right......it's way overly complicated.....i like resorting back to coding by hand than relying on mercy of tools

2. yeah php seems powerful, i've played around with that and including header and footer files...haven't tried to incorporate a left nav though...but i like php approach

but lets say i create leftnav.php and call it in index.php so the leftnav appears in every page that it's called, but does this restrict the contents of leftnav to be static?

meaning, what if i want a dynamic left nav, in the sense that say:

leftnav
- my jobs
- my hobbies
- my family

and when someone clicks on my hobbies, hobbies.php loads and leftnav becomes
leftnav
- my jobs
- my hobbies
(indent) - tennis
(indent) - basketball
(indent) - swimming
- my family

or maybe i want a totally different leftnav tailored to just hobbies

i guess i could create multiple leftnav1 leftnav2 and call whichever one i need? but still able to reuse them when possible?

[Edited on April 12, 2007 at 5:42 PM. Reason : can't do subbullet]

4/12/2007 5:41:30 PM

haha, are you serious?? Coding all the html by hand??

Sure hope you are only talking about 1 page websites... Otherwise, the work you are doing is only worth like 20 cents per hour ... because you can get someone from india or asia to do it much more efficiently and much better for about $1.50 per hour....

I have 5 of them working for me, and I would never do html work by hand unless for some reason I really liked coding html by hand

Really, take the few minutes it takes to learn DW, and maybe taking a tutorial or something online would be worth your while.

4/12/2007 8:27:37 PM

"India or Asia" is like saying "Raleigh or North Carolina"

4/12/2007 8:43:26 PM

coding by hand so...1. i can learn how to do 2. i have full control and understand how things work....

and can i borrow some of your indians...where do you find them from.lol.

4/12/2007 10:23:18 PM

if you using php includes, coding by hand really isn't all that bad

Quote :

"to do it much more efficiently and much better"

depends on who's coding, obviously some are better with code than others.

personally i don't trust my code to outsourcing or DW, unless i create the template by hand

[Edited on April 12, 2007 at 10:31 PM. Reason : ]

4/12/2007 10:28:42 PM

the advantage (or one advantage) of using DW is that it makes it quick and easy to set up a basic structure. Then you can always go back and adjust anythign you want by hand. I keep DW set on Split screen view basically all the time (well, when i'm not in Code view), so you can always see what's going on. Unlike other website creation tools, DW produces generally clean code, at least clean enough you can easily update by hand.

You generally do need to code all the CSS by hand and you can use DW to apply styles to elements (i.e. don't attempt to format text or divs or whatever inside DW and allow it to create the syltes for you - those will be a mess)

4/12/2007 10:42:21 PM