Neverside

How to design a layout

I am curious as to how a layout is made. I know that sounds like a very general question, so let me provide some more details. What programs are typically used to design layouts? I see a lot of posts where ppl offer up their layouts as PSD files, so is the entire layout designed in Photoshop and then just posted to a website as a background image? I know the buttons would be separate images, but are any other parts of the layout separated and treated individually (ie. table heading decoration, etc.)? Are there any other important pieces I am missing?

Thanks for the help.

designs are usually made in photoshop or a similar graphics program, and then they are sliced into images, and then coded in html.

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Adam's right. Most people design in Photoshop, then move over to ImageReady where the whole layout is sliced into different images and the tables are automatically coded for you (to fit the sliced images) when you export for web.

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Quote:

Originally posted by JeffSquared
the whole layout is sliced into different images and the tables are automatically coded for you

You mention tables ... what if I don't want to use tables but want to try and position everything using CSS. Does the same process apply (ie. design in PS and slice in ImageReady)?

Sure, but you might need to modify a lot of the code. Check out the sourcecode behind places like CSS Zen Garden. Or, check out this sticky thread for a lot more great resources!

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Thanks for all the pointers folks.

And fredmv, I'm gonna have my work cut out for me reviewing all those links. Cheers.

Yeah, like Fred said....using CSS is going to take ALOT more work... I was working on a new design the other day... Had it looking good in IE, swapped over to mozilla to finish the process and it was still looking good... After hours with a caculator I was finally done .... Then I swapped back to IE and it looked like crap.... But fine in mozilla

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Yes... CSS is a lot of hard work, if you plan to replace tables using CSS positioning.

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Here's a link that might be pretty useful for your main question with regards to designing in ps.

Oh, and welcome to TF. Good luck with it