DH Templates

General Site Development Question?

I downloaded a Free Template for a site (to look at as an example) and I found some interesting things you can maybe help me with. I usually design the site in Dreamweaver, with minimal css like with toolbars or something. when i downloaded the site though, it came with a CSS and a .PSD file. My first question is, whats the .psd for? did they design the site in it? how was it used? also, I looked at the example site which looks great. I took out the CSS, and it looks COMPLETELY BARE. I add the CSS, and it looks Great Again. Are most sites designed/layed out in CSS? It seems so much better. When i usually design mine, i get Spacers like friggen hell. Any tips you can share on how YOU or are supposed to design the look of a site? I'm a rookie, looking for all the help i can get. Share your knowledge! ^_^ Cheers, i really appreciate your input mates!! HOw do they layout a website in Photoshop? (i use it in school, so i can try it)

Public Comments

1. the .psd file is a Photoshop file. It is probably the program they used to layout the design. That is very common. CSS, by nature, is the styling of the page. Thus its name "Cascading Style Sheet". It contains all of the "styling" of containers, text, colors, etc. If you turn off CSS on any site that uses it correctly, you will find a white page with bulleted lists and text, most likely in Times font. That is what the page looks like with just (x)html coding. If it is coded correctly, the page should follow a simple hierarchy. Everything else you see when CSS is turned on, is done using, well, CSS.
2. HTML is content - words, pictures, etc. CSS is layout - position, size, color. Read a few CSS tutorials (there are loads of them on the net) and look through http://positioniseverything.net/ lots of nice CSS stuff.