DH Templates

Web designers, most advisable ways to make templates?

i'm fairly new to web design. i'm not too big on pre-made templates, if you know what i mean, and would rather make unique templates. so, what's the best way to create one? such as using CSS code, or using a software, or customizing a template by editing the CSS code? also, which tags are most important when creating templates from scratch in CSS? Thanks

Public Comments

1. Use css stylesheets and html tags that will always divide your page into the same sections, with a central content <div> element. customize to your liking and then save them as template.html and template.css, always tremember to inclde the styles in the html files. and put what you want on the page in the content section. Hope it helped, ~blam!
2. css is the best way to go, the code goes more smoothly and if you make a change to css it will change it on all your pages for that site, so you don't have to go in individually. i'm graduating with a degree in multimedia so i'm earning my living from web design if you need any help let me know. hope this helps Merry Christmas
3. The best way to create unique templates while you are still learning is by utilising a solid HTML (preferably XHMTL) base and playing with the presentation elements (CSS). As long as the X/HTML is well-written you should be able to style the design to almost anything you like. The YUI Grid Builder is a good starting point: http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/grids/builder/ Another useful resource is Layout Gala, where you can download any or all 40 layouts and style these for your own unique design. http://blog.html.it/layoutgala/ Working from pre-made X/HTML layouts is a fast way of honing your skills and reduces the learning curve when you are new to web design.
4. The best way to make a template is to use include files around the editable regions. http://www.dougv.com/blog/2008/09/13/better-managing-your-php-application-via-modularization-and-abstraction/ Adobe's Dreamweaver will create "templates" that have regions you can specifically indicate as editable. They also create a product named Contribute that will work with such templates, and which can only edit the regions you mark as editable. You may find that easier to work because you'll be able to see the entire page in the WYSIWYG editor, while an include file system will not show you the page as it will appear. However, any text editor or other WYSIWYG editor can easily bypass these "template" restrictions.