

Ask HN: How do you design websites? - lukeqsee

Here's how I design websites: http://twitter.com/#!/lukeqsee/status/28807917273<p>After using pen and paper to design several ideas, I'll put that into basic HTML markup, and get it functioning with jQuery. Doing that allows me to see if the interface is plausible and workable. Only after having most of the working HTML do I add any sort of graphic design. (I'm a horrible graphic designer anyways.)<p>What methods do you use to get from brain to product design? Start with a snazzy graphic design? Start coding and figure the design will come eventually? Use pen and paper? Tear up photoshop? HTML &#38; CSS? All of the above?<p>We love to learn from each other's methods. Tell us your way. I'm sure it's the best. ;)
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madhouse
While I'm quite terrible at design (I'm a coder, if anything at all), when I
do end up designing websites, the first step is sitting back and figuring out
what I really want: what kind of content will go there, who's the expected
audience, what are my priorities (display speed, download size, bling, you
name it).

Once I have that down, it's a lot easier to figure out a design. It's either
pen & paper, but I can't recall the last time I actually drew a design on
paper (I'm even worse at hand drawing than I am at design), or I fire up a
tool I can make a mockup with: gimp, inkscape, dia - either works, and it
depends on how detailed or how quick I want the mockup.

Once that's done, I convert it into HTML + CSS, and sprinkle it with
javascript magic if so need be.

Meanwhile, since I do design iterations in bursts, more than likely, I will
have the backend code ready aswell, and I will only need to convert the mockup
to a template, and done.

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byoung2
One thing I used to obsess over when I did freelance web design was getting
the design perfect. Every site had to be a work of art...just the right size
buttons, just the right radius on the round corners, just the right opacity
for a drop shadow. Then I realized that for the most part, users don't care.
If they did, there wouldn't be so many people using Internet Explorer. And the
search engines really don't care (...yet). More important than having a pretty
design is having useful and relevant content.

Now that I realize that, I take a utilitarian approach to design. As long as
the design is clean and the information is presented logically, I don't really
stress over design. These days I use a lot of templates from ThemeForest.net,
or quickie templates my team in the Philippines can do in about 3 hours for
about $12.

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jenn
When designing something from scratch, my process goes from a bit of sketch on
graph paper to a Photoshop mockup. I'll let that stew for a day or so and
tweak it here and there, maybe share with some friends for feedback, and then
start coding it. I generally put all of the main elements into a structure and
use FireBug to push things around to where I like them!

For redesigns of existing sites, it's more an exercise of rearranging elements
that are already there so I -may- go into Photoshop and see what I come up
with or I might just go straight into FireBug and move things around to get a
general sense of where I want to go with it. This is especially helpful for
proposing (quick) design changes to a client.

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tgrass
I'm a newbie and have been designing from the code up. I'm starting to design
pages now from a blank sheet with red pen and I agree with you, it seems to
allow for more options.

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RDDavies
I try to do everything at once. It doesn't end well, so there should be plenty
I can learn from in here.

