32 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
  • |
So im looking for some reviews on some really exceptional web design tools. To give so back ground on myself I went to school for marketing but also got a certificate in web design. So i am well versed in html, css, php and the like. But now im looking for a tool that will help me to creat very professional looking websites for my clients that want something more then your basic html or wordpress site.

I have artisteer 3.0 (mostly for wordpress design) and dreamweaver.

Im a very quick learner so there really shouldn't be anything out there that would be to complex for me.

And other suggestions?
#design #tools #web
  • Profile picture of the author dowho
    If you have the skills use geany, notepad++ or something similar. IDEs like dreamweaver make messy code that can be a real nightmare to hand edit. With how fast new versions of browsers are coming out, those IDEs are perpetually out of date.

    You don't want to be stuck waiting for a software update so you can update the site when a new version of one of the big browsers comes out.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6495558].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Emil from Bavaria
    Photoshop because there are many shapes, actions etc. available on the net for cheap, also tutorials.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6495947].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author IMFury
    Either Photoshop or Fireworks + any decent editor such as Notepad++
    Signature
    Submit Your SEO & Internet Marketing Articles Now! (DoFollow Links)

    The Ultimate Compilation of SEO Tips, Link Building Strategies & Internet Marketing Resources
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6496196].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author addyy
    I think Adobe photoshop is best designing tool with many great options.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6496800].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author swagatham
      Banned
      [DELETED]
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6580932].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author ronc0011
        Just like anything you plan to do professionally you have to be prepared to spend thee money for your tools. If you are going to be a carpenter you are going to spend a few hundred dollars on nail guns and saws and compressor etc. It's just a fact of life accept it , get the money and buy the tools. If you are going to do web design you need a good computer and a couple of software titles i.e. Dreamweaver and Photoshop One thing i would definitely recommend is looking into the academic versions of the software. Check out Academic Superstore. If you are a student or if you just know a student you can qualify for the student pricing. This means you can get your software at significantly reduced pricing. I'm running Adobe Production Studio CS3 that I got for $450 it came with a whole suite of applications and I'm getting ready to buy Adobe Web Premium CS6 for $450.

        There are a lot of things you can get for free on the internet but your professional tools shouldn't be one of the things you cheap on. Spend the money and get the proper tools.
        BTW, also spend the money and get a decent antivirus don't invest $1000 in software and machine just to let viruses and malware trash it for you. I mean really $50 will get you a top rate antivirus like Trend Micro. Your professional tools is not the place to go cheap on.

        BTW, also spend the money and get a decent antivirus don't invest $1000 in software and machine just to let viruses and malware trash it for you. I mean really $50 will get you a top rate antivirus like Trend Micro. Your professional tools is not the place to go cheap on.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6581690].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author ronc0011
          Oh and I would have to second the .net /c# suggestion. Check out ASP.Net for tons and tons of free video tutorials on developing with ASP / .net and C#. Pay attention to a lot of the big corporate web sites like Exxon and other such sites these companies are running multinational networks with intranet / internet webservers and they're running ASP on a .net platform. If you can develope .net /SharePoint site you are talking well into the 6 figure income brackets
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6581694].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rontheitguy
    You can do quite a bit with Wordpress, Artisteer and Photoshop. Those are my main tools!
    Signature

    "Do, or do not. There is no try."
    The Wisdom of Yoda
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6496866].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Niks24
    adobe photoshop is the best tool for designing.
    Signature
    Served Over 100 customers and there needs with Web and Mobile Apps Development, if you are looking for one please connect with me with good turnaround.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6497511].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ronc0011
    I think if you are wanting to create web sites that are above and beyond what is readily available on the internet you might explore .NET / ASP If you adapted easily to PHP you will likely be able to grasp ASP and C#

    You might like to run through some of the video tutorials at ASP.net especially the ones working with SQL databases. Very, very cool stuff. Not only that but Sharepoint is built on ASP and there is major money building sharepoint sites for companies. Do a search on Monster.com for Sharepoint. A lot of your big corporate websites are ASP.

    All that being said, there are definite advantages to working with PHP and Wordpress mostly the fact that there is so much support for Wordpress tons of stuff that you'll never have to write because someone has already written one.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6499195].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author ericfox
    I have been designing websites since that time, there have literally been numerous web design tools introduced each year,I will discuss how to find the right web design tools for your needs.So define your specific needs first,determine your skill and commitment level,set a reasonable budget, and don't be a freebie hunter,set a reasonable budget, and don't be a freebie hunter.From my side The best tools for professionals: Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop,The best web design tool for non-professionals: WebWizard,The best tool for creating a blog site: Wordpress
    Signature

    We are experts in BigCommerce Custom Design, Template Customization and SEO

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6503786].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author antac
    Banned
    Adobe Photoshop is a very popular commercial graphics editor available for the Mac and Windows operating system.
    Created for professional photographers and designers, it is the ideal application for manipulating images and creating web graphics.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6532952].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Mattds
    Ok, if you are hand coding your website then it shouldn't matter what tool you use. For example notepad is fine. However if you spend a lot of time coding then a tool that offers highlighting, code completion and many other useful time saving features is a vital tool.

    I use Dreamweaver CS5, but i have only recently got this as it's very expensive. Before i got it i tried many editors, one of my favourite and one i still use for quick editing is Notepad++.

    For graphics i reccomend either Adobe Photoshop if your budget can stretch that far or Adobe illustrator + fireworks. There are many other graphic creation tools as you probably know, so whetever you are comfortable using should be fine.

    For backend deveopment there are also tools you can use that offer different benefits. Netbeans being one of them. To be honest i've not used many of these so i cant really compare it with anything else.

    And finally if you are coding in PHP, Perl, RoR etc you will need a local development app so you can see your site working. (I believe you can set one up on dreamweaver but have never tried this.) I use XAMMP but have also used WAMP so its totaly up to you.

    I wish you success

    Matt
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6535609].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jicon
    There are many applications available to our disposal, but there are some that just stand out from the crowd. The tools in this article are what’s regarded as the most popular tools used for web design. Adobe Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop is a very popular commercial graphics editor available for the Mac and Windows operating system. Created for professional photographers and designers.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6540121].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author webdesigenusa
      There are so many web design tool availeble but adobe photoshop is trusted web design tool of the world. In this way you can crerate attreactive web page through this tool.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6563167].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author jer000
    think Artisteer and Photoshop are best.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6563204].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Cameonouveau
    Some Webdesign Tools Are :-
    1. The 1140px CSS Grid
    2. Responds.js
    3. Skeleton
    4. Responsive Plugin
    5. Adobe Shadow

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6579819].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author mylime
    Hi, I'm a website and graphic designer and I agree with the people that said Photoshop. I use to have Artisteer and I really did not like the way the code was set up, it was too messy. If for some reason you cant get Photoshop because of the price I may be able to help you. PM me and I will let you know how. :-)
    If you can get Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks, and Illustrator that's where the money is. If you dont know how to use it they have Great tutorials out there that will teach you how to use the many different tools they offer.

    Good luck on your search
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6579935].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Carl Potts
      Analysing uk web design vacancies Photoshop appears to be the 'must have' skill
      its a lot easier to knock up a quick design on paper then port it to Photoshop/PSD
      once you have the Photoshop file with your design there is software to convert PSD to CSS/HTML. If you learn Photoshop, HTML,CSS you are well equipped for a career in web design

      I personally use Notetab & Topstyle for HTML/CSS respectively
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6580260].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author John Ayling
    Take some time to checkout ASP.NET C# and MVC at Home : Official Microsoft Site if you want to build large commercial sites.
    Signature
    Software Marketing & Licensing System for WordPress Plugins, Themes & .NET Software
    >> 72 Hour Special <<
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6580711].message }}
  • {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6582893].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Dreamer99
      I see here mostly Microsoft admirers. How about BBEdit? It is so simple program to learn and work with. It is not so expensive as Dreamweaver. However, it works for me creating websites. Yes, I use Mac.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6626578].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author princysharma1990
        Banned
        [DELETED]
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6629388].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author yuccarichard
          - photoshop, any version will do, started with v4 myself
          - text editor, any will do
          - firebug
          - also CSS grids are very handy
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6629736].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author nolanjayce5
      Originally Posted by Evocess View Post

      I will highly suggest photoshop and dreamweaver.
      can you tell me which which version of Photoshop should I need?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6636809].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DanielDuffo
    Hello.
    If you will be have nice lvl, photoshop will be enough for you
    I mean for make really professional design.
    Good luck )
    Signature

    Fidelity Media Brand Safe Remnant Traffic Network
    www.fidelity-media.com
    Email:info@fidelity-media.com

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6629854].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author annife polak
    Hi,

    notepad++ is definitely great tool to start with...and its free

    Cheers!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6636068].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author anna14
    Adobe Photoshop and Dreamweaver are best tools for web design
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6636507].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Brain and talent - the rest is just technicality
    If you don't have those two... all the fancy gizmos are useless.
    Signature

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6636823].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author TopicSpan
    I would like to second the Dreamweaver suggestion. I see someone said that it produces messy code? This isn't 2001, Dreamweaver has produced insanely minimalist, clean, strict code for several years. Dreamweaver has a massive community behind it, too, so you can't go wrong with edge features (eg. CSS media queries) and you can avoid coding by hand.

    That is not to say that you should not have an excellent understanding of the inner workings of HTML and CSS, but you should not need to code by hand unless necessary. Where you do need to dig around in the innards of a site and don't want DW running, the text editors previously recommended (BBEdit on OS X, Notepad++ on Windows) are excellent, excellent tools.
    Signature
    Don't lose users!
    Grab our full-page UltraCache system that instantly speeds up any PHP website!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6636851].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author gillederman
    Adobe Photoshop is the best tool design websites.
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6637565].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author ronc0011
      Actually Photoshop is a good tool for drawing pictures of web pages it is going to do nothing for actually building a working or functioning website in other words if you want your website to do things like retrieve information or interact with a database. Photoshop doesn't do that. That is not what Photoshop was designed to do.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6637743].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author TopicSpan
        Originally Posted by ronc0011 View Post

        Actually Photoshop is a good tool for drawing pictures of web pages it is going to do nothing for actually building a working or functioning website in other words if you want your website to do things like retrieve information or interact with a database. Photoshop doesn't do that. That is not what Photoshop was designed to do.
        Exactly!! I don't know why everyone keeps talking about Photoshop in this context. I suppose you could, in theory, import a PSD into DreamWeaver, but that seems like a really round-about way of doing web design.
        Signature
        Don't lose users!
        Grab our full-page UltraCache system that instantly speeds up any PHP website!
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6644288].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author taylorchristina
    Web designing tools are photoshop, Coral draw, dream weaver etc.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[6646234].message }}

Trending Topics