Website Structure

Hi
When you want to design a website, how will you construct it ?
Do you use softwares like photoshop and export all slices to tables or css divs ? or you create all them by coding ?
Do you always use header, footer,... in external files ? or other way ?
please describe how you will design a website ?
thnx

personally, i grab DW (dreamweaver) when an idea comes into my head,
I'll set out the layout and colours.
then create graphics (photoshop, fireworks or illustrator).
And chuck them in.
I then do the header first,
then the nav. Then chuck some ipsum in to fill content and top it off with a footer.
Then i have my basic HTML template.
Depending on whether it's dynamic or not decides the next step.
If i'm not doing a dynamic page (I usually do though with PHP), then I will just chuck in the content and copy and paste the layout across the pages.
otherwise, I will do confusing OOP PHP to create functions that will decide what part i will pull out and where.

I suggest that you use photoshop to design the actual look of the page. Dreamweaver works well to actually break up the page once you have the look that you want.

Good luck!!

Personally i start the with the basics (paper and pen!). Then if it isnt a complicated site, i go straight into coding then graphics after so they can just slot in nicely

I also use Dreamweaver, in code view only.

This is my process at the moment. I'm pretty new to much of this.

1. What is the purpose of the website? If it's my own project, can I make money from it? The potential for income determines how much effort I will put in.
2. What type of content? Roughly how many pages? What kind of structure?
3. Sketch on paper a simple page layout that will be suitable for my content, including appropriate navigation depending on site complexity.
4. Make a sample page with this layout, using HTML and CSS. No decorative graphics or other frippery yet.
5. Replace common elements (such as navbars) with includes, and add rough-draft content.
6. Copy this for the other main site pages/sections.
7. Begin work on graphics and colours. Possibly fiddle with photoshop mock-ups.
8. Add any extra stuff (scripting, etc.).
9. Fiddle fiddle fiddle, tweak tweak tweak.
10. Lots of work on content.
11. Fiddle tweak, tweak fiddle.
12. More content.
13. Even more content.

This process isn't rigid. I'll often be working on multiple stages at the same time.