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anonymous4a

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 6, 2012
471
3
Hi, I've been interesting in getting into basic web designing. What software is usually used ? I looked around but mainly found manuals. Is the software already installed in mac os ? I'm running mountain lion. I've heard of python and a few others but what's the most user friendly to start with ? But I'm also not looking to make a website that looks too childish..
 

Ap0ks

macrumors 6502
Aug 12, 2008
316
93
Cambridge, UK
Python is a scripting language used to make dynamic websites. If you are looking to create just regular static websites to begin with you'll want to learn HTML and CSS, the Web Fundamentals path over at Codecademy should help get you started.

As for software all you really need is a text editor for the basics, but there are a lot of applications that you could use, like:
Coda
Espresso
Sublime Text
TextWrangler
Espresso
Brackets
TextMate
Dreamweaver
and loads more...
 

SrWebDeveloper

macrumors 68000
Dec 7, 2007
1,871
3
Alexandria, VA, USA
I think these kind of tools would be beneficial as well for "designer" use:

Adobe Photoshop (graphics design, not free)
Any good browser color picker extension/plugin
Any good browser "web developer" extension/plugin for inspecting code/CSS
Google web fonts or any commercial-use fonts resource
Moqups or similar wireframing tool
960 grid layouts and boilerplates
Reset CSS

Either creating from scratch or working with popular open source CMS's such as Wordpress or Drupal, etc., these tools will come in handy to customize or create modules/plugins and theming.
 

theluggage

macrumors 604
Jul 29, 2011
7,463
7,286
Is the software already installed in mac os ? I'm running mountain lion.

You need a text editor and some graphics software for designing icons etc.

Google "install apache mountain lion" for details on how to get the built-in Apache web server running. However, its probably easier and quicker to install MAMP (http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html).

Text-editor-wise, the built-in TextEdit isn't really suitable. For the basics, you can't go far wrong with TextWrangler (free from the App Store). If you want more bells-and-whistles (such as automatic completion/templates/online help for HTML, CSS and Javascript, preview/debugging) others in this thread have already suggested apps like Coda and Espresso - which mostly cost money. If you want something along these lines for nothing check out https://netbeans.org.

Graphics wise - you don't have to run out and spend an arm and a leg on full Photoshop. Photoshop Elements will do nicely at a fraction of the cost, or Pixelmator (App Store - relatively inexpensive) will do the job for drawing icons. Pixelmator is far better-looking but I'd rate 'PS Elements' much more capable when it comes to format conversion, cropping, resampling etc.

Personally, though I much prefer a vector graphics package for icons & backgrounds - I use Xara Designer - which is absolutely brilliant apart from the minor problem that it is PC only & I run it under Parallels - yet to find anything comparable for OS X.

I've heard of python and a few others but what's the most user friendly to start with ? But I'm also not looking to make a website that looks too childish..

As noted by others, start with HTML and CSS - that's all you need for 'static' webpages.

Programming languages like Python run on the web server and generate custom pages - in particular, pages created with 'live' information from a database rather than from static html files, and... I'm going to annoy a lot of Python fans here... the language of choice for this is usually PHP. PHP is a horrible fugly programming language, but it was designed specifically for dynamic websites and comes with a huge library of really useful functions. More importantly - if you want to create a website that can be uploaded to commercial web hosting services - PHP is by far the most widely supported server-side language.

Data for dynamic websites is managed by a database on the server, and the situation here is similar: there are better databases than MySQL, but MySQL is the one supported by most web hosting services.

PHP and MySQL are included in the MAMP application.

As mentioned in another thread - if you want to create a dynamic site that can be edited and maintained by other people then, these days, it is more sensible to look at a Content Management System like Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress (and many others) than to try and roll your own in PHP. You'll still need HTML and CSS skills, though, if you want to customise the templates to make your site distinctive.

Increasingly important is Javascript - another programming language but this runs in the user's web browser and is used to improve interactivity, add animation etc. (anything from checking data on a web form before sending it to the server, to writing full-blown office apps and games). Safari, Firefox and Chrome have built-in javascript debugging).
 

geekrew

macrumors newbie
Aug 29, 2013
5
0
Adobe Photoshop
Any good browser color picker extension/plugin
Any good browser "web developer" extension/plugin for inspecting code/CSS
Espresso
Brackets
TextMate
Dreamweaver
these are software which can help you to learn good web design.
 

Anoopg

macrumors newbie
Sep 9, 2013
1
0
Melbourne
Here are the Mac apps for graphic and web designers

GIMP
Scribus
JAlbum
Paparazzi
Google SketchUp
Linotype Explorer
FotoFlexer
Seashore
Xee
Lego Digital Designer
Colorate
Front End Digital Media WorkShop
Autodesk Maya
Graphisoft ArchiCAD
Simple CSS
Blender
HyperEngine-AV
POV-Ray
Gnuplot
DAZ Studio
Bryce
Goldberg
Image Tricks
Inkscape
NIH Image
Comipro Plus
Scratch
iPhoto
Adobe Photoshop
Dreamweaver
 

evorc

macrumors 6502a
Aug 24, 2011
569
267
I recommend starting off with HTML and CSS like other said for static pages. There are plenty of tutorial out there.

If you want to go beyond that and develop cool dynamic pages, I recommend at lease try to learn the basic concepts of programming first. From there you can learn either PHP, JSP, or ASP.NET.
 

Caponey

macrumors newbie
Jun 24, 2013
26
0
Here are the Mac apps for graphic and web designers

GIMP
Scribus
JAlbum
Paparazzi
Google SketchUp
Linotype Explorer
FotoFlexer
Seashore
Xee
Lego Digital Designer
Colorate
Front End Digital Media WorkShop
Autodesk Maya
Graphisoft ArchiCAD
Simple CSS
Blender
HyperEngine-AV
POV-Ray
Gnuplot
DAZ Studio
Bryce
Goldberg
Image Tricks
Inkscape
NIH Image
Comipro Plus
Scratch
iPhoto
Adobe Photoshop
Dreamweaver

wow, that's a pretty big list lol
i'm gonna have to look some of those up :)

i will add Sketch, and Pixelmator, two very affordable apps that seem pretty close to rivaling Adobe. Speaking of, Fireworks is also a good option, but it's being written off by Adobe, sadly. Most FW users swear by it being the best for screen design, which it pretty much is. Something new is coming from a previous developer of FW at http://tribaloid.com. I'm excited to see what it is, and it's supposed to be open source.
 

solutionsplayer

macrumors newbie
Sep 12, 2013
1
0
Spanning components of web page design assistance in Pakistan

Solutions Player Web Design in Pakistan encompasses many different skills together with disciplines on the inside production together with maintenance linked to websites. “Photoshop” that is certainly for good reason because you should not be a web development company without accelerating to grips with the entire industry typical image manager. http://solutionsplayer.com/
 

trenthanover

macrumors newbie
Oct 4, 2013
29
0
Blender
HyperEngine-AV
POV-Ray
Gnuplot
DAZ Studio
Bryce
Goldberg
There are so many other s/w are also available also.
 
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