| About this site | Web Authoring Tips |
How this site was made—technical info.
Creating this particular page is somewhat self-indulgent. But I've had so much fun designing this site and coming up with solutions for particular technical problems, so I feel the need to babble about it. Plus I'd like to give a bit of general advice on web authoring. (I do tend to like to ramble about such things!)
The primary piece of software used for designing this site was Dreamweaver 8. I've been a Dreamweaver girl since 2000, and cannot imagine using anything else! I recently upgraded to this version, and am thrilled by all the new features and improvements (especially in handling of CSS). I'm using the Mac version and it's quite stable.
Dreamweaver may seem like it's a little too high-end or pricey, but now it's now possible to upgrade from a very old version—even back to the first version of Dreamweaver! (This was not the case before Macromedia—the company which makes Dreamweaver—was bought out by Adobe.) A good way to save money on Dreamweaver is to look for an old version selling for cheap (eBay is a good place for this) and then use it as an upgrade path. Just make sure that the old version you buy is legit and not a bootleg, and have ownership/registration of the software officially transferred over to you.
Raw code was edited with BBEdit 6.5. (Mac-only software.) When I'm on the PC l tend to use HomeSite 5.5 or Editpad Lite.
All graphics were made with Photoshop CS2. I love this incarnation of Photoshop, but to be honest, most versions of Photoshop (going all the way back to version 6) would have sufficed in the making this site's graphics. (However, some of the additional filters that ship with CS2 are quite addictive—particularly the new sharpen and blur filters!)
Some of the interactive parts of the site were made possible through the use of free scripts found on sites such as HotScripts.com. Developers are often happy to give away these scripts to other webmasters, sometimes in exchange for a link back to their site or some other form of credit or promotion. Currently FoolishPassion.com is using all PHP-based scripts—a feedback form, an interactive quiz, poll, guest book, and an eCards system. PHP is a very popular scripting language, and most web hosts support it.
The reason that it was decided to go with scripts (which could be used locally on the site, instead of being "farmed out" to third party services) is because these features could be customized and tweaked in appearance and content and would match the rest of the site. Plus, when it's possible, it's preferable to have control over all the pages on the site, rather than depending on an outside source.
There are a lot of things to learn when it comes to web design. I've been making sites since 1998, and I'm constantly amazed at how much I still don't know! But fortunately, it's possible to make a servicable site without being a web design wizard.
| About this site | Web Authoring Tips |
