professional CSS - amateur CSS - PAGES

[RobertPS]

Hello, first of, i'm new here.. i was reading a couple of articles on CSS and all. and i find it really hard to follow people who desin their pages graphically like pro's do (zengarden) just to name one. so u use divs instead of tables. that's all cleared and old news, but i dont understand the whole concept. like how can one create so nice looking pages. i have been creating pages html for over 5 years now, and i have NO idea how to get there, seriously. like do these nice graphical css pages get created with photoshop (sliced and saved) and put together in html and u just place the text wherever u want it (if you look at adobe photoshop) you might see a similarity there.. i'm talking about.. do they create and slice everything in adobe photoshop, put it together with html. and just place the text over it (like this adobe layer concept) or how is that. if somebody can explain this to me, i dont know what to say..seriously.

i see this html,css,adobe photoshop combination as layers.

1.) u create and slice everything with photoshop
2.) put the pictures all together:
- and put them as background picture
3.) and just place your text on it with css (wherever u want it)

see what i'm trying to explain is real simple.. i just dont know if i really picked up the concept right, i have been reading books and everything. but this question has been a mystery...hopefully it will end here. thanks a lot in advance :)

[nigassma]

I'm not quite following you but I think what you are asking is this:

Does CSS just handle the layout property of the page? Is all of the image editing done in Photoshop and then imported into a webpage?

CSS allows you to position anything anywhere on your page. If the HTML is the meat of a meal at a world class restaraunt then CSS is the tools and spices used to create the meal and the Designer is the chef. Photshop would just be the extra sprig of parsley.

You don't necessarily need Photshop to create bautiful websites (but it's nice). Images are just images though, you don't want to rely on them for the complete background of your webpage.

That's another thing CSS is for. If the background-color of your website is #ebebeb then you can lay anything on top of that. CSS is very flexible.

[scottmack]

The CSS layouts are pretty much combinations of square and rectanglar boxes where text and graphics are placed. You can sketch an idea out on paper or design it on the computer.
I don't think they use much slicing of images; a lot of images are used as backgrounds.

I have the contrary view of Zen Garden. I'm more impressed with the graphics - they all look great.

[RobertPS]

okay thanks for both your replies...

wow..i'm impressed reading this.
and do those kind of designer, align every single "lets say 'newsboxes'" or whatever they have on the page, individually?

like some boxes are designed so nice..i cant explain, u have to see them :)

thanks again :)

[scottmack]

I would guess they spend a lot of time tweaking the layout- trying different pixel amounts here and there.
After a while, you learn what works for you and use that layout or design.

[Stooshie]

I spend quite a lot of time looking at the code behind some of the designs on csszg. It can be really useful. The great thing is they let you download the css files for every design.

Sometimes you don't have to specify every pixel for every box, particularly if you are using relative positioning.

Anyway, go to some of the designs you like on csszg and download that stylesheet. You will learn a lot.

Best regards,

Andrew.