New to HTML.. 2

[pmking]

I am trying to create a website for a Church. What I want to do is make it a 4-8 page website with basic information. I do not have frontpage, so I am doing this from scratch. Any help is greatly appreciated.

I can't find the terms that it would take for me to do this.. Terms meaning the buzz HTML words.

Question:

I want my index page to be centered inside a box. What I mean by this is, there are three layers to the index page, first layer from bottom up is the full browser screen, and this color is grey. The second layer form the bottom up is a box that is centered and will contain data. Third layer are boxes with data in them. Top Center of second layer box will have logo and intro. Left side of centered second layer box will be two boxes that will have data in them. Right side of second layer centered box will have two more boxes with data and link in them. For sample purposes, please visit music.msn.com do you see how this site is centered, that is what I want to do.

How do I center in HTML or PHP? And how do I put a box within the centered box?

I sure hope this question made sense, sorry for any confusion..

 

[Vragabond]

Check a website like this one:

http://tonyyoo.com/protolize/

You will found loads of tools, resources, tutorials, templates and more and you can be sure that (at least most of them) will be from reliable sources. If it is a quick and simple project I would suggest you use one of the free designs or templates found among the links on the site. If you want to do it all by yourself, then start reading articles in A List Apart for the best techniques on how to accomplish things.

 

[MacroAlan]

Hi pmking...

You might also find it useful to find web sites that you would like to emulate. Right click on them and choose View Source to see how their code is written.

I still use notepad half the time because I have more control. Just takes doing and changing.

Alan

 

[pmking]

Thank you Alan for your assistance.

I have tried to emulate a current websites "view source" and for some odd reason, my layout doesn't comeout to be exact.

So I thought that maybe because I see some css in the source that the css is the issue why I can't fully emulate the source from the existing website.

Do you know of a site that doesn't have css? Or is this even the issue why my version of the copied website is not centered on my browser??

Thanks.

 

[pmking]

Here is what I have so far.. ministryandmore.com

My issues are:

1. How do I make the spacing in the section that has the "This site is under construction" section smaller and the text on the left side isn't too close to the left border?

2. How do I move my links further up so it is maybe 2 spaces from the top border. This section that I am talking about is located where the links would be.

3. Also, I want to use smaller fancier font where the bilbe quote is on the banner area, and put a picture of the past on the right or left side of this.

Any ideas on how I can improve this and please help me resolve my issues stated above will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[MacroAlan]

Several suggestions:
[ol][li]Try not to use absolute dimensions for tables. Use a percentage wherever possible so that people with other resolutions see the site properly.[/li]
[li]I have a site. It does use a style sheet (all of mine do) but the code is pretty clean [

http://www.mophil.org/mopohissoc.htm

].[/li]
[li]The table section where you have the navigation, by setting valign="top" in the <TD> for that table.[/li]
[li]There is no need to tell people that the site is under construction. All websites are constantly under construction. That is emphasizing the obvious.[/li]
[li]If you set a fancy font that the user does not have, the browser attempts to find the closest match. Sometimes with surprising results. If you set a font, give it several choices separated by commas.[/li]
[li]If all else fails, give in to CSS and look at

http://webdev.barasch.com

[/li][/ol]

Alan

 

[Vragabond]

Hey look at me! I am invisible. (OP, please check the link I gave you. It will give you everything from tutorials to templates to complete designs).

Alan, your page looks miserable on FF2 and no one can read the text.

Besides, designing CSS driven websites has been the thing to do for about three years now. I think it is finally time to no longer use convoluted table designs.

 

[MacroAlan]

I stand corrected. Look at Vragabond's page and ignore my ugly pages.

Alan

 

[pmking]

Hey Invisible (Vagrabond),

Please realize that I did not igonore your link, 'I' personally did not find your link to be useful. I browsed the sites but could not find what I was looking for, thanks though.

As stated before, it is kind of hard to look something up if one is not sure of the meaning behind the words (example, I said to myself - I want to center my index.html page-- there, what do I look up for this?). And yes, I do look stuff up and try to figure things out.

But thought this forum would be a good bet to get a good start so I can get a good code example and such.

MacroAlan, your advise was very useful and I will follow your advise..

Vagrabond, I am looking up the ins and outs of css(ing).


Thanks MacroAlan and Invisible Vagrabond

 

[pmking]

Okay, After reviewing tonyyoo.com site I think I am getting an understanding of css.

One question though, a style sheet are the instructions of how a page will look, such as margins, fonts, color, background and such? Am I on the right track?

Can you please give me the steps of how one works with css, meaning what does one have to do to build one?

I am looking on the suggested link above, but I can't find a good starting point.

Thanks for all your help..

 

[ca8msm]

Try following some of the examples and walkthroughs from

http://www.w3schools.com/css/default.asp.

Once you've got a grasp of it, you can look back over the tonyyoo.com site and it should make more sense to you.


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[pmking]

Thanks to all of you for your input. I actually wiki'd css and now I have an understanding of the term and function of css.

I went to the tonyyoo.com site and wow, this site is awesome for templates and good examples.

I had a boinggggg, I get it now moment!!

Thanks to all of you.