Hoping for 2D vs 1D

[djhg]

I'm a confident beginner already quite experienced using software for graphic design, illustration, CAD for Architecture, and cinema. It's time to create a website but before I dive in I would appreciate some help to choose a suitable path.

 

A string of tutorials I've watched as an intro to Dreamweaver identify editing HTML as the essential language / interface for web design. I wonder if there is an alternative which is to HTML as Desktop Publishing programmes are to Word Processors.

 

HTML-based layout of Web Design elements reminds me of attempting graphic design layout in Microsoft word, in that - from what I can tell - the user communicates with the programme in terms of stringing elements in order, constrained (or at least related) to a series of lines on the page, or according to their place in tables/grids - all of which might change position as the overall page is re-sized, but maintain a prescribed order. These constraints, in Word, enable typists to do graphic design. This creates pages designed to respond intelligently to changes in margins/page size while maintaining the order of objects in lines. (That's what I mean by "1D")

 

But web-pages don't have to shift their margins/page size often any more, do they? Don't they now load into a window which one must scroll around in or enlarge to see the entire thing in a fixed layout?

 

I'd prefer to layout a page the way a graphic designer uses a desktop publishing programme, which have a purely visual interface which enables quick drag-and-place of any elements to a fixed and precise position within a fixed page size (in pixels, i suppose) without any constraining pattern other than any I setup with guides - and text windows only wihtin which are the elements organized in a line/paragraph pattern. Code happens in the background; and unlike Word, an element isn't defined in terms of a consistent place in a line/paragraph pattern, but in terms of its absolute position on the XY axis of the page plane. (That's what I mean by '2D.') i've been expecting that - after inserting and creating and arranging objects in this familair and free way - to then be able to select them and assign them behaviour as links or buttons or other web attributes.

 

The string of tutorials I've been watching for the latest (CS5.5) Dreamweaver involve positioning elements by entering pixel dimensions into strings of code to space elements. I'm used to selecting something and nudging it into place by eye with a mouse drag or the arrow keys - an immediate visual-kinesthetic act with a quick feedback loop.

 

Am I missing an advantage to the word-processing/HTML method?

 

Do most Web design programmes - like the aparrent standard, Dreamweaver - enable the way of working I'm expecting?

 

Comments appreciated.

[falkencreative]

Unfortunately web design doesn't really work that way. Web design is based in HTML and CSS, and those languages have limitations. Elements on the page aren't arbitrarily positioned -- they are positioned based on on their relationship to other elements within the document and whatever CSS is assigned to them

 

You can use something like Dreamweaver to drag and drop elements into position -- at least to some extent -- but you'll quickly find that it leads to unexpected problems:

 

-- The code that Dreamweaver generates can be messy and difficult to edit in the future without Dreamweaver.

-- In many cases, dragging and dropping elements mean that you are using absolute positioning for everything, defining exact points on the page where the elements will appear, and it won't respond properly when a page is resized or if a visitor accesses the site with a different screen resolution (for example, elements may disappear off the edge of the page and there won't be any scroll bars within the browser for the user to scroll over and see all of the content).

-- This drag/drop method tends to have cross-browser issues (where the site displays differently in different browsers) that can require extensive debugging.

-- Also, the minute you start getting into anything past basic HTML and CSS, like working with PHP or Javascript, that's something that you almost have to hand code, since it often requires logic that Dreamweaver can't really figure out

 

In short -- web design unfortunately isn't quite the same thing as graphic design, and you can't really approach web design like you would graphic design. Graphic design is primarily visual, whereas web design is code/logic based, and both require a bit of a different mindset.