HI

I am going to design website for my client for first time(I have done a magazine work for them earlier). I am newbie to webdesign and a Graphic Designer with very limited knowledge on Programming. This site is mainly an entertainment e0magazine site, which will be updated monthly. As some one said in the previous posts, I understand only with dreamweaver knowledge it is not possible to design a professional website. I have little knowldge on HTML, CSS, average knowledge on Dreamwaver and same for Flash. This site os going to be with 20% flash, 10% streaming video in the future and rest non-interactive pages. My client want me to create pages/upload all his clients ads as PDF files(almost 100 files).

My client is looking for something similar to te sites I listed below. My question is, can anyone tell me what application these sites used? I understand most of them in Flash and may be high level programming, but is it possible to design and deliver thie quality website with my limited programming knowledge? I dont want to do entire flash site. At the same time, I want to deliver professional website. I am a fast leaner, but deep programming is out of my learning range at this point. With my designing background and little knowledge on HTML and CSS, is it possible to design these kind of sites, if yes what kind of application do I need to use to deliver it professionally.

One more question, As i said 20% flash, and with almost 25 pages along with home page and almpst 100 PDF file links and files, can anyone tell me how long on an average this project will take?(I know lot of reserch need to be done by my side and with my limited knowledge I understand it may even take twice the time of average, but since I am designing it for first time, and I hope most of you guys might be in this position earlier in your career and same for Pricing. I have no knowledge what range shud I charge my client, I understand mst of you charge hourly base, but in my case, I can't do that. How to charge a flat rate? Charging Per page? Since most of the heavy work will be in Home page, how do I do it? Sorry for the lengthy email, I have read previous posts and all your informations are really helpful and any suggestion/ information will help me at this point. Thanks a lot!

fat-joe.com
mtv.com
bustarhymes.com/
westcoastcustoms.com/Home/Pages/index.htm
aetv.com/growing_up_gotti/index.jsp
disbealig.com/
bet.com/

Thanks a Lot!

Hello ras5

Sounds like you have a reasonable project there to cut your first teeth on. Have you considered using a HQ template? This would be one option which would do a lot of the 'Donkey Work' for you and could also help with your learning curve and with a little creative flare they can soon be made to look a little more unique. I would not recommend them for all but seeing how this is your first project it may help, even if you only use certain elements of it.

You may well want to consider looking at some sort of content management or directory software to make managing the PDF files more easier.

As for pricing all I can say is don't sell yourself to cheaply.

Have fun and good luck to you,

Keith

amazing...

I would recommend you get some help since it's your first real job in designing a web site and a huge one, having no knowledge and experience whatsoever will definitely be a disaster in my opinion.

The rates or flat rate that you mentioned depends on your locality and the best person would be the designer working in your area who will be able to quote you for the finished work and the time frame to complete it.

There's no short-cut or just using some WYSIWYG program to do the job that I can think of so you have no other choice but to get someone with experience to help with this project.

if it were my job i would knock a website like that out using adobe photoshop, macromedia flash, and notepad. not a very cheap combination of software (well notepad is free sort of) you can download trial versions of these i beleive.

but after getting the needed software youll need to learn how to use it. which takes a long time. i been using flash for about 5 years and i can use it at an advanced level, photoshop i been using about 1-2 years im can only use a small bit of its capablities. i used it to make my website but my friend drew it out for me and i just used photoshop to splice it up and then modified it in notepad so i could fit the content in accordingly

you will probally need lots of help

if you catch me on one of my nothing to do days on instant messanger id be happy to throw you some tips and hints and things