Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
chapter, you will learn how to develop screen designs that will be turned into
Web pages. When we open these pages in Macromedia Dreamweaver, we will
be able to an extensive Web functionality and integrate flash-based multimedia.
The main thrust of this chapter is to provide you with enough basic skills to get
your portfolio pages designed and exported using professional level tools.
Once you have completed the process, you'll be empowered to continue to
develop Web pages throughout your career. As a learning tool, the Web
portfolio makes you get involved with digital tools.
So far, we spent a lot of time working on paper. This is a good thing, because
otherwise there is a good chance that we might be highly confused when we
begin to use digital tools. Web portfolio design and Web design in general
cannot begin simply by using digital tools. As we have stressed in this text, there
must be conceptualization and content development. We need to have the ideas
and materials available, before we manipulate those using digital tools.
Digital Tools
Computers give us choices in applications and in workflow methods. We see
this in the sheer number of different companies that produce the same software.
You can use Microsoft Word or WordPerfect for word processing. Each yields
a text document, but the difference lies in the preference of you, the user. You
might think Word is easier or more intuitive. Or maybe you are used to
WordPerfect from a previous job, so you make it your tool of choice. The point
here is that there are many software packages available for Web design and
development. There are also many ways to approach designing Web pages on
a computer. The processes I will be demonstrating and using for the Web
portfolio design presented in this topic are used in professional design shops.
Most importantly, they are tools and techniques that I have used and taught
successfully. I am a designer, so I take a designer's approach more than that
of a programmers approach. That is not to say that we won't be doing Web
programming. We will be using JavaScript, ActionScript, and some basic
HTML to enhance functionality of our Web pages. On the design side, we will
use image editing software and Web optimization software for front end design.
I know this sounds very daunting, but it is a simple compact method for creating
impressive Web portfolio pages. As your learning grows, so will your confi-
dence.
