Wrong wrong wrong. XPress and InDesign are great page layout apps for *print* but I'd rather chew aluminium (or aluminum if you're American) than use either app to create webpages. Use Dreamweaver, GoLive or Freeway.
Just because an app has that feature, it doesn't make it right!
I'd say go for Freeway (www.softpress.com) - It's a truely WYSIWYG webdesign app. Make sure you check out the free action plugins and the FAST (Freeway Advanced Site Tools) pack.
Also, it'll work with Macromedia's Contribute very shortly too
Quark Xpress is horrible at creating web pages and I often wonder why they include it as a feature. You would be better off getting GoLive or Dreamweaver. I have never tried InDesigns export to HTML feature but I am sure that it is as horrible as Quark's.
When I built my own site I used both GoLive and Dreamweaver. To me GoLive appeals more to the design side of me but Dreamweaver seems to have a little more powerful tools.
BBedit is great if you can code HTML, but if the guy is asking if he can do this stuff in XPress, I suspect he's no coder (apologies if you are, Satchmo!) and needs a visual tool for laying out pages.
In order of ease of use for relative newbies, I'd suggest:
- Freeway (easiest)
- GoLive (friendly interface - but all the power under the hood)
- Dreamweaver (more or less the same power under the hood as GoLive, but slightly less friendly interface)
BBedit, though a simply amazing program, is beyond what was originally asked. Satchmo wants to do webdesign in a similar fashion to how Quark and InDesign work. In that case there is really only one option, and that's Freeway. It really does work quite like the above mentioned programs - that's what makes this Mac Only program so amazing.
I tried InDesign to output a few pages with complex layouts to HTML
Result: Absolutely horrible (you got to know HTML is not designed for fancy layouts). A lot of stuff are either misplaced or disappeared. And the result varies depending on what browser you use.
As for XPress. I don't know. But my friends who has version 5 told me it's worse than InDesign.
Learn CSS. Get CSSEdit, steal the CSS code from sites you like and tweak it to suit your needs. It makes layout of site easy and separates it from the content. That's the way it should be.
Learn CSS. Get CSSEdit, steal the CSS code from sites you like and tweak it to suit your needs. It makes layout of site easy and separates it from the content. That's the way it should be.
Though I am still not very good with CSS as I havn't use it at all just ready how to I will say that this is how you should do it. The web is a complex place and should have had stuff like this as the standard from the beginning.
Learn CSS. Get CSSEdit, steal the CSS code from sites you like and tweak it to suit your needs. It makes layout of site easy and separates it from the content. That's the way it should be.
I'm not interested in using InDesign or Quark's coding tools, but I do want to use their powerful layout tools for designing large sites. I am just wrapping up one done in Photoshop (now off to the development team), and looking down the business end of the next one.
It would be great to be able to make use of master pages and stylesheets in order to quickly implement global changes, to the nav system, for example.
Has anyone tried this? or have another suggestion?
Again, I have no intention of using eithernof these programs to create code -- only to handle large, multiple-template site designs.
I'm not interested in using InDesign or Quark's coding tools, but I do want to use their powerful layout tools for designing large sites. I am just wrapping up one done in Photoshop (now off to the development team), and looking down the business end of the next one.
It would be great to be able to make use of master pages and stylesheets in order to quickly implement global changes, to the nav system, for example.
Has anyone tried this? or have another suggestion?
Again, I have no intention of using eithernof these programs to create code -- only to handle large, multiple-template site designs.
Thanks
There's no reason why you couldn't use it for design, if you were just handing the design off to coders. Master pages , character styles, paragraph styles, etc. are very useful to have in a template.
There's no reason why you couldn't use it for design, if you were just handing the design off to coders. Master pages , character styles, paragraph styles, etc. are very useful to have in a template.
I would like to find others who are working this way. InDesign does not seem to allow for other than 300dpi viewing, and I would like to switch it to 72dpi.
Also, if anyone has other suggestions or recommendations about how to optimize InDesign (or Quark, for that matter) to use as a web design tool, I'd love to hear them.
Comments
Just because an app has that feature, it doesn't make it right!
That's not what it's for.
Worst. Idea. Ever.
*bonks head on desk*
M$Word tried to implement HTML saving as well... it blew chunks so badly,
Dreamweaver added a specific menu item called "Clean Up Word HTML"
GoLive still throws some proprietary tags into its code, but it's pretty simple to dump to from InDesign.
DW would be my recommendation (30-day trial downloads are available at macromedia).
Also, it'll work with Macromedia's Contribute very shortly too
ps. : support is amazing from these guys!!
Originally posted by othello
runs screaming from the room...
When I built my own site I used both GoLive and Dreamweaver. To me GoLive appeals more to the design side of me but Dreamweaver seems to have a little more powerful tools.
Originally posted by segovius
One word:
Bbedit
you mean BBedit?
sorry... 8)
In order of ease of use for relative newbies, I'd suggest:
- Freeway (easiest)
- GoLive (friendly interface - but all the power under the hood)
- Dreamweaver (more or less the same power under the hood as GoLive, but slightly less friendly interface)
Result: Absolutely horrible (you got to know HTML is not designed for fancy layouts). A lot of stuff are either misplaced or disappeared. And the result varies depending on what browser you use.
As for XPress. I don't know. But my friends who has version 5 told me it's worse than InDesign.
Originally posted by torifile
Learn CSS. Get CSSEdit, steal the CSS code from sites you like and tweak it to suit your needs. It makes layout of site easy and separates it from the content. That's the way it should be.
Though I am still not very good with CSS as I havn't use it at all just ready how to I will say that this is how you should do it. The web is a complex place and should have had stuff like this as the standard from the beginning.
Originally posted by torifile
Learn CSS. Get CSSEdit, steal the CSS code from sites you like and tweak it to suit your needs. It makes layout of site easy and separates it from the content. That's the way it should be.
Can you name any cool looking sites that use CSS?
Be careful with that kind of design, though, it doesn't work on IE for Windows very well.
Or click on the link in my sig. Same basic layout as the link above.
edit: Something I just noticed in CSSEdit: The selection color is the same color as the colors specified in the CSS you are editing.
It would be great to be able to make use of master pages and stylesheets in order to quickly implement global changes, to the nav system, for example.
Has anyone tried this? or have another suggestion?
Again, I have no intention of using eithernof these programs to create code -- only to handle large, multiple-template site designs.
Thanks
I'm not interested in using InDesign or Quark's coding tools, but I do want to use their powerful layout tools for designing large sites. I am just wrapping up one done in Photoshop (now off to the development team), and looking down the business end of the next one.
It would be great to be able to make use of master pages and stylesheets in order to quickly implement global changes, to the nav system, for example.
Has anyone tried this? or have another suggestion?
Again, I have no intention of using eithernof these programs to create code -- only to handle large, multiple-template site designs.
Thanks
There's no reason why you couldn't use it for design, if you were just handing the design off to coders. Master pages , character styles, paragraph styles, etc. are very useful to have in a template.
There's no reason why you couldn't use it for design, if you were just handing the design off to coders. Master pages , character styles, paragraph styles, etc. are very useful to have in a template.
I would like to find others who are working this way. InDesign does not seem to allow for other than 300dpi viewing, and I would like to switch it to 72dpi.
Also, if anyone has other suggestions or recommendations about how to optimize InDesign (or Quark, for that matter) to use as a web design tool, I'd love to hear them.
- P