A home page for my baby?

[nupe]

Dear Friends:

I have been working on developing a home page of my own featuring my baby. I have seen Neve and Tristan's site and I think it is wonderful. I think I read on the board that Neve modeled it after another baby's home page.

I have been going through the help section of MS FrontPage (I think I have 2000 version) trying to learn how to do this.

Any comments or suggestions on making the process easier? I need help in formatting pages. Also, I am having a hard time trying to figure out how to scale my digital photos to a smaller format but still retain sharpness. I understand how to save files/pics to my server and also how to publish.

Neve, if you see this, I would especially appreciate any comments from you for web site design.

Thanks,
Nupe

[durga8]

hi nupe, there are some great wyswyg editors that can help you build homepages like Dreamweaver. i am not familiar with MS front page since i use most Mac based applications, though even a simple text editor can do the job, if you can write simple html. html is really pretty simple, and you can either find some online tutorials or get a book that can teach you the basics on laying out a page.

here is a free html tutorial course online http://www.e-learningcenter.com/free_html_course.htm. says it takes 5 hrs...can't vouch for it, if you use it...let me know what you think.

also if there are website's you like, you can check out the source code by doing view source using the view menu of your app.

to get started you'd probably want to plan your site on paper. i usually architect a site with its different levels, plan the navigation bar, gather all the graphics/text that i wan to use. photoshop is a great app. that will let you scale your graphics, create new ones, optimize them... though it is quite pricey, so there may be other apps. someone else can recommend. your photographs have to be compressed as jpgs or gifs. in most cases for continuous tone photos, jpgs work the best. gifs provide good compression for line graphics. you really want to keep your total page size down to 60k or less, so the page doesn't take forever to download on slower connections.

this should help get you started. let me know if you have any more Q's!

[nupe]

Dear Durga:

Thanks for those tips. I took a look at the course--I don't know if I will find 5 hours for it. I had read a section on www.photo.net by P Greenspun about authoring a web site. I have photoshop 5.5 which as I recall should be able to scale down my pics--I will have to read more about appropriate sizing for web images in jpg, as you suggest.

Thanks!

Nupe

[wookiewoo]

A quick and easy tip that I can give you for FrontPage...
After you instert a picture into your page, there is a toolbar that will give you some options to work with the picture once you have clicked on it in the page. One nice option is the auto-thumbnail feature.
I used the auto-thumbnail button and had nothing but pictures with my first site I tried making after I got married. Everyone loved the site because they got to see pictures and I loved it b/c it was quick and easy to do. We have family overseas and maybe that's why they liked just having pictures? Anyhow, HTH

Heather

[nupe]

Heather:

So that is how I can make thumbnails! I never noticed this toolbar since it was already at the bottom of the screen.

All this time I was stuck in Adobe "automate web photo gallery" and trying to figure out how to save this to server rather than my hard drive.

Thanks for the tip!

Nupe

[nupe]

It's up! Thanks for your advice. Durga I took your advice to preplan and get materials together. I used Adobe Photoshop to compress photos in jpeg format. Then I used a very basic Frontpage template that I edited somewhat (changed fonts, etc) for the pages as well as the navigation. And then it was easy to insert photos and create the thumbnails in FrontPage as Heather described. I couldn't get the last few pics to save to server so I *think* I am over my data limit.

Thanks to both of you for your help!

Nupe

[wookiewoo]

Nupe,

Congrats on getting your page to work!! I know how great that feels, I had troubles getting everything to work when I uploaded it to our server but it sounds like yours went great :)

Another tip I can offer if you are working with really limited space on your server is to elimate some of the photos that the thumbnails link to. We have had to just keep the big versions of our most recent (and sometimes favorite) pictures on the site.

I'm not sure how much space you have, I know that geocities offers 15mb for their free sites and they have some really easy to use page-building tools. I love that they had a guestbook I could use. I'm going to print out the entries for the baby book! HTH
Good luck with your site!

Heather

[nupe]

Yes, I have had to delete a few large pics to get all my thumbnails to fit. I think I will need to compress the files a bit more in the future.

I was not able to line up pictures and captions across browsers/monitors until I put the information into tables.

Nupe

[pixelprincess]

hey nupe,

re: saving your photoshop images you can save them with compression under 50 and it should make your file sizes quite a bit smaller. are you using the save for web option under file? you can see the quality of your image if you change the number in the quality box. i even save some at 30...

good luck.

formerly durga8

[nupe]

Dear Durga:

This is what I have been doing lately. I started out at Quality of 50 and have been working my way down. I have been consistently using image size of 40. What do you think of these settings from "save for web" (I am going to try to load a screen shot--if it doesn't load I will type in the settings).

A related question:

What is the best way for me to print these web pages out for posterity in DS's album? Kinko's color printer on photo paper? What format/software would capture the web page appropriately? Any thoughts?

Thanks,
Nupe

[pixelprincess]

hi nupe,

am now posting as pixelprincess, just a name change. :-)

hmnn... your UI is different from mine. a PC/mac difference. When you do the optimization of your image, you should be able to view the image quality in the window to the left. So I'd say if you are happy with it save it. Sometimes, you can go down smaller without losing quality. If you want to email me your original psd file or a high res jpg, i can save a few versions for you.

If you want to print you are better off using the highest possible resolution. The web res is usually pretty low (72 dpi), so if you can print from the original psd (300 dpi works well for print). If you don't have anything high res, used the best possible res you have. Hope this isn't confusing? If you go to Kinko's you can get a digital color output...I think 8 x 10" costs $1.50. The paper choice would be upto you...if it is for an album you could use card stock or if you are pasting it into an album a lighter weight is fine. Of course, you could try multiple papers to see what you like best.

When I capture web photos, I take screen shots and paste them into photoshop...but if you have the original why do that? You could create the layout in photoshop and use it for print, and also save the same one at a lower res for web. I hope I haven't confused you any more...

HTH,

[nupe]

Dear Durga:

Love your new screen name!

I find that even with lower resolution the pics appear pretty sharp on my screen, but when I look at some older monitors the pics are not so clear. So for now I will stick with what I have been doing. Thanks for your kind offer.

As for printing the web page, I may try screen shots in photoshop. Thanks for the idea.

Thanks,
Nupe

[nupe]

Dear Durga:

You asked about the web site in another thread. Thanks for asking! The website has been a huge hit! I can tell that friends are looking at it (from the counter) and from all the compliments we have received.

It's time for me to update it by adding new pics. Currently I am using 97% of capacity on the site. I need to figure out how to keep some of the old pics as thumbnails only (eliminate link to large pic, and eliminate large pic file)--probably by deleting some code. I also would like to figure out if there is a way to have people vote for their favorite picture.

The other challenge has been trying to communicate to less web savvy friends and family that there is more than one page of pictures! I ended up adding directions at the top of home page: click on these links to see all 5 pages of pictures!!

Any recs?

Thanks,

[nupe]

Dear Friends:
An update on my baby's web site. It was so handy. Didn't have to deal with picture attachments that just wouldn't open.

The last change I made was in Dec, before the account was changed. I have a new url staked out, but nothing posted! During this transition, I no longer have the old version of FrontPage I had been using. I got FrontPage 2003, did a tutorial, but never applied it to developing his site. So, I'd have to start over with the tutorial. I think if I go step by step, I can make a rudimentary web page with pics like the old one. However, I have the option to purchase this package with my education discount: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004, Flash MX 2004, Fireworks MX 2004, FreeHand MX, and ColdFusion MX 6.1 Developer Edition.

At first I thought I would use what I had (FrontPage), but now I am wondering if I am going to have to learn a "new" product anyway, should I go with the Macromedia package (which seems to have a lot more potential).

I have been using Photoshop Elements 3.0 and Picasa to store my pics...and PS 5.5 to edit my pics.

I don't work in this field; it is a hobby for me. Have any of you tried FP2003 and/or this or other macromedia package? If so, any suggestions?

Thank you,
Nupe

[wookiewoo]

Nupe,

Just my 2 cents again, but I would try using FP2003 if you already have it. I have used the older versions and this latest one and it's really not that much different. In fact, I can't even think of one difference to tell you off the top of my head!

I know that the macromedia programs are more known for being "professional" and I know that there are some REALLY REALLY cool animation things that you can do with Flash.

It really depends on how elaborate you want to make your site if you ask me. Frontpage is going to get you a good basic site, and more if you want to. You should make sure that you site host supports Frontpage extensions so that you know it will work if it's different from your first host.

Good luck and please post your finished work or atleast a screen shot!

HTH
Heather

[nupe]

Dear Heather:
Learned all about cascading style sheets in FP. I'll put a link to my web site for now, but will change it in a few days to screen shots. Comments appreciated.

http://home.indy.rr.com/jayantsjungleii


Nupe

[wookiewoo]

Dear Nupe,

What a beautiful website!! It is absolutely adorable! Of course, having that sweet little guy all over it makes it so cute :)

I'm jealous that you have learned to use css. It seems like it would make it so easy to use once you have your inital page completed and it must be easier to update. I like everything about it! The colors are easy to look at, the theme "Jayant's Jungle" is so nicely played, and it's easy to navigate.

I wouldn't change a thing, the only things that I can think of are that maybe you could include a blog or journal of some sort?? I'm kinda stretching for something, because I really think you did an awesome job.

I'll be up all night tonight trying to catch up with you on the css!
Congrats on a job well done and thank you for sharing!!

Heather

oops, I also meant to ask, are you into photography? You seem to catch those "twinkles" in his eyes and I just love that in a picture :)

[pixelprincess]

Hi Nupe,

Remember me from waaay back? Used to be durga8. I just peeked at your website. It is so lovely and Jayant is so very cute. I saw your pics of Aji and Ajoba and wondered if you are Maharashtrian? I am and don't really meet too many Marathi folks. Wouldn't that be funny to meet someone online?

pixelprincess

[nupe]

Dear Heather:

Thanks for your comments and compliments. Thanks especially for the suggestion to use FP. I agree, I think it would be nice for me to add some commentary and I had even toyed with the weather, but wanted to keep things simple to start with.

The decision to use css was 1) can make changes on all pages in one fell swoop and 2) hopefully takes up less space on server compared to usual template. I ended up using a css template that I modified, mostly for color. I also used the dwt photo gallery option.

I am interested in photography, but the last class I took was years ago, and haven't gotten out the 35 mm more than once since DS was born. It's all about the digital camera for multiple shots nowadays.

Thanks,
Nupe

[nupe]

Dear Pixelprincess:
I do remember you. Excellent pick-up on the names! DH is Marathi but I am not. I speak a different language that is similar to Marathi. I have several Marathi friends around the country, of my own and through DH of course.

Thanks for your compliments.

Nupe