im new here...just want to know how to make a layout

[sengnlely]

I was just wondering if this program can do Layouts also...other than Adobe Photoshop??

[verac the defiled]

This will be moved to Questions And General Discussion, and please dont post two topics about exactly the same thing.

[Crazy Man Dan]

Moved to Questions and General Discussion

Please read the announcements at the top of each board. They're there to help you.

The Tutorials board is reserved for tutorial publishing only. Tutorial requests go here, QaGD.

[Crazy Man Dan]

Now, what do you mean by "layouts?"

aatwo lays out his comics in PDN. For example:

http://paintdotnet.12.forumer.com/viewt ... 3065#33065

I do website layouts in PDN:

http://cmdsketchpad.com/

I don't think anyone has yet to do print layouts in PDN. None that they've posted, anyway, but it's possible.

What exactly are you looking to do?

[Bob]

Yet another "I want to slice" thread.

Slicing is bad.

[Crazy Man Dan]

Bob:

That's not really a rant. It's a fact. :wink:

sengnlely:

If you're looking for something that'll take a picture of a web layout, chop it up, then export an HTML table full of tags for you, then you won't find that here. And really, that type of design is neither semantic nor accessible.

If, though, you're willing and able to create a semantic web layout, PDN works like a dandy.

I again point to my own site (http://cmdsketchpad.com/) as an example. The graphics were all made in PDN. The layout was hand-coded in Notepad++, another freeware application I highly recommend to anyone who does text-based code editing.

[moc426]

Slicing is not bad, you have to slice images for a website. You are confusing slicing and using the exported html it creates. I used fireworks and imageready to slice images and export them. Then I build my template with css and xhtml, using the images exported for me. And if I want to change something in the image I can, and I can resize the slices as needed, hit export and all the images are ready. You read slicing is bad without knowing why. All graphic rich websites are sliced.

Yet another "I want to slice" thread.

Slicing is bad.

[Bob]

What you mean is cropping, what PdN does.

What I think is the best method to design websites, is to start with a HTML layout (the real content), and to style it later.

So you don't have to slice images, as you make them "on the run" (does it mean sth?).

Note that it was a rant.

[moc426]

When doing work for clients, you need to present a graphical design of what the site will look like, and clients change their mind a million times. So it helps that you have your graphic which you export to a format the client can see, make necessary changes, slice it up, and can then export the images to use based on the graphic you have designed. Then if the client changes their mind again, which happens all the time, you can edit the graphic and the slices are still there, so you don't have to spend time cropping to the same exact size you did previously, you can also change the slice size and all you would need to do is modify your css to reposition and size.

Nothing wrong with ranting and discussing. I don't think PDN should do slices. I'd rather it was done in a separate program, pdn is for editing photos/images. In photoshop, they had imageready, and you were able to click a button and it would send it to imageready where you can slice and do what is needed, save, hit a button which would send it back to photoshop. When I say send it, I mean it just gets the writing permission on the file so you can edit it. Fireworks is for web design / development so you were able to slice your image directly in the application.

Cropping is not the same. Slices are saved, so your positions and sizes of each slice remain. You can toggle the slice view on and off.

What you mean is cropping, what PdN does.

What I think is the best method to design websites, is to start with a HTML layout (the real content), and to style it later.

So you don't have to slice images, as you make them "on the run" (does it mean sth?).

Note that it was a rant.

[Bob]

When doing work for clients, you need to present a graphical design of what the site will look like

Without knowing what content (text, but s too), you will put in it?

(now /me is going to bed)

[Crazy Man Dan]

http://lipsum.org/

Lipsum is a web designer's bestest friend. One of the hardest thing to get from clients (second only to money) is content. During the design process, you can throw lipusm text in there to fill up the content area. For the demo design I posted in the Pictorium, Galaxipad, I didn't have any dummy text in there, because I knew what I wanted it to look like. For clients, though, since they can't read your mind, it provides a more realistic picture of the final product than a large "Content Here" declaration. Of course, the layer containing the dummy text is turned off for image exporting.

For example, take this slight edit of site mock I did for work. This is one of the ones the client didn't choose. I edited it to remove their logo and any reference to their company: (not PDN, just an example)

http://cmdsketchpad.com/mockexample.png

It's possible that I jumped the gun hatin' on slicing. I have not used slicing, ever, but I've seen sites where the banner is just a table with 14 pieces of a large image, each saved as header_slice_xx.jpg. That's the kind of slicing that makes Baby Jesus cry.

If modern slice-orz allow one to set up dynamic zones, each of which is exported with a specific filename, then that's not nearly as bad. I do pretty much the same thing with Guides in The GIMP, and I do it by remembering my starting pixel in PDN.

[moc426]

That design is nice crazy, I love the color combinations. I never thought o use limsum, usually there is content to use already from previous site or they provide it. But that is a good idea, I will keep that in mind.

edit:

btw crazy, if i remember correctly, in image ready you can name each slice whatever you want. if you don't it generates the name like you said. I think fireworks as well I am pretty sure you can name the slices. I don't have them installed at the moment to check.

http://lipsum.org/

Lipsum is a web designer's bestest friend. One of the hardest thing to get from clients (second only to money) is content. During the design process, you can throw lipusm text in there to fill up the content area. For the demo design I posted in the Pictorium, Galaxipad, I didn't have any dummy text in there, because I knew what I wanted it to look like. For clients, though, since they can't read your mind, it provides a more realistic picture of the final product than a large "Content Here" declaration. Of course, the layer containing the dummy text is turned off for image exporting.

For example, take this slight edit of site mock I did for work. This is one of the ones the client didn't choose. I edited it to remove their logo and any reference to their company: (not PDN, just an example)

http://cmdsketchpad.com/mockexample.png

It's possible that I jumped the gun hatin' on slicing. I have not used slicing, ever, but I've seen sites where the banner is just a table with 14 pieces of a large image, each saved as header_slice_xx.jpg. That's the kind of slicing that makes Baby Jesus cry.

If modern slice-orz allow one to set up dynamic zones, each of which is exported with a specific filename, then that's not nearly as bad. I do pretty much the same thing with Guides in The GIMP, and I do it by remembering my starting pixel in PDN.