Could You Help

[djohno24]

Hi Guys

A couple of questions that i am sure some of you geniuses can answer easily

First is what is the best sizes screen to develop a website, i created a website thought i had done great then opened it up on a larger screen to find that my menu bar was all to pot.

Second when i preview my website as i build it i use IE, is there a different browser that i should be using, ie a browser that i can preview the site that should work in mosat other browsers.

Third, i fancy having a play around with some flash, maybe a flash intro. Is there any free software out there thats easy to understand

Lastly, a friend of mine has a bar, on his TV in the bar he plays a 5 hour dvd of different funny clips etc, he now wants to edit that dvd so periodocilly he can advertise drink promotions etc. He has movie maker to edit a movie but can not open the dvd. Does he have to convert the dvd files to a different format to make it play in movie maker before he can edit the dvd

Hope this makes sense and thank you in advance

Dave

[Nile]

1. You mean screen resolution? I use 1280 by 1024, if you're worried about different sizes on different resolutions, use percentages instead of pixels.

2. Yes, you should be using at least 3 browsers, I suggest 3 of these 4(or all 4): Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari, that will give you the view from every popular rendering system.

3. Flash is difficult and I don't think there's a free program like flash that is easy to understand.

I don't know the answer to your friends problem, sorry.

Hope this helps.

[Medyman]

First is what is the best sizes screen to develop a website, i created a website thought i had done great then opened it up on a larger screen to find that my menu bar was all to pot.

As Nile mentioned, the best route is to create a flexible layout. This means using percentage sizes instead of absolute pixel values. So, you might specify that something would be 50% of the viewport instead of 400 pixels.

If you'd like to use a fixed-width design instead - I'd suggest 960px as the optimal width. That's the current standard.


Second when i preview my website as i build it i use IE, is there a different browser that i should be using, ie a browser that i can preview the site that should work in mosat other browsers.
First, you shouldn't be using IE as your default browser. Use a modern browser to do your testing in. You can then go back and fix for IE's broken layout model. If you're on Windows, Firefox is your best bet. If you're on a Mac, Safari or Firefox are great.

You should test in every browser you can get your hands on though - and on various operating systems. My testing suite includes IE6, IE7, IE8, Fx2, Fx3, Safari 3, Safari 4 Beta, Chrome, Opera 9 tested across Win XP, Win Vista, Mac OS X Leopard & Linux. We've also started to test some of our sites in various mobile browsers.

Really, there are a lot more compatibility and accessibility concerns than testing in 3 browsers will reveal. If you're serious about reaching a wide ranging audience, you need to be thorough in your testing.


Third, i fancy having a play around with some flash, maybe a flash intro. Is there any free software out there thats easy to understand
Flash intros are passe. I can understand the urge to put one in, but it really has no utility. It's all flash (pardon the pun) and no value. Avoid it.

As far as a free Flash software - there is none. There is some cheaper software than Adobe Flash that might suit you (SwishMax comes to mind). I've never used any of these so I can't comment on how good they are. Adobe Flash also comes with a 30 day trial to try out. That's the only true, full-featured Flash IDE.


Lastly, a friend of mine has a bar, on his TV in the bar he plays a 5 hour dvd of different funny clips etc, he now wants to edit that dvd so periodocilly he can advertise drink promotions etc. He has movie maker to edit a movie but can not open the dvd. Does he have to convert the dvd files to a different format to make it play in movie maker before he can edit the dvd

With Windows Movie Maker? I'd assume you'll need a Windows Media formatted file to be able to work with it in Windows Movie Maker. Any real video editing software should be able to handle the raw DVD files, though. I don't think WMM is suited for this task. You should tell your friend to find the right tool for the job.

I've only done video editing on a Mac so I don't have any recommendations for Windows software.

[djohno24]

As Nile mentioned, the best route is to create a flexible layout. This means using percentage sizes instead of absolute pixel values. So, you might specify that something would be 50% of the viewport instead of 400 pixels.
.

I am using a programe called serif to build my website which seems to only let me work in pixels, any suggestions?

[traq]

as Medyman suggested, 960px is a pretty safe way to go if you're using pixels. I try to make sure that everything important is viewable in the first 800px of the page, however; a surprising number of people still have really small screens, and, personally, I really hate having to scroll side-to-side. Percentages are better, though.

As far as web editor programs go, my suggestion is to learn more about the languages (html, css, js, php), dump the web editor, and write your code directly with something like Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm) (it highlights code, tags, etc. and makes it easy to follow). The quality of my coding skyrocketed after I decided to actually learn how to write it :D, and it's still improving.

[Medyman]

I am using a programe called serif to build my website which seems to only let me work in pixels, any suggestions?'

I agree with traq. Learn the languages and start hand coding. At the very least, use something more established. Any web editor that locks you into a pixel-based design isn't one I'd waste my time with.

[traq]

... At the very least, use something more established.

lol, as long as it's not made by microsoft

[Medyman]

lol, as long as it's not made by microsoft

haha...that's always a given. MS should seriously just quit. Bill Gates is a personal hero of mine but the vision and people running MS now is just behind the times (to put it nicely).

[thetestingsite]

First, you shouldn't be using IE as your default browser. Use a modern browser to do your testing in. You can then go back and fix for IE's broken layout model. If you're on Windows, Firefox is your best bet. If you're on a Mac, Safari or Firefox are great.

You should test in every browser you can get your hands on though - and on various operating systems. My testing suite includes IE6, IE7, IE8, Fx2, Fx3, Safari 3, Safari 4 Beta, Chrome, Opera 9 tested across Win XP, Win Vista, Mac OS X Leopard & Linux. We've also started to test some of our sites in various mobile browsers.

Really, there are a lot more compatibility and accessibility concerns than testing in 3 browsers will reveal. If you're serious about reaching a wide ranging audience, you need to be thorough in your testing.


If you are limited as to the number of browsers you can fully test in, have a look at BrowserShots.org (http://www.browsershots.org) to get an idea of what your site would look like using different browsers on different systems.

Hope this helps.

[molendijk]

I would suggest that, first of all, you make sure your pages validate. If they don't, all sorts of crossbowser problems may occur.
===
Arie Molendijk.

[thetestingsite]

This is very true. Visit the W3C HTML (http://validator.w3.org) and CSS (http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/) Validator to check to see if your pages are valid HTML and CSS which should ensure cross-browser compatibility.

Hope this helps.

[djr33]

For the DVD issue-- you will have to "rip" the files from the disc. Assuming it's content he has the right to use, then there's no real issue there-- download a program that's legally-uncertain, in that it can steal content from copyrighted discs, and from there just rip the content that he has a right to use. If the disc IS copyrighted, well, he's gotta figure out whether he wants to play that in his business (thus making money from it) and risk the lawsuits. Once it's ripped into whatever format, you can go ahead and edit in movie maker or anything else. Even top end editing applications won't natively run dvd format files (mpeg2 in various levels of embedding).
One program that could help you, depending on formatting, the disc, etc., is mpeg streamclip, good for converting lots of formats that won't always play in other programs on your system:
http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-win.html

And as for Flash, you won't find anything as good as flash out there, I don't think. There are a number of very specific programs that generate flash files, like banner generators, etc., but they don't give much interaction or control at all. Some may be better, but none with as many options as adobe's flash.