Complete Noob question

Maestro · July 24, 2005

I know very little html. But I have some good ideas of what I want my site to look like. Can I generate the code I want in FrontPage for example? I know that at least 2003 works with style sheets. Thanks.

Mike Lane · July 24, 2005

Maestro wrote:

I know very little html. But I have some good ideas of what I want my site to look like. Can I generate the code I want in FrontPage for example? I know that at least 2003 works with style sheets. Thanks.

You can use frontpage to create the header and the footer and help you with the css for the whole site, but you won't be able modify any of the structure of the page. I'm not sure if that is 100% clear so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Maestro · July 25, 2005

Mike Lane wrote:

You can use frontpage to create the header and the footer and help you with the css for the whole site, but you won't be able modify any of the structure of the page. I'm not sure if that is 100% clear so if you have any questions feel free to ask.

Thanks Mike. I guess what I am confused about is that I have seen other Smugmug sites that have custom navigation buttons, custom backgrounds and the like. I suppose what you are saying is that I could not produce a website in FP and then upload it because I wouldn't be able to modify the structure. Okay, so is there a thread buried here that would help me with what I need to do to modify backgrounds? I understand how to add the headers and footers but the body of my site is where I get confused.

Mike Lane · July 25, 2005

Maestro wrote:

Thanks Mike. I guess what I am confused about is that I have seen other Smugmug sites that have custom navigation buttons, custom backgrounds and the like. I suppose what you are saying is that I could not produce a website in FP and then upload it because I wouldn't be able to modify the structure. Okay, so is there a thread buried here that would help me with what I need to do to modify backgrounds? I understand how to add the headers and footers but the body of my site is where I get confused.

You can do everything you're asking using CSS. Try putting this in your css section of your cobranding.

body {
background-color:#c0c0c0;
}

This will change your background color to slightly lighter than middle grey. I'm not sure how familiar you are with hex colors but you can change the colors to whatever you want (well mostly) using the hex. Here's a site with a lot of hex color codes http://www.december.com/html/spec/color.html.

The SM help file is good for assisting you with all of this too. It is at http://www.smugmug.com/help/custom-colors.

So it is possible that you could do this in FP, but I think it may be more difficult than doing it on your own. If you use firefox I've found a great extension that will let you do your cobranding css with the greatest of ease (and I've been telling everyone about it every chance I get). It's called the web developer toolbar (found at http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/) and it will allow you to alter your css to just how you want it without actually changing anything. After that you can copy and paste what you come up with into your co-branding css box and be all set.

Of course you may not be using firefox. But then again, you probably should be using it:D

Oh yeah and do a search on cobranding in the dgrin forums. You'll come up with about a zillion different threads all about it with tons of site examples and hints and css tricks and what not.

Maestro · July 25, 2005

Mike Lane wrote:

You can do everything you're asking using CSS. Try putting this in your css section of your cobranding.

body {
background-color:#c0c0c0;
}

This will change your background color to slightly lighter than middle grey. I'm not sure how familiar you are with hex colors but you can change the colors to whatever you want (well mostly) using the hex. Here's a site with a lot of hex color codes http://www.december.com/html/spec/color.html.

The SM help file is good for assisting you with all of this too. It is at http://www.smugmug.com/help/custom-colors.

So it is possible that you could do this in FP, but I think it may be more difficult than doing it on your own. If you use firefox I've found a great extension that will let you do your cobranding css with the greatest of ease (and I've been telling everyone about it every chance I get). It's called the web developer toolbar (found at http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/webdeveloper/) and it will allow you to alter your css to just how you want it without actually changing anything. After that you can copy and paste what you come up with into your co-branding css box and be all set.

Of course you may not be using firefox. But then again, you probably should be using it:D

Oh yeah and do a search on cobranding in the dgrin forums. You'll come up with about a zillion different threads all about it with tons of site examples and hints and css tricks and what not.

Thanks yet again Mike. I am using Firefox. I've been using it for almost two years now I think. Anyhow, I will definitely check out the Firefox app and hex color site. Thanks for all your help. If you get a chance, look at what I have done with your help and some advice from other websites. Pretty cool for someone who knew next to nothing about coding.

Complete Noob question

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