Web Site Making

hey, I started a new job this week at the library. I have been assigned the task of creating the new library website. I have taken a few classes in flash 5 so I am familiar with that type of animation maker.

I have to make the site with Macromedia FlashMX and Dreamweaver. Does anyone know quick tutorials, templates or ideas? I have to have the site done by Friday. it is monday afternoon right now. I feel a bit stressed about doing such a difficult assignment in a short period of time. does anyone have any ideas? The site needs to have some flare and make the library seem exciting.

I am posting the old "boring" site to give you guys an idea of how it should be when I figure out how to attach a file, maybe you can help me with attaching a file to a forum too.

thank You

 

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hey, I'm now doing the same thing

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(making a site) with the same software
don't forget you'll need some image making/editing program
Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro adviced
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you can get great flash tutorials at flashkit.com
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as for a fast to get up website -. maybe you can use one of these ready made templates/systems
Drupal
Mambo Open Source
phpWCMS
phpWebSite
Post-Nuke
Xoops

browse google to find out more!
but these systems need php and msql

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can't really help you with dreamweaver. it's so easy I never needed any tutorials for it.

 

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http://skangale.piparmetra.net/ <-> the one I'm making now
just don't click //english->my works . the animation there mailfunctions and I now don't have the time to fix it.
p.s. wait for a little while for those 128Kb to load. I haven't made a fancy preloader yet
and there's no html. only flash. and anyways.. it's a ~mid-design beta

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Thanks Avatar, I'll check it out in more depth at work tomorrow.

 

Drupal <->
Short description: An advanced portal with collaborative book, search engines friendly URLs, online help, roles, full content search, site watching, threaded comments, version control, blogging, news aggregator.
Homepage: http://drupal.org/

Mambo Open Source <->
Short description: A professional level yet easy to use Content Management System featuring inline WYSIWYG content editors, newsfeeds, syndicated news, banners, mailing users, links manager, statistics, content archiving, date based content, 20 languages, modules and components.
Homepage: http://mamboserver.com/

phpWCMS <->
Short description: phpWCMS is perfect for professional, public and private users. It is very easy to learn and gives you the flexibility to separate layout and content. Lots of powerful but simple implemented features assists publishers and web developers too.
Homepage: http://www.phpwcms.de/

phpWebSite <->
Short description: Very powerful Content Management System with document manager, announcements, menu manager, photo album, block maker, FAQ, web pages maker, polls, information categorizer, calendar, link manager, form generator.
Homepage: http://phpwebsite.appstate.edu/

Post-Nuke <->
Short description: A Content Management System with focus on flexibility and security. A big variety of modules and blocks makes this CMS an allround tool.
Homepage: http://www.postnuke.com/

Xoops <->
Short description: A very popular advanced portal system.
Homepage: http://www.xoops.org/

 

I have many templates to help you out in that regard on my computer. I have a great collection of HTML and Flash templates.

I also have an excellent but very little known Russian site that will help you a great deal. It has all the little tidbits you need including clipart, interfaces and so on..

If you are interested in either..

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My first question has to be...do they want all of the content in the library accessible through the website (availability of books, overdue fees, etc.)? If this is not required the website should not be too difficult to design as Dreamweavers design feature is not that difficult to figure out, it is just a matter of dragging and dropping.

The second thing I woould do is make a list of all the requirements they need of the page and group them into sections (possibly the links you require in a side frame). Then with that I would make a sketch of the site layout (where you want links to go, where the title should go, where you want to place flash, etc.). If you use the dreamweaver template tab when you make a new page you can arrange frames according to your needs as it supplies most of the popular layouts.

I would then start making the pages that correspond to the sections that you made in your list (contacts, hours of operation, employees, services, etc.) putting all the relevant information on each page. I wouldn't worry too much about color yet as you may change your mind in the end.

Then once all the sections are done finish off with the frames and placing the flash. Then decide what kind of color scheme you want to use and where to put possible images. If you have some place you can publish the website to like geocities I would be happy to give you some help with the project.

If they DID want the content available there will be much more required such as a database system (mysql/oracle) and a dynamic content language (asp, jsp, php, perl). This would make your job impossible and I would quit right now.

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Presumably there is already a software that does the membership/catalogue. Usually the software package responsible for this will have a web front end that can be configured by a computer muggle.

eg.

http://catalog.yorklibraries.org/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=dial--1
http://www.ntu.edu.sg/Library/OPAC/
http://leopac.nypl.org/

You may just have to change the logo, write a main page. I probably wouldn't use flash, library sites are about access and content.

 

The WHOLE internet should be about access and content. Anything else is garbage.

 

No, the site does not have overdue books and things like that.

The reason for haveing the site is because we are encouraging people to come to the main site for our town (http://mattawa.org/) and library sites and see that our library is an exciting place to visit. I have to put a short history of the library, the goals of our library, our location, activities (like Cybercamp and Storytime), the schedule/ hours of opening, links and services.

Our old site which is down right now is really dull and it's just plain text with buttons that animate a little. I am going to photoshop a new logo, add pictures and make the site a bit mare exciting and appealing to those who visit. Like I said, I would prefer a template for now and then I can work on it more later. I will check out the stuff you posted, Avatar today at work. Thanks for the info so far.

 

Oh, if anyone can find a good template in .fla format, that would be great

Thank You

 

Ok, I found a template that I like, I found a program that will convert it to a fla. file so I can change a few small things. Now, the problem is that I want to exoprt it into a .swf but when I do and I play the flash site, the start animaiton for the site keeps looping, I want it to become interactive like it was designed to be, not a movie.

 

Sounds like fun. Eventually though, a link to entering via registered library card and specific ID will be wanted to look into what is available, reserve books, look at status of borrowed items, due fees, etc. Maybe that can be something that is addressed on down the line. Sure saves a lot of people's time and energy to have those features though it requires a good deal more skilled work. Do they have their items in a database, keep tabs on members in a database? I bet they do.

 

haha, our library runs on a very tight budget. They said it would cost ten thousand dollars to have everything in the comouter and bar codes on the books. We still do everything the old fashioned way. We have made a book registry on the computer though wich is the first step. Anyway, I will post the site that loops this evening or tomorrow, I need to insert pics of the library first. here is the template that loops, in fla form, maybe someone can fix it before I put in the text if I can find a place to upload it to.

 

are you sure flash is the right choice?
it's good for presentation purposes and it is my favourite software
but if you need to organise large texts, then flash is a definite no (for example, a long list of smthing).

 

i think I will use flsh for the moment. If I can find an easy HTML template to use that looks good, I might. There isn't that much text in the site, it is mostly just to tell people about our library and tell them where we are.

Does anyone have a really good HTML template or Flash template that I can use?

 

Where is your library server located? Does it have PHP and MSQL?
if so, then I advice you install Mambo Open Source
it's easy to modify, and most of the work has been done for you already.
look at their website.
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of course, flash is good

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as I said -> my fav software, and it might look good for a library general information. But only if you can make it look good.
It's generally easier to make a html look good, than a flash.

 

hey guys, I found a way to make a flash site in a hurry and download it as an .swf file. www.10minuteflash.com

It till be my temporary site until I have tim eto learn how to incorporate Flash into Dreamweaver properly without looping problems so I can make an original kick ass site. At least my boss will be happy that I got a decent site in on time. If we are not too busy tomorrow, I hope to add pictures to the site from my boss' computer. That would really complete it and put a face on the library. I want them to realise that it is not a *shhhhhhhhh* kind if place, but it is a fun place to be, especially for kids. Thanks guys, I'll post the link to the site once we get it up and running.

 

Ok, here is the adress for the site. ti is temporary and I will add pictures and stuff like that later.

users.efni.com/~mplibrary

What do you think?

 

In your town/city Salt, do most people have broadband or dialup? If they have dialup flash is a definate nono. I don't like pages that are made mostly out of flash, it's smooth and it looks alright, but you should not have to sacrifice functionality for good looks. Plus, you're forcing the people that will look at the site to download third party software. Granted, most of them will already have it, but if you're stuck on the flash idea, maybe consider making your main page dedicated to two links, one to a flash page and one to an html page.