Tools - Best way to design instead of programming

I come from a programming background but I would really like to improve mu design skills.
What is the best way to go about designing/authoring websites?
I have used Kompozer before and Bluefish but I'm not sure how you draw the line between the HTML aspects + CSS and the programming parts.
Are there any sites dedicated to "fashionable ideas" in modern websites?

I tend to use templates from Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal and as good as these are, they lack a bit of finesse.

To have all flexibility you need you could learn this package.

• Adobe Illustrator, to design vector images.
• Adobe Photoshop, to design an actual page.

Adobe Photoshop can then be used to slice up the template into a HTML page.

To learn the basics of both I would recommend the 'Classroom in a book' series.

BRY-4E.

+1 for being an Open Source guy. Everything that you mentioned is all open source.

Poster BRY has given you some OUTSTANDING software recommendations, however they are proprietary.



I'm gonna give you some probably not so good advice. Just get in and do it man. You have the background. Get an IDE or a plain text file, create your document name it "site.(html,php etc.)" save it, and then just start adding your content.

You have Google and forums at hand for help.
Think about it in parts. Head,Body, and Feet - start from the top and work down.

Biggest suggestion of mine, vaildate EVERYTHING. Starting from your 1st "My Site" on your site, all the way through your project, just check everything.

Happy Coding.