Rails - Mar 2006 - Must one be a web page designer to make use of RoR?

Hey guys,

I''m new to the world of web site development.  Although I''m in
the
process of learning RoR, I''m not a graphics artist nor a web developer 
or web site designer.  With that being said, does anyone have any 
suggestions for tools to use to create the actual interface for a web 
app based on a RoR framework?  Obviously the default output of RoR is 
fine for development, but now that I need to create a *real* user 
interface - ie. beautiful layout, pretty graphics, intelligently flowing 
navigation, etc. - I''m stuck.  I guess I could hire someone part-time 
just to create the actual UI, but then that would not make me a 
"complete" web app developer.  I have no natural talent for drawing, 
graphics, etc.

What''s a person in my situation to do?  I''m relatively new to 
programming, and (almost) everything in RoR makes sense to me - but I 
feel like my inability to draw and create graphics is holding me back 
from being a complete RoR developer.

Any suggestions?

-- 
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.

www.openwebdesign.org ...

-- G.

On Mar 3, 2006, at 3:02 PM, Steve Armstrong wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> I''m new to the world of web site development.  Although
I''m in the
> process of learning RoR, I''m not a graphics artist nor a web
developer
> or web site designer.  With that being said, does anyone have any
> suggestions for tools to use to create the actual interface for a web
> app based on a RoR framework?  Obviously the default output of RoR is
> fine for development, but now that I need to create a *real* user
> interface - ie. beautiful layout, pretty graphics, intelligently  
> flowing
> navigation, etc. - I''m stuck.  I guess I could hire someone
part-time
> just to create the actual UI, but then that would not make me a
> "complete" web app developer.  I have no natural talent for
drawing,
> graphics, etc.
>
> What''s a person in my situation to do?  I''m relatively
new to
> programming, and (almost) everything in RoR makes sense to me - but I
> feel like my inability to draw and create graphics is holding me back
> from being a complete RoR developer.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> -- 
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
> _______________________________________________
> Rails mailing list
> Rails@lists.rubyonrails.org
> http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails

On 03 Mar 2006, at 16:02, Steve Armstrong wrote:
> Hey guys,
>
> I''m new to the world of web site development.  Although
I''m in the
> process of learning RoR, I''m not a graphics artist nor a web
developer
> or web site designer.  With that being said, does anyone have any
> suggestions for tools to use to create the actual interface for a web
> app based on a RoR framework?  Obviously the default output of RoR is
> fine for development, but now that I need to create a *real* user
> interface - ie. beautiful layout, pretty graphics, intelligently  
> flowing
> navigation, etc. - I''m stuck.  I guess I could hire someone
part-time
> just to create the actual UI, but then that would not make me a
> "complete" web app developer.  I have no natural talent for
drawing,
> graphics, etc.
>
> What''s a person in my situation to do?  I''m relatively
new to
> programming, and (almost) everything in RoR makes sense to me - but I
> feel like my inability to draw and create graphics is holding me back
> from being a complete RoR developer.
>
> Any suggestions?
Well, to be honest, you have the choice of either
- learn webdesign yourself: look around at how other people do it,  
get a feel with it and then go out and by the CSS Mastery book  
(http://www.cssmastery.com/), it''s really good. From my personal  
experience, I have always found hand coded CSS to be a lot better  
than what a WYSIWYG editor calls a CSS layout.
- get an open source template and expand on that, but I haven''t found  
any that are really in the league of a professional design, they''re a  
good starting point, but that''s about it
- hire someone to make you an initial design, then do the CSS work  
yourself based on his/her design
- just let someone else do it, which is probably going to save you a  
lot of money as your application grows, if you''re not a designer,  
you''re going to waste tons of time on simple things.

I think a lot of people on this list will agree with me when I say a  
real cool web app always consists of a good programmer together with  
a good designer, it''s hard to have both at the same time (but that  
doesn''t mean the programmer can''t have a bit of a design
talent or
the other way around).

Best regards

Peter De Berdt

Steve,

You must absolutely learn CSS, and have a basic toolbox alongside your 
Rails editor.

I''d recommend :
*  "Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML"
    http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/hfhtmlcss/

*  Firefox  + the Web Developer plugin
 
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=60&application=firefox
The Web Developer plugin helps you look into a page css, change it and 
see the change live, etc...


Alain

Guys,

I bought the Head First book today.  Looks like I''ve got some reading 
(and learning) to do.  Thanks for the advice.  I''m on my way...

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