A few basic questions for webmasters.

Clutch

I am looking to start a website. I have very basic html knowledge that I can remember from when I started about 3 years ago. Is it easy to make a huge background image of my site layout, then then use tables to make the buttons/etc.. to work? Or should I just start with a bunch of tables with buttons, etc...

My goal is to have a site dedicated to black mustangs, and have people join and post pictures of their cars, mods, etc.. I would like a very user friendly site, and I have an idea of what I would like but don't know how to put it into code.

I have Frontpage 2003 to work with, also have access to Dreameweaver MX. Which of these two should I go with, or should I put both away and use something else.

I had a plan to make the background image in photoshop and just use tables to go around the buttons that would take you to the link. Will this work?

Thrax

For the most robust HTML experience, I sincerely recommend Dreamweaver.

Remember that when designing websites, it's best to use as few images as possible. If you have a large expanse in your GUI that's the same thing repeating (Like bars of green), see if you can A) REmake it in CSS, or B) Use a 1 pixel wide cut of that expanse and just have it repeat in a table.

Tables good.

DOSMAN

Dreamweaver is better, although nothing beats doing it yourself.

I'd recommend getting hosted at Jetstreamhosting.com, that's what I use.

Clutch

Thanks for the reply Thrax. Here is an example of what I want. If you notice on the S-M main site, the links at the top to the forums, Downloads, etc.. are all an image but they seem to be apart of the background as well, like they go together. This is the effect that I would like to have but not sure on how to get it. Would CSS be the way to go? I will install Dreamweaver and see how it does compared to Frontpage.