Building text-heavy website

Paul-Martin7216 wrote on 5/27/2022, 3:49 AM

My system is Windows 10 desktop with 24" screen. I have an existing website built with obsolete software which I want to replace with Xara Webdesigner Premium 19. It will contain about 5 articles, each of 300 to 750 words. This seems to be far too much to fit on a single page but I am unclear about alternative approaches. Please advise. I have not been able to find a helpful tutorial.

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 5/27/2022, 3:55 AM

@Paul-Martin7216

Welcome to the Magix user to user forums.

Important Caveat: I don't own or use XWD but I have built websites in the past, using other software. The overall "length" of a page is determined entirely by the site creator, you, in my experience. IOW, if you want all 5 articles to be on "the same page", simply place them one after the other, perhaps with links to indicate there are multiple items. The reader's web browser will automatically add a side scroll bar, thus allowing her/him to scroll down the page.

The alternative is to have one pager per article, in which case the Navigation bar (at the top of your first page) will need to provide links to each page, so allowing your visitors to navigate to whichever page(s) they wish to read.

HTH

Jeff
Forum Moderator

Paul-Martin7216 wrote on 5/27/2022, 4:17 AM

Thanks, Jeff. That's pretty much what I imagined were the choices. Main snag is that I don't yet know how to, for instance, crteate scroll bars or navigation systems in XaraWD! I found a very long series of incredibly tedious Youtube videos by a North American chap and the basic "how to cut and paste" intros from Xara but it's not easy to get to the level of tasks I need.

emmrecs wrote on 5/27/2022, 6:15 AM

@Paul-Martin7216

Clearly, I can't help with the question of creating navigation systems in XWD, (though, usually, for other software I've used, the Navigation Bar is "created automatically" as you add each page) but, as I wrote before, the question of scroll bars is one which is entirely down to the screen size etc., of the site visitor's computer. You, the site builder don't create these. After all, you have absolutely no control over the computer equipment any visitor to your site is using!

Jeff

johnebaker wrote on 5/27/2022, 6:52 AM

@Paul-Martin7216

The easiest method is to start with a template from the Online Gallery that is close to what you want, these usually come with a ready made navigation bar and have one blank page called index which should be the homepage.

The template can be edited at this point to change colours, text etc - see Template Backgrounds and re-coloring backgrounds under Help in the program or manual if you have downloaded it.

As you add more pages in the Layout and Page Gallery they will also have the template applied and be added to the navigation bar.

Pages other than the index page should, as in your old site, be given meaningful names, when you change the name of the page the navigation bar will also be updated.

. . . . . 5 articles, each of 300 to 750 words . . . .

Depending on the nature of the article content I would go with @emmrecs suggestion of individual pages for each article, or if they are more 'brochure' or 'instructional' style articles with images, which a user viewer may want to refer to offline, I would create PDF files for each article and add these to the site with a short summary and link

HTH

John EB
Forum Moderator

Paul-Martin7216 wrote on 5/30/2022, 9:21 AM

Thanks again - very helpful. I was a bit baffled by the complex templates. Can you suggest a fairly "barebones" one for a simple multi-page site? It's mostly the navigation that I want to take advantage of.

johnebaker wrote on 6/16/2022, 8:17 AM

@Paul-Martin7216

Apologies for the delay in replying, the notification that you had posted has just reached me - somewhat delayed I might add, so you may have already found a solution.

There are many templates that will fit what you require in the Online, or the Local Designs Gallery if you have download and installed all the Online gallery content (recommended).

Starting with a blank page - the navigation bar and footers are there ready, can be easily changed to look how you require before adding content.

A good example is the Websites, Modern Business websites, Non Profit template.

HTH

John EB