What software and tools can I buy that real designers use to improve the quality of my web designs and make nice looking websites faster? (soft and hard solutions please!)
1. Interaction Design: In this stage I design my web app's UX - mainly wireframes. The focus is on usability and not on look and feel. For this the only useful tools are paper, pen, whiteboard and an open, creative mind. Knowledge of html,css,js will help you in determining what is feasible and what is not.
2. Illustration(optional):In this stage I take wireframes as input and create a design that will look exactly like final desired product. I use vector graphics tools to create design and then export it into png files. If some heavy graphics is needed I also use raster graphics programs. Tools recommended:
1. Vector : Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape(open source)
2. Raster : Adobe Photoshop or GIMP(open source)
I don't use anything else.
3. Web Design : In this stage, I do actual front end development. I take png mockups created in previous stage and make webpages by coding html,css,js in my editor. Tools used :
a good editor(vim/emacs)
css reset(http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/css/reset/)
jquery library(and some plugins)
Browser(Chrome/firefox for development/testing. IE8+ and Safari for testing)
Some browser plugins - Firebug, Color Pick, Resolution Test, etc.
Some sites - 0to255.com, kuler.adobe.com, ui-patterns.com, smashingmagazine.com
That's it. Anything else isn't really necessary.
One more advice. Get inspired. Find sites that inspire you, sites with good design. Learn from those designs. Keep learning. Keep improving and keep designing.
Some recommended sites : http://www.cssmania.com/ http://dribbble.com/ http://www.awwwards.coam/ http://themeforest.net/
Now, the question I think you're asking is how do I make my websites not look like crap. Revorad answers that question and it basically is don't reinvent the wheel.
So, I guess the question is, what "hammers" do designers use? Frontpage? Dreamweaver?
Have a look at PatternTap (http://patterntap.com/) to find inspiration for specific bits of the UI. Find out how you would create your own in Photoshop/Gimp/Illustrator/Pixelmator/Paint. Maybe add a texture, find a better color scheme or change around the font.
Then build it with HTML/CSS/JS. Use Frontpage, Dreamweaver, Eclipse, Vim, Notepad++ or, hell, even regular Notepad. It does not matter.
Great designers use the tools they are comfortable with. Most use a tool such as Photoshop to build something tangible (a PNG, PSD or, if you're management-material, PPT). That let's them define the way the website should look under ideal circumstances without getting to hung up on the correct HTML and CSS. Then they cut that up and code it in HTML and CSS to create something useful.
That's what you need to practice. And if you're worried your designs look too "Web 1.0", you need to focus on the first part of that process: defining what it should look like, before opening up your editor of choice.
However, thanks for the details! I've now got what I needed (some software options to try out) so thanks for that.
ThemeForest is cheap and cheerful - http://themeforest.net/
And of course, now there's Twitter Bootstrap - http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/
Check out David Kadavy's Design for Hackers book too, for more general design learning.
Wacom tablets are generally for illustrators, not web designers. Freehand drawings do not map well to the rectangular web.
What software do you use to lay things out correctly?
As a programmer, how do I best prepare a html page for a designer? Is putting everything in a div with a unique id enough?
Layout: Content is divided into columns. Twelve colums, six colums, and three columns are the usual suspects.
Preparing HTML for a designer: Use semantic HTML. For anything that's even vaguely list-related, use <ul>. Do not put links in a div by themselves, but sort them into a structured list. Do not use <br> for paragraphs.