View Full Version : Web site start-up
I want to create a website, and I know how to get a domain and everything, but I don't know where to go from there.
I just want to play around with the Idea to get used to it, but i have no idea where to start :(. Eventually I will be doing a major overhaul to our teams website, but right now I know nothing about it so I am trying to gain experience!
Do you guys know where to go next?
Thanks for your help!!
MrForbes
27-05-2009, 09:07
First you need to figure out what the website will contain. It could be about anything....mine somehow started out as The Selectric Typewriter Museum, and now has all kinds of wierd stuff.
Then start writing, adding photos or whatever to make it interesting.
Have fun! you'll learn a lot...
JohnBoucher
27-05-2009, 09:46
If you don't already have software, download NVU (http://www.net2.com/nvu/) It's easy and free.
Check out this thread from WebmasterWorld (http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum48/2789.htm) Lost of great info there.
Well I have a basic Idea of what it will contain. I am thinking of a progress page for a small robot i am working on designing.
That link you gave was very helpful!! The problem I have is that i dont know where to go to start. Do I need a server? Or how do I design it, and what program to use? those kind of things.
do you guys recommend Microsoft visual web developer?
I will explore that site you gave!!
How about just starting a blog at a site like Wordpress.com or Blogspot.com. You could easily accomplish what you are trying to do, unless the intent is to learn how to build the website with things like PHP, or ASP.Net, or some other development language.
Ya I intend to learn how to build sites from scratch through things like PHP... I have looked into blogspot.com sort of things, and they dont look as fun as it would be to create it from scratch :p (and what do you learn from just using someone elses site??)
For team 1323's (http://team1323.com) website, we use dreamweaver. I myself like dreamweaver because you don't have to fully know html. As long as you know some your fine. But for us, we get free stuff due to the fact that our school buys a ton of Autodesk and Adobe products.
If you have any questions IM or PM.
JohnBoucher
27-05-2009, 11:03
do you guys recommend Microsoft visual web developer?
No. The Microsoft products are geared to their technologies, asp,.net.
There are many freebie webhosts or you can opt for a low cost one. I suggest the low cost route (site5 , 1&1, Godaddy)
You will have issues pointing a domain name to a freebie site.
Get a linux/apache package with cpanel. Stay away from a windows server.
Andrew Schreiber
27-05-2009, 11:47
John, I have to disagree with you, while I think Linux servers are wonderful Microsoft servers are also quite handy if you know how to set them up. Where I work we have servers that have not had a minute of unscheduled down time in a year. When we do have downtime it is mostly for upgrades (hardware and software) and those times are known over a month in advance.
My suggestion, before paying for a server use XAMP (google it) to test out your code on a local machine. Depending on what language you want to do I would suggest different software. If you want to use .Net Visual Studio is the recommended app. For PHP development I would recommend notepad++ (or your code editor of choice) As for HTML development, notepad++ again is my developer of choice on Windows. On OS X I use Textmate for all HTML/PHP development.
Only once you have learned the basic skills would I rent space on a server and buy a domain name. No point to be paying for it to be sitting out there unused.
JohnBoucher
27-05-2009, 12:27
A good starting place for html coding is the w3 schools (http://www.w3schools.com/)
Even if Andrew and I disagree, there are many options out there.
How is the current team site hosted? I am sure they could set up a directory for you. You would be learning in the environment you are working toward.
hth
Andrew Schreiber
27-05-2009, 12:35
A good starting place for html coding is the w3 schools (http://www.w3schools.com/)
Even if Andrew and I disagree, there are many options out there.
How is the current team site hosted? I am sure they could set up a directory for you. You would be learning in the environment you are working toward.
hth
John is right there are many options out there, it depends on your needs. First step when choosing a server is figuring those out.
Of course, w3schools, how could I forget. They also have tutorials on PHP, best resource for references however is php.net.
Well I have a basic Idea of what it will contain. I am thinking of a progress page for a small robot i am working on designing.
That link you gave was very helpful!! The problem I have is that i dont know where to go to start. Do I need a server? Or how do I design it, and what program to use? those kind of things.
do you guys recommend Microsoft visual web developer?
I will explore that site you gave!!
Actually, Microsoft Web 2.0 is the program you want to use. You can get Expression Studio for free if you are high school or college student.
MrForbes
27-05-2009, 19:59
If you just want to make a progress page for a small robot, then you can do just about anything....the software you use should be the software you want to use on a larger project.
You can use very simple html tags with a text editor like notepad to make a simple web page.
I agree that putting it on the existing team host is a great idea, it won't cost you anything and will force you to learn how to work with that host.
for non-coding cms try dotnetnuke and drupal......and just google search cms.....
I'm developing our new team site in an Ubuntu 9.04 Server setup with mod-wsgi & python on Django framework. Though, where you should start in order to learn is through basic semantics of HTML, and then learn basic PHP. Once you grasp solid understanding (note: not knowledge) of PHP, you should be able to crank some cool stuff out with documentation handy. Check out tizag.com and W3's website.
Thanks for the help guys, I will learn some HTML, which isn't really that difficult, and probably make a basic site, and then just go from their!!
Yeah, a good path to take is: Learn HTML&CSS&JS (The static stuff), then move on to dynamic stuff like Python or PHP (or ASP) and then move on to web framework stuff (this isn't really necessary, but you may be able to crank out really cool stuff).
Uberbots
29-05-2009, 02:16
Well you have a domain and a webserver, good job. that's about half the battle right there for most new web designers (:
for me, the first thing i learned when i developed my first site was PHP, and some basic MySQL queries. trust me, if you can understand that and make something basic (like a database-driven news page), you will very quickly learn how to move along from there. I sort of learned html on the side as i learned php, when i realized i needed to format stuff.
personally, i learned the basics of html here: http://www.htmlgoodies.com/tutorials/getting_started/
have fun, and read the manuals carefully (-;
byteit101
29-05-2009, 06:38
If you want ASP.NET, you dont need a windows server! you can use apache with the mono mod on linux.
For a ASP.NET editor, defiantly Visual Web Developer Express. For PHP, Eclipse PDT (http://www.eclipse.org/pdt/) It has syntax highlighting, auto completion for PHP, HTML, JS and CSS, PHP debugging (I find this hard to get working), and a few other nice features, like being able to install add-ons, like subversion
You can also use Microsoft Publisher to create the web site for you. It's pretty easy to use if you have no experience at all. You can choose from templates with color schemes and have something up and running in a few hours that looks professional. You can edit the html, but then the next time you create the site, it overwrites your changes, so it's really for creating a web site from their user interface. It also handles clicking on other links, moving from page to page, etc.
If you want to learn html, using notepad.exe is very basic, and you'll spend a lot of time figuring out html syntax. You will spend a lot of time getting things to look decent. This is for hard-core html learners.
If you want to learn ASP.NET, using Microsoft Visual Studio, you can create a web site very quickly, using their user interface, but you will need to learn VB.NET or C# to be able to do any processing of user input. If you're just displaying status, showing images, etc., you probably won't need any code behind except for moving from one page to another. There are plenty of examples of code for anything you want to do by googling it.
ginosoprano09
29-05-2009, 13:53
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70587
This thread contains links to many open source apps that can help you with your website.
Thanks again for all the help!! I decided i didn't want to spend all that much on anything, so Just when with NVU for now. I have a domain name that I had purchased last fall for a project, but never ended up being used, so I am using that until I know I will want to get a new domain. (Also free hosting)
It turns out to be a lot easier than I had thought!! although I haven't done to much as fas as editing the HTML, iv'e done a lot with the "normal" view.
-kyle
JohnBoucher
30-05-2009, 11:59
Thanks again for all the help!! I decided i didn't want to spend all that much on anything, so Just when with NVU for now. I have a domain name that I had purchased last fall for a project, but never ended up being used, so I am using that until I know I will want to get a new domain. (Also free hosting)
It turns out to be a lot easier than I had thought!! although I haven't done to much as fas as editing the HTML, iv'e done a lot with the "normal" view.
-kyle
You can do quite a bit with NVU. The really nice thing is that it produces very clean code. Frontpage/Dreamweaver/Expression Web all add unnecessary code.
I use it for the basic structure of a site, then break out sections for php includes.
Tom Line
01-06-2009, 08:57
Also keep in mind that you can write a webpage without using any of the hundreds of Aconym-laced programs mentioned here.
A simple text editor and a basic knowledge of actual HTML will always help when someone can't get their 'editor of choice' to do something.
I've always been of the opinion that learning without the editors is the way to start. Learning with them leaves you missing a lot of the basic knowledge you should have on how a website is layed out.
virtuald
01-06-2009, 22:29
I've always been of the opinion that learning without the editors is the way to start. Learning with them leaves you missing a lot of the basic knowledge you should have on how a website is layed out.
I would tend to agree with this. I use Notepad++ (http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm) for a text editor, which does syntax highlighting and has tabbed editing.
nzamorski
03-06-2009, 09:37
When I first began designing websites I learned using a basic text editor. I agree with other people that this is the best way to learn in that you are learning what each tag does instead of using some sort of a visual editor to do it for you.
Eventually I learned other things such as css and Javascript. Learning css is extremely important as it allows you to format everything on your website. I would suggest learning css while you are learning html. By learning the css and using it in your website to begin with it will make things easier down the road.
W3Schools is a great place to go to begin learning css and html. I would recommend using a basic text editor such as notepad++ to get started.
If you are intrested in learning and utilizing asp.net at some point Visual Web Developer is a great tool to use. I have been using that program for many years. If you go to www.asp.net they have many great tutorials and videos on anything from beginning to use asp.net to more advanced concepts. The free express edition of the program can also be downloaded from that site.
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