80 replies to this topic

[cranfieldos]

webishqiptar, on May 2 2009, 09:00 PM, said:

Why don't you learn a Cms like drupal or Joomla or Wordpress, or Blogger..it is much easier to understand the basics. I prefer to modify wordpress, and create what I like. I suggest you to get some books and start learning a programming language.

I completely agree, if your not inclined to learning a new scripting language or willing to pay for a commercial product such as dreamweaver then try downloading and installing an open source CMS, personally i prefer manual scripting, but recently i have downloaded and installed Joomla and have found it to be very user friendly, it does all the hard work for you so you dont have to!

[The Simpleton]

If the user's intention is to learn something new by creating the website then it is suggested that he does all the hard work himself instead of depending on ready-made solutions like these! And if the intention is to just put a site up then CMS is the answer.

Learning to do everything on his own would certainly benefit the user sometime in the future so this is recommended more, isn't it?

[Idolon]

For some (well, at least for me) it is much easier to learn by studying other's code.  Rather than starting from scratch, find an existing web page similar to you want to do and try to figure out what each part of the code does.  You can start with a ready-made CMS like Wordpress,  look at existing themes or plugins, and then modify them as you learn how they work.


You may also want to pick up a development tool such as NetBeans or Aptana Studio that provides hints as to what HTML tags do and what attributes they can have.  It's much easier than switching back and forth between your HTML code and a cheat sheet.

[sandeep95]

Why don't you search on youtube on learn html. It is more easy to learn visually than reading. You should also try to learn CSS. But you should first just get a free template and a wysiwyg editor. That can start you off. I really recommend the CSS tutorial on 2createawebsite.com . Their tutorials are easy to understand but they don not cover anything. But if you would like to read then go to w3schools.com

[Nameless_]

kasperooney, on Jun 20 2009, 03:18 PM, said:

If the user's intention is to learn something new by creating the website then it is suggested that he does all the hard work himself instead of depending on ready-made solutions like these! And if the intention is to just put a site up then CMS is the answer.

Learning to do everything on his own would certainly benefit the user sometime in the future so this is recommended more, isn't it?

This is exactly what I want to do... you just accurately fully summed up my intentions!
I am currently learning coding and all that though, I've borrowed a lot of books from the library,
and it is easier to learn everything yourself than get someone else's work because it will then be easier to edit it and change it to what you want.

Idolon, on Jun 23 2009, 07:19 AM, said:

For some (well, at least for me) it is much easier to learn by studying other's code.  Rather than starting from scratch, find an existing web page similar to you want to do and try to figure out what each part of the code does.  You can start with a ready-made CMS like Wordpress,  look at existing themes or plugins, and then modify them as you learn how they work.


You may also want to pick up a development tool such as NetBeans or Aptana Studio that provides hints as to what HTML tags do and what attributes they can have.  It's much easier than switching back and forth between your HTML code and a cheat sheet.

Yes, I will be doing that first too... I have a few website designs on my mind from other people's website, but sadly they have sold the domain and moved on to somewhere else where I don't know...

So I will have to start from scratch anyway. I've also downloaded Aptana Studio, but everything looks so complicated that I don't know where to start. There are so many functions and everything, I really don't know what do to. Also, Aptana Studio isn't a WYSIWYG editor, meaning I have to do all the coding by myself...

This might be good for me in the long term where I learn how to code everything and all that, but it won't be good for me in the short term and that will mean I will have to take longer to learnign coding and everything before I get the results that I want.

[FruitRocks]

Variablez, on Dec 8 2008, 12:39 PM, said:

Use Microsoft Office Frontpage, im sure you can get it cheap induvisually, it helps with HTML and Visual, its really cool then just click Veiw HTML and it shows the HTML code for the site you made! Simple!

That is what I actually started out with when I used to run my websites on Apache Local Server. If you want a more up-to date version of FrontPage, I would suggest going and downloading Microsoft Sharepoint Designer. They also have a full standalone tutorial that you can download.

SharePoint Designer:

http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/details...;displaylang=en

A great book that has helped me a lot is called: Luara Lemay's Teach Yourself Web Publishing with HTML 3.2 in 14 Days. The book itself was made in 1996 (meaning the software included may be a little outdated, but because it is open source I'm sure that you will be able to find a newer version of it somewhere), so it is kinda old, but that is okay because all of the basics of HTML are there (it really hasn't changed that much). Some of the basics it teaches you are HTML tags (like <bold> or <p>). It also covers more advanced stuff like CGI scripts, SSL Encryption, and website secruity.

The cheapest FrontPage 2003 is still VERY expensive for a single piece of software, so I would suggest just getting SharePoint (or even Microsoft Web Developer Express Edition, which is FREE, but kinda hard to get a hang of. they have tuts on there website about it).


Web Developer Express Edition:

microsoft.com/express

FrontPage 2003 Link (its about $200)

http://www.pacificgeek.com/product.asp?c=2...D=50726&P=F

[minimcmonkey]

Of course the correct responce to this depends on what you mean by a "real" website. Im assuming you mean making it in bare HTML.
Firstly, you will find very few popular websites are made with only HTML - the language is totally static, and doesnt even allow for basic mathematic functions. If you want to make an impressive website I would recommend learning HTML, CSS and javascript.
Anything which involves storing, or processing user input, or logging in etc, will require a server-side language like PHP, ASP.net or CGI. Generally paired with a database language like mySQL.

Anyway, learning HTML.

HTML is very easy once you get use to it.
At first you may have trouble understanding what all the tags are for. But its gets very easy, I have been making websites for about 6 years now, and can create a basic text based page in seconds.

I started learning using w3schools.com Which is a very useful site, especially as a reference. But I have always found that a book will be a lot more use. I bought a book to learn HTML, and it taught me a great deadl. I now have a huge pile of books which I have used for learning nearly every programming or web language I know.

Once you have made a few sites you get use to everything.

A big part of learning HTML is understanding what each tag is for, how to use its attributes, and memorising the important ones (eventually you will know all of them!)

Another thing to understand, is that HTML is basically useless without other languages. It just tells the browser what to put on the page. It has trouble telling it where to put it without CSS.

Hope this helps somewhat!

[phpphp]

No, rather its very easy now!

There was a time when people have to code for single pages, now dynamic website have made it very easy to build heavy sites in less duration.

CMS system like joomla have made it very easy to make a dynamic site very easily. just you need to add your required portion and just upload it without knowing whats really going on..and how its made. but if you have to code that yourself... can take months

[fermin25]

Well maybe yeah because if you use PHP you will have to learn all the code and believe it´s very difficult if you don´t experience with another programation code. But if you want a simple HTML site it´s not very difficult and with some programs like Macromedia Dreamweaver or WYSIWYG Web Builder soon you will create your website and start to generate visitors. Another thing that you can do is buy a PHP script pre-designed and customize it with your information or content. I will explain you a little better...

If you for example want to open and create a blog maybe programming it will take you a lot of time, but you can buy or in this case free download a PHP script like wordpress install it in your hosting account and start to post and get visitors...This way is more simple than program an entire PHP blog script.

Or maybe you can open a blog in Blogger or Wordpress and add it a Domain name .com, .net, .org. You can get a domain name with Xisto and Trap17. For that you have to post and earn a least $10.00 MyCent and change them for a domain name. The domain name you like!

Well I hope I can help you with this information. Don´t be afraid and create your website ok.

[eauncarter]

The easiest way of learning web designing I think is by using a web template or WYSIWYG editor at first and then keep on editing the HTML till you get the hang of it. On the other hand you can always chip in a book or a tutorial