tofunater

Well, a couple of years ago, I put together a website for my dads business, and have updated it maybe once every six months since then, and frankly, it is not something I'm proud of. So now, I want to redo it from the ground up the right way.
When I put the current site together I used Frontpage 2003, and the overall design was uninspired to say the least. I also ended up using an ftp uploader to completely reload the site every time I changed something. Needless to say, I want the new site to be easier to maintain, so easy in fact that I can teach my dad how to do it.
I know basic html code, but not a whole lot else. I need software tools, and suggestions on how to do all of this. Thank you OCN!

Should probably add that we have hosting through Pair Networks

__________________

LiNERROR

first step... stop using frontpage
second step... do not start using expression web...

3rd... find a content management system that offers what you would like to have in PHP and/or Perl. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...gement_systems

unless you want to build a static site use a CMS... make your changes with a real HTML editor... and do be a stickler for w3c validation... http://validator.w3.org/

the fact that you have a webpage that isn't basically a full screen image of your businesses yellowpage ad says a lot...

__________________
--
LiNERROR
EOF

K̤̦̳̠̣̖̩̦̦̣͕̭̠̼̺̞h͚͔̭͖̳aos 4593.37 ~173% OC i7 920/12GB/1284EECPU-Z Validator
Enyo 4275.09 ~136% OC E8500/8GB/1284EE CPU-Z Validator
Chronos 3.16ghz ~144% OC Opteron 175/4GB/Hyper48

Much of what looks like rudeness is not intended to give offense. Rather, it's the product of the direct, cut-through-the-bull**** communications style that is natural to people who are more concerned about solving problems than making others feel warm and fuzzy. Would you like to know more?

Did this information help you? If so, please show it by clicking on the REP+ to the left.

usmcz

I would have to second Linerror, a CMS would be ideal but also require a lot of effort to initially setup.

Do you have any more info on maybe what you want on the page, or what does the website need to do?

rising^raveN

Why don't you just download an HTML/CSS free template, there are tons of them out there. All you need to do is just edit them and upload them to your host server. Make sure they're .HTML and .CSS style pages obviously. There's really nothing better than just simply using notepad if your using windows.

__________________
When you say "I wrote a program that crashed Windows", people just stare at you blankly and say "Hey, I got those with the system, for free" - Linus Torvalds

AMD+nVidia

Wow seriously guys?

Wordpress.

Tons of free templates, very powerful, super easy to use, it's all FREE.

__________________
Please support the Modern Warfare 2 boycott until our voices are heard!

Modern Warfare 2 Petition
Global Modern Warfare 2 Price Hike
Modern Warfare Will Not Have Servers, Mods, Anything
Have you canceled your pre-order?

tofunater

I looked into joomla, but don't really understand how it works. The manual seemed to depend on the fact that I understood how a cms works, and how to upload to an external server etc, which I don't. A simple step by step would really make my day.

Here's the current website I f'ed up my last upload so its not exactly complete, but if I'm gonna redo it anyway, I'm not gonna worry about. But that should give you an idea of what I'm looking for. My dads getting his certs for LEED and for thermal testing too, and so I'm gonna wanna showcase those certs with his other ones. Just wanna make it more professional.

__________________

graphicsman

dude. . . . your looking at this all wrong. before you BUILD a site or do a site, do what you need to do first. RESEARCH, look at similar sites that are competing against your dad, find out what works, figure out what needs to stand out. Google a couple of free CSS/web template sites, browse through there business sections till you find what you like, get it, change it up a bit. When your ready to do all the design, download a free Adobe trial for Photoshop and Dreamweaver, with maybe Flash as well, and design it, upload it and be done, or copy the code and use paint to edit your pics and code the whole thing in word pad

__________________

We Are Gr33n Machine

LiNERROR

is there a "not trying to flame but DAMN" smiley?



so, you picked one cms out of the dozens i linked to, researched it for 10 minutes and then figured it wasn't for you -- even though your host supports php, perl and mysql databases (read: All that the cms needs)



you *wanna* make it more professional -- but are too lazy to *actually* make it more professional... take the time to learn how to make it professional, or pay someone to do it.

personally, if i was considering using your father's company and happened upon that site i wouldn't even think twice about finding another contractor, fast.

a CMS is just that... A content management system... rather than dead text, on a dead page... you have a menu driven website...
Want to add content? click edit!
Want to add references? click edit!
Want to add credentials? click edit!

There is no reason to ftp the ENTIRE DEAD SITE onto your more than qualified host when you could have an Active webpage...

Even this, which could be done entirely in even frontpage... http://www.hafnerbros.com/index.htm -- is a sad example of what you could have, and that's just plain and simple dead text...

Now look at this... http://www.vancouverconventioncentre.com/

Imagine...

now... try to spend more than 10 minutes on this... http://wordpress.org


You're going to get out of it exactly what you put into it...

__________________
--
LiNERROR
EOF

K̤̦̳̠̣̖̩̦̦̣͕̭̠̼̺̞h͚͔̭͖̳aos 4593.37 ~173% OC i7 920/12GB/1284EECPU-Z Validator
Enyo 4275.09 ~136% OC E8500/8GB/1284EE CPU-Z Validator
Chronos 3.16ghz ~144% OC Opteron 175/4GB/Hyper48

Much of what looks like rudeness is not intended to give offense. Rather, it's the product of the direct, cut-through-the-bull**** communications style that is natural to people who are more concerned about solving problems than making others feel warm and fuzzy. Would you like to know more?

Did this information help you? If so, please show it by clicking on the REP+ to the left.

ScratchNSniff

OSWD - Free templates come in xhtml with css which means they should already validate which is always a good thing
W3Schools - has an overview of html/xhtml css javascript and anything else you would ever need.
If you want it easier to manage you might consider adding a CMS system such as joomla but from the look of it you really don't have a lot of content and I am not sure how often you want/need to update it you might want to add some JavaScript for dynamic menus or slideshows for your images which you can find through Google. Another thing would be to lower the quality of your pictures just a little or find some better compression because not everyone has the internet connection that can handle that

Also on a side note I'm in the first class for web development so I'm dealing with XHTML and CSS and just getting in to some server side and client side script (JavaScript/ PHP) so if you need more help feel free to ask


EDIT: Also for your own learning purposes I would stick with using something along the lines of notepad if will be a little bit harder in the beginning but if your serious about learning it helps get rid of any crutches. You could also use something along the lines of Komodo which is like a text editor but it has the color coding and helps with syntax errors.

__________________
I need a girl whose name doesn't end in .JPG

tofunater

I tried to figure out joomla before I even posted here, and like I said, I messed up the upload so the site isn't complete right now. No need to chew me out, I came here for direction and help, not a new ***hole. I already told you I'm not proud of that mess, and would like to fix it. This stuff has never come to me naturally and so I need help, are you willing?
And btw I'm not lazy, I'm a 3rd year ME student who wants to do something nice for his father, despite how busy I am.

__________________