[Hewlett-Packard]

My dad wants me to create a website and host it.

The thing is, I have never used HTML, and I am pretty sure I could make a website without knowing it, but eventually I will have to learn the language.

The primary use of this website will be to display adds for cars available for sale for a foreign country, and I need it to be able to be updated easily.

What software will you suggest that provides easy to moderate difficulty of creation? I have used front page before, but I barely remember any of it, and I don't think it was very successful nor pretty.

Any input is welcome,

Thank you in advance!

 

[Havegooda]

Get some type of CMS (Content Management System) if you want it to be easily updated. You'll need to learn at least some basic HTML (maybe a bit of CSS) if you want to make it look nice. Hosting your own site isn't like going to Geocities...it's not point, click, done.

~Gooda~

 

[Hewlett-Packard]

Hmmzies

Any examples of CMS you can give me?

Also, what software would you recommend for starters? Dreamweaver? Frontpage?

 

[ML Infamous]

Various CMS'

A couple you could look at are:
Drupal
Joomla
PHP-Nuke
PHP-Fusion

I have briefly used those four, I personally don't like the available CMS' for what I needed it for (Displaying Forum Entries, Forum Activity, Etc) and ended up creating my own homepage that did it.

Anyhow, as for programs, if you go with a CMS you really don't need much more than Notepad or Notepad ++, as you will more than likely end up using a style that is premade.

Anyhow, good luck, if you have more questions you can shoot me a PM.

 

[Hewlett-Packard]

I'm very very new to all this. I'll obviously have to do a ton of reading. I'll look into this stuff, and update the thread later.

 

[Havegooda]

I hear Joomla is good, but I didn't really like it. Just personal preference though.

My CMS: Notepad.

~Gooda~

 

[NITRO1250]

I've been using Dreamweaver since version 4. Good solid software.

If you want CMS, something good and reliable would be a nuke system (phpnuke or nuke-evolution) or Joomla or SMS.

Since you are hosting the website, I'd recommending using a service: powweb.

http://powweb.com

They are nice as they have "installers" that will pre-configure and install whatever you want from a list, including CMS. You just have to name your database and create the admin account (through the nice braindead simple web browser installer setup).

Basically with the installers, you can try out pieces of software CMS systems to see how you like them. You know, see what themes you can get, how much you can customize, etc. They can be easily deleted (uninstalled) without ever having to FTP into your server.

For $5.77 $3.88 per month, you can't go wrong, and they even have bulk plans where you buy years in advance for a cheaper rate.

Unlimited disc/transfer. You simply can't go wrong.

That is the best advise I can give you for someone very new that wants to get started from the ground up.

 

[Bunnywinkles]

I use dreamweaver

www.fitcorps.net

Just did that site for a guy. Still being worked on, need to put in tables, just got the content up and looking decent asap. I also use www.justhost.com for hosting.

oh and filezilla for ftp uploading.

 

[NITRO1250]

Correction, Powweb is now $3.88 per month.

 

[kyotejones]

If you don't want to build the site from scratch id go the CMS route. There are tons of them now days. Take a look at opensourcecms.com.

 

[A-E-I-Owned-You]

I use wordpress, but it might be a bit to advanced for a beginner. Easy to update though.

 

[StarryNite]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ML Infamous Various CMS' A couple you could look at are: Drupal Joomla PHP-Nuke PHP-Fusion

Not wise to suggest someone who doesn't even know even HTML to jump in and design for those CMS sites. He'll get so frustrated and forget it. You'll need to know more than HTML to get it to work right, you'll also will need to know scripting.

Pure CSS/XHTML with minor scripting can accomplish a lot, and be MUCH lighter to maintain than these CMS (which by default load too much bloat, and a royal pain on server resources -- PHP-NUKE has never been safe to use and hacked almost daily; Drupal requires you to learn scripting to do anything but add the defaults [and they're butt ugly]; Joomla [I do like this one, but it too suffers from being a server resource hog]).

OP, best you can do is pick up a good book on CSS/XHTML and learn the basics in setting up a site that's browser friendly and accessible (accessibility has been lacking due to all the Flash and all, but now is becoming required...ever seen those 501 buttons along with the validation ones? It's because they pass accessibility guidelines, which is required by the federal government and some state governments now).

You can't go wrong with learning CSS/XHTML, one stylesheet to change all your visual settings, and a very little markup within the pages themselves (e.g., other than adding URL and image links, psuedo code is frowned upon -- or tags).

 

[graphicsman]

man ur best bet would be to get dreamweaver and go that route, im currently learning as you are, but for what you are wanting, it is going to take you months and even close to a year to learn everything that you need to do what you are doing for that site! Personally, if you are a student, go to journey ed, they sell software to students at wholesale prices. Then go to amazon and buy some books on it, a couple of decent ones ive read are:

Dreamweaver CS3 in 24 hours
HTML and CSS in 24 hours
a great reference book are the "On Demand" books, they provide an easy reference point if you get in a stump
Dreamweaver CS3 with CSS, AJAX, and PHP is what i will be reading soon.

Some books to stay away from are the Bible books, in my opinion, because all the ones ive read are mostly repeated over and over again, and right now im trying to freshen up on my InDesign so i can be Adobe certified, well I got the book and funny enough, the first chapter was so bad that i just returned it, lol.

Also, another book i didnt like was learning web design, it was ok but it just grazed the surface really of HTML, and only had two pages of coding, but the HTML and CSS has 10+ pages of coding in the back of the book, and the lessons arent bad.

As for web hosting, id like to learn how to host my own sites, but for now ive used godaddy, its ok, but i thought of changing to someone else.

Good luck man, hope this helps ya

 

[sgdude]

dream weaver. i believe CS4 is out. I use it and its really a cool program.

 

[graphicsman]

some places still offer CS3 that ive seen

 

[Biatch]

I just found a impressive website, which should help you to get started without any reading!

Check it out: http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

 

[StarryNite]

Still will need a reference book on tags. The book I use is called, "Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns" by Michael Bowers. It's not, "Bulletproof Web Design" (which I have but got tired of as it's one of those CSS/XHTML "is going to save the world!!" cheerleading books -- I got it learn better ways to make designs work across the major browsers, not read someone scream about one browser against another). The Pro book is truly a reference book that gives a complete list of tags; it's applications; warnings in their use; and associated tags (makes finding what you need quicker).

If you want to try to dive into CMS building, it maybe just easier to subscribe to the Safari Bookshelf, so you can read the various scripting and database books you'll need to learn (PHP/MySQL/Javascript/AJAX are required), without spending a fortune -- tech books are soooo expensive and usually obsolete in 2 years. Only books that last a long time are like C++ and it's associated reference shelf.

 

[Hewlett-Packard]

Quote:

Originally Posted by graphicsman man ur best bet would be to get dreamweaver and go that route, im currently learning as you are, but for what you are wanting, it is going to take you months and even close to a year to learn everything that you need to do what you are doing for that site! Personally, if you are a student, go to journey ed, they sell software to students at wholesale prices. Then go to amazon and buy some books on it, a couple of decent ones ive read are: Dreamweaver CS3 in 24 hours HTML and CSS in 24 hours a great reference book are the "On Demand" books, they provide an easy reference point if you get in a stump Dreamweaver CS3 with CSS, AJAX, and PHP is what i will be reading soon. Some books to stay away from are the Bible books, in my opinion, because all the ones ive read are mostly repeated over and over again, and right now im trying to freshen up on my InDesign so i can be Adobe certified, well I got the book and funny enough, the first chapter was so bad that i just returned it, lol. Also, another book i didnt like was learning web design, it was ok but it just grazed the surface really of HTML, and only had two pages of coding, but the HTML and CSS has 10+ pages of coding in the back of the book, and the lessons arent bad. As for web hosting, id like to learn how to host my own sites, but for now ive used godaddy, its ok, but i thought of changing to someone else. Good luck man, hope this helps ya

I wasn't going to take it that far that I need to use books, I didn't even look forward to learning a language, but by the looks of it, I'm going to have to learn one.

I'll check out the local library for some to tell you the truth, CSS and all. For now, I think I'm just going to get Dreamweaver and take things from there.

And for hosting, I was thinking about a cheap solution like GoDaddy or something too. I don't have a server or whatever to run it from my house, nor do I have any idea how they work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarryNite Not wise to suggest someone who doesn't even know even HTML to jump in and design for those CMS sites. He'll get so frustrated and forget it. You'll need to know more than HTML to get it to work right, you'll also will need to know scripting. Pure CSS/XHTML with minor scripting can accomplish a lot, and be MUCH lighter to maintain than these CMS (which by default load too much bloat, and a royal pain on server resources -- PHP-NUKE has never been safe to use and hacked almost daily; Drupal requires you to learn scripting to do anything but add the defaults [and they're butt ugly]; Joomla [I do like this one, but it too suffers from being a server resource hog]). OP, best you can do is pick up a good book on CSS/XHTML and learn the basics in setting up a site that's browser friendly and accessible (accessibility has been lacking due to all the Flash and all, but now is becoming required...ever seen those 501 buttons along with the validation ones? It's because they pass accessibility guidelines, which is required by the federal government and some state governments now). You can't go wrong with learning CSS/XHTML, one stylesheet to change all your visual settings, and a very little markup within the pages themselves (e.g., other than adding URL and image links, psuedo code is frowned upon -- or tags).

Thank you for this awesome input. I realized that as I was reading your post I'm really going to have to go with what you suggested. I can use basic dreamweaver stuff as an excuse for a while, but to update and quickly edit the page I'm really going to need to know some HTML. As I said, I'll look some things up in the library, see what they have to offer, and get to work as soon as time will allow me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sgdude dream weaver. i believe CS4 is out. I use it and its really a cool program.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarryNite Still will need a reference book on tags. The book I use is called, "Pro CSS and HTML Design Patterns" by Michael Bowers. It's not, "Bulletproof Web Design" (which I have but got tired of as it's one of those CSS/XHTML "is going to save the world!!" cheerleading books -- I got it learn better ways to make designs work across the major browsers, not read someone scream about one browser against another). The Pro book is truly a reference book that gives a complete list of tags; it's applications; warnings in their use; and associated tags (makes finding what you need quicker). If you want to try to dive into CMS building, it maybe just easier to subscribe to the Safari Bookshelf, so you can read the various scripting and database books you'll need to learn (PHP/MySQL/Javascript/AJAX are required), without spending a fortune -- tech books are soooo expensive and usually obsolete in 2 years. Only books that last a long time are like C++ and it's associated reference shelf.

Will look into that.. but damn I don't think I'll be able to do learn all this database and scripting crap so easy....

 

[Coma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Havegooda My CMS: Notepad.

Completely and utterly counterproductive... at least write your own CMS. Or at the very least, you should use a syntax highlighting editor...

Personally I think working with computers AND a book is a royal pain in the ass. Optimally, you want to have both your resource and what you're working on on the screen, so just use websites. There's plenty of info out there.

A good way to start is to just grab some relatively basic site that validates (this way you know it's not a mess created by FrontPage or whatever), copying it and just playing with it to see what you can do.