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| Learning to create a website; Any help or pointers appreciated | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: 19 Aug 2008, 03:47 PM (576 Views) | |
| Dandandandaman | 19 Aug 2008, 03:47 PM Post #1 |
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I would like to learn how to produce a website from scratch. I have considered undertaking a part time training course but due to a number of factors this is not possible. I have come across this website that I am considering working through http://nvudev.com/guide/html/ but can anybody tell me if this will set me off in the right direction? Does anybody know if there are any websites oor anything else (which is free) that I can use to teach myself how to do it? Thanks for your help Dan |
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| danf_42 | 19 Aug 2008, 03:55 PM Post #2 |
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Prestige level 7
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Depends what you want the skills for really, as the field is so huge. Are you just wanting to be able to make a site for yourself/ as a hobby? Or are you looking at going into it as a job? |
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| Karpathian | 19 Aug 2008, 03:56 PM Post #3 |
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General Of The Army
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First of all, don't spend any more money than necessary. All you really need is notepad which is free to everyone and have a gander at this website... here If you decide that you like it, then you might consider getting yourself a decent book on CSS in the first instance, and possibly scripting if you want more advanced effects. Any help simply ask away. ;) |
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| TAFFYbut | 19 Aug 2008, 04:02 PM Post #4 |
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Staff Sergeant
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Sitting next to me at work is a computer science student (Sian) who has learnt web design and recommends this website. (She just told me that she had 93% in her website design, bragger!!!) http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp |
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| Dandandandaman | 19 Aug 2008, 04:04 PM Post #5 |
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Cheers guys for the help, I'll definately have a work through the website you have linked to Darren. I am fairly competent IT wise but no knowledge of even the basic principles of web design. Idea I have is to build something simple from scratch then over time learn how to develop it better and better until I am able to produce something that could be considered as professional. Then would like to set up an online business building my own web site and then finally take over the world Muhahahahaha (sorry kidding with the last bit) |
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| Dandandandaman | 19 Aug 2008, 04:06 PM Post #6 |
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Sorry didn't see your response Taffy before I replied, will definately look at that site as well, tell Sian thanks. |
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| Littletruck | 19 Aug 2008, 04:08 PM Post #7 |
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First Sergeant
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I can do you a backup (copy) of Dreamweaver 8 if you would like, i used it a few years back to create my companies website. If this is a business venture my mate charges £15.00 per page for non tax related websites. PM me your address if you want a copy. LT I also got Smart FTP Client off the internet for free. |
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| Dandandandaman | 19 Aug 2008, 04:16 PM Post #8 |
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Thanks for the offer littletruck, I wish I had not put that I am fairly competent IT wise now though. What is dreamcatcher and Smart FTP Client? Would I be able to easily learn how to use dreamcatcher? I am a bit overawed now as to which is the best way to go. |
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| danf_42 | 19 Aug 2008, 04:23 PM Post #9 |
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Prestige level 7
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Most people specialise in this industry. In my company I just do design, then we have people who just build Flash sites and people who just do hardcore programming (databases and content management system stuff). It's a good idea to think about what area you'd like to learn in, and whether you'd want to be a one man band (dealing with local companies), a specialist freelancer (possibly working with big brands) or full time at an agency. If you are a one man band you can learn a bit of design and a bit of coding, and successfully create sites for small/medium companies. But to work with the big boys you'd need to specialise in one area. |
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| Karpathian | 19 Aug 2008, 04:30 PM Post #10 |
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General Of The Army
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Dreamweaver is certainly a good package, although I personally think it's like having an electric screwdriver. Someday, you will need to be able to remember how to use a manual one :) Dan, Dreamweaver is the leading package used by Web Developers which allows you for the most part to design complex pages visually. It can seriously cut down on development time if you use it often, but since a lot of the code is wriiten for you, if you manually need to change it I wish you the best of luck with it. If you don't know how to write from scratch, I think you may struggle with some of the automated code. Although the syntax colouring in some tools can be a nice visual aid. I'd start very small to see if you like it first. You don't need any more than this...
The basic procedure is 1) you write your HTML code in Notepad for instance. 2) You save the file with the extension .html 3) Open it with your browser to test it. 4) Once you are happy with the results you need to FTP the site to your web hosting service. This make your website public. (Most ISPs give their customers some free web hosting, so you can FTP it to one of your ISP's servers.) As for the FTP client. Smart FTP is a really nice tool. :gr8: Edited by Karpathian, 19 Aug 2008, 04:31 PM.
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| Littletruck | 19 Aug 2008, 04:31 PM Post #11 |
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First Sergeant
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@Dan DREAMWEAVER is a programme used to create websites using pictures rather than code. Smart FTP is used to create an upload link between your PC & your website. Grab on one side of screen & drop on other side. Walla uploaded. @Karp you are dead right mate, i dont know s!*t about coding, infact the only thing i know now is using 1and1.co.uk website builder tool as it saves me loads of time & effort. Edited by Littletruck, 19 Aug 2008, 04:35 PM.
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| Dandandandaman | 19 Aug 2008, 05:25 PM Post #12 |
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Thanks all @Danf - I'm thinking about the one man band level, more along the lines of setting up my own website which will allow to me to run a business online (I don't know what the business will be yet but hopefully that will come by the time I have learnt how to produce a website) @ Darren - I have started working through the site you linked me to and the starting explanation has got me to about point 4. If I continue through it do you think it will explain how I FTP (what doies this stand for) the stuff to my webspace. You are right about my ISP giving me some web hosting its with talktalk and I have got 15mb, is this any good. @littletruck - thanks again for the offer of dreamcatcher I'll pm you my e-mail address in a bit @all - I assume if I work through the sites that Darren and Taffy have put up this should give me the basics and then if I can follow something similar regarding dreamcatcher I should be well away. |
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| Dandandandaman | 19 Aug 2008, 05:28 PM Post #13 |
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Sorry I now realise it is dreamweaver not dreamcatcher (and I think I'm going to be able to build my own website :doh!) I'm sure you thought that the fact littletruck typed it in caps would make the penny drop. |
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| danf_42 | 19 Aug 2008, 06:33 PM Post #14 |
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Prestige level 7
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The first thing you'll want to learn is html, which isn't that difficult (I used to do a bit and I'm hopeless at that kind of stuff - as in if I can do it anyone can ;) ) Then you'll want to move on to css. Most websites used to be built using tables in html, but most professional sites are now built using div layers and css (you'll understand what I'm on about as you learn it :) ) As for the design side, have a look at sites like http://www.cssimpress.com/ which shows the sort of thing you can do with css. The other tack you could take would be to learn Adobe Flash. It then allows you to build animated Flash sites that are different to a normal html site. |
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| potukxystus | 19 Aug 2008, 09:32 PM Post #15 |
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Ask...Get!
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dan PM me for any software you need- no charge i also have some excellent video tutorials on dreamweaver; flash and more if you want to jump straight in - try a site such as http://www.freewebs.com they host 3 or 4 pages for free and include templates etc.. good way to get started on the design and layout. if you do a google on CSS - cascading style sheets, you'll be amazed at what you can do. i only tinker about with it but find it very powerful and there's a load of free useable code already available, copy and paste mate.. ;) btw if you are using dreamweaver it has an ftp(file transfer protocol) client built in for uploading the code and files to your internet host( try http://www.fasthosts.co.uk ) but wouldn't recommend you take that route until you are ready or have a lot of time on your hands to learn it - fairly steep learning curve |
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| Ivor_Bigun | 19 Aug 2008, 11:45 PM Post #16 |
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Professional::Killer
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yep agree with above. I dabbled for a while but couldn't dedicate time to learning properly. (excuse for it all being over my head) Take pot up on his offer of dreamweaver, best way to start. Also have a word with hoplo, he runs a web design agency, check the link in his sig. They create some top stuff |
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| teknopete | 20 Aug 2008, 03:31 AM Post #17 |
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The fat controller
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Cant agree enough with Karpy and Dan about learning a bit of HTML for a kick off, as the biggest problem folk have with sites is most folk are using the likes of DW to generate their code and they have no idea what it means. So if they want to make a minor change or if something is not quite right on the published site they cant look at the code and decipher what is 9 times outta 10 just a daft syntax errror or suchlike. A basic understanding of HTML is a good starting point IMHO, but if you want instant results yeah use DW or a similar package (the thing is though, if you go straight to DW I bet you dont go back to learn the basics). Hope you get on ok buddy ;) BTW I have some aurthoring software in the house which used flowcharts when developing sites (cant remember the name of it but it was really good for when putting together a site which was a few pages deep). If i can find it and your interested lemme know and I`ll FTP it to yah once you set up your client fella. |
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| Dandandandaman | 20 Aug 2008, 08:13 AM Post #18 |
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Thanks for the input from everybody, I am going to try to learn the basics about HTML and CSS first via the linkys provided then hopefully I can move on to using Dreamweaver. I am going to bookmark this thread and keep coming back as I learn things then the thread may make a bit more sense. @Mark - I wouldn't mind the video tutorials you have, I'll pm you shortly @pete - Thanks for the good wishes I understood it all except the last paragraph. |
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| potukxystus | 20 Aug 2008, 01:23 PM Post #19 |
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Ask...Get!
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tutorials etc posted at lunchtime dan. nice white unmarked envelope - went first class so you should have them tomorrow have fun! mark |
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| Robb1888 | 27 Aug 2008, 08:37 PM Post #20 |
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Corporal
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For anyone wanting to build a website the first thing you should do before even touching anything that has electrical power going into it is use a good old fashioned paper and pencil and mockup some designs. It may seem a little tedious at frist but it the long run it is alot easy to sketch something out on paper the code it in HTML. Got to agree with teknopete using a WYSIWYG editor is not the greatest idea for a start it will add a load of bloated markup that isn't required, and you'll never pick up HTML. There are hundreds of sites on the net which will supply really good HTML tutorials. But I've often found w3schools is one of the best. Once you gotten a hand on your HTML which is basically your framework for building your site you should have a go at learning CSS. This is a brilliant site for CSS examples. Good luck... |
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| Pilksflyer | 27 Aug 2008, 08:49 PM Post #21 |
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Prestige Level 2
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OMG think im lost.(looks for the exit) |
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| danf_42 | 28 Aug 2008, 10:08 AM Post #22 |
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Prestige level 7
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It's best to go with what feels most comfortable. A lot of people use the paper and pencil thing, but I've always found it easier to create designs straight into Photoshop :gr8: Only time I ever use paper and pencil is when I'm sketching out a rough idea for our illustrator to use, to get the idea across to him. There are many ways of doing everything, and the best thing is to listen to all the advice and try out all the differing ways, and then go with what feels best to you :partypeople |
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| Dandandandaman | 28 Aug 2008, 10:58 AM Post #23 |
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Thanks for the further input Rob and Dan. I am trying to learn the basics of web building first and then the next steps are the design side of things (this really may be where I fall down). I have worked through the site (here) that Karp pointed me too and found the beginner and intermediate sections were pretty good. The advanced sections were not so good as I don't think they were very good at teaching me the ideas, it felt more like they were just telling me them so struggled to really take it in. Next stop is the W3school mentioned @Rob Thanks for the pm I'm sending you one back shortly Edited by Dandandandaman, 28 Aug 2008, 10:59 AM.
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| danf_42 | 28 Aug 2008, 11:02 AM Post #24 |
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Prestige level 7
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Try not to jump too far ahead. It's usually best to get the basic stuff so that you could write it in your sleep first, and then progress :gr8: |
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