I'm interested in learning how to put together a basic web page and learn a little about web design. I'm starting from the position of zero knowledge so does anybody have any recommended reading or tutorials or suggestions about software or services to use?
I have a host and a url and have installed word press but have come up a little short on what to do next.
I want to learn how to make a web site.
Posts: 485
This might help
It's a critical look at why W3Schools is a problem BUT it has links to good stuff, that is useful, a little ways down (under the WHAT SHOULD BE DONE heading).
There are no doubt several boffins here that are far more qualified than I to give advice though. I've done a few sites but none have been especially conventional (cept arguably the WalKThroughTheClock one).
Jimmy_The_Lips wrote: A hairy baby with a hole in its head that you want to stick your poky stick into. Yes.
Come, join us: www.thebearandbadger.co.uk
Regarding software, using Notepad or similar is enough to get you started. W3Schools is probably fine for the simpler things. Notepad is all I use actually.
Jimmy_The_Lips wrote: A hairy baby with a hole in its head that you want to stick your poky stick into. Yes.
Come, join us: www.thebearandbadger.co.uk
If you are looking for templates (skins for your website) this is the place to go:
http://www.templatemonster.com/
They offer several different skins, and some even come in pacages where you can get an entire site (underpages, menus etc).
You could always ask the guy that built this place.
maybe not
g.man
XBox Live & PSN: gman808
We're moving house. Come with g if you want to live...
http://www.thebearandbadger.co.uk
Just open Tumblr etc. account like everyone else.
Oh wait you did the Wordpress thing already, well
chuckle at g.man
Or ask him and then do the exact opposite.
I don't know what Word Press is, but I did some bullshit in Dreamweaver for assigments. Kept it rudimentary as fuck just to cover the critera gates, 'cause I couldn't have been arsed with it.
I didn't turn up for the first 2 months of web design classes and still managed to hand in a merit graded touchscreen web app using this book I read while in Burger King and a crack of Dreamweaver CS3 or whatever it was at the time, at home.
"Hate Filled Poster"
Well he should be sorted now.
Jimmy_The_Lips wrote: A hairy baby with a hole in its head that you want to stick your poky stick into. Yes.
Come, join us: www.thebearandbadger.co.uk
Tru dat. Make us a forum. A nice, sort of... ox-blood coloured one. Any help required n0face, call my 24hr cell number on the other page.
"Hate Filled Poster"
I do websites and shizz.
I started out using a content management system, it lets you get used to html and CSS in a complex environment and is much more rewarding than starting from scratch.
Joomla
Concrete5
Drupal
Any one of those is easy to set up and use and offers a bit more fleibility than wordpress. You can get as technical as you like at your own pace, but have a good looking site from the off.
I think I must just be a dunce because it all feels like wading through treacle, I shall persevere and see what comes.
Stick with Wordpress (which is quite awesome), and Google like fuck. There's a lot of information about WP out there;
You all write? | XBL: dynamiteReady
This site is quite good, for a real basic guide to coding html and css
http://www.dontfeartheinternet.com/
They have a series of instructional videos, starting from a real basic level, and explaining the principes of it all.
It's ongoing, so they will deal with more complicated stuff over time.
With regards to software, I've just started using Text Wrangler for mac, which I'm finding pretty sweet. It's free.
double post!
Came across this thread while looking for something else. If you're still doing or interested in this, one of the best free editors I've found is Aptana; it does hinting/auto-complete, syntax highlighting and in-line error highlighting which are all extremely useful both for beginners and professionals (many wouldn't write code without them, in fact). It's got support for a couple of server-side languages, if you need to do that, too.
Personally, I learnt everything I know from looking at the code for other sites, Googling things as and when I needed to know them, and playing about.
My Dads website is fucking awful. It looks like a Geocities site. I'm pretty sure I made better looking sites a decade ago using Homestead and Frontpage.
Unbelievably, he pays someone for this. I think I could do better. I intend to prove this. What can I use that is free and good. Is AJ's suggestion the best?
Pinch a template from somewhere and tweak using Notepad or sommat. WTTC site was built using just such a method. Geocities, yeesh.
Jimmy_The_Lips wrote: A hairy baby with a hole in its head that you want to stick your poky stick into. Yes.
Come, join us: www.thebearandbadger.co.uk
Never used Aptana but Notepad++ is also good as a free editor for any code related stuff.
Otherwise Dreamweaver's the best out there.
To be honest, although I like classic static sites and hand coding, Wordpress is generally a good solution if you just want to make an effective site. Good out of the box SEO, quick and easy to get going, and with the right theme and bit of time not too difficult to make something that looks unique.
You've then also got the benefit of all of the blogging, comments, and cms features.
And you can use that as a stepping stone to learn about css, php, html and so forth, and see how it should be done and have a play around.
Twenty Eleven's a good theme. So you can just make a child theme of that, and then any files you want to modify you can copy from the theme directory and add to the child theme directory. Making a child theme is important because it makes updates a lot less painful.
Weaver's also worth checking out, as it's highly customisable and a good way to learn about Wordpress and Wordpress themes. It includes some guides in the theme files.
Just download your Wordpress installation after you've installed the theme from inside Wordpress to read the files.
G'luck
www.hihosting.co.uk
Currently editing the code from his website. Fuck me is this badly made!
Dreamweaver's pretty awesome if you're doing design, that's quite true. It's also really expensive if you want to buy it. Notepad++ is extremely limited, though; good for quick edits (I have the similar Textwrangler installed for just that) but it would be a lot of effort to do anything large scale with it.
Making it from scratch is rarely the best thing to do if it's something that'll need updating. Wordpress (mainly for things that have new posts added regularly) or Drupal (for just about everything else) are common favourites.
You can try CMS application such as wordpress and joomla to build your web site easily or you can try Dreamweaver software it is design only for web site designing you can also we web site maker tools. Thanks.
Hey website maker tools, you should probably get rid of that sig. And get rid of yourselves too while you're at it.