how do i make a website?

[Danniboy]

hi all,

this is my the area im least expeirienced in, i would like to create a website of my own for a home page and at the same time with doing this i will learn how its done, but first of all, ofcourse... where do i start? what software etc.. would u recommend for web site creation, bere in mind that i know nothing about this, lol

[wilmabundus]

hi all,

this is my the area im least expeirienced in, i would like to create a website of my own for a home page and at the same time with doing this i will learn how its done, but first of all, ofcourse... where do i start? what software etc.. would u recommend for web site creation, bere in mind that i know nothing about this, lol

This is exactly what is bothering most of us. WHERE DO I BEGIN?
Now we all know the benefits of owning a website, we all know that we can update it and do more things with them. But the big question is HOW do I start? WHERe do I start? What do I start with? ETC.
So can Somebody be so good as to help fellow members pick up the idea?
Love you all,

[MasashiMikamida]

Well, first you must look at your strengths: Are you more adept at writing actual code? Or are your talents more visually tunned??

Regardless which you choose, it's best to know a little about the opposite. For example, I am a graphic designer therefore, it's easier for me to make sites visually that write lengthy code. But I also know a little raw HTML code in case there is a problem with anything that I do visually.

No mater which route you take, I reccomend the following software titles:

Dreamweaver MX
Fireworks MX
Flash MX
FreeHand MX

Of course, if you don't want to buy seperately, you can allways get Studio MX. Check out this link::

http://www.macromedia.com/software/

I am huge fan of Macromedia. And once you get the software, you can go to their web site for seminars, ask people on various forms, or use the extensive help files included in the software. It takes a little bit of practice to do the basic stuff, though the larger the site and the more high-level tasks you need to do, you may need to get more than one person managing a site. It's an expensive hobby, but an even more profitable career if you get really good at it. Of course, unlike the golden 90's, you can't walk into a company, scream the words "Dot Com" and expect everyone to bow down before you. (Nowadays it takes words like flash, vector graphics, advanced, and the occasional 'X' or 'Ultra' or 'Platinum' marketing device!!

;)

[2ndPlatform]

hi all,

this is my the area im least expeirienced in, i would like to create a website of my own for a home page and at the same time with doing this i will learn how its done, but first of all, ofcourse... where do i start? what software etc.. would u recommend for web site creation, bere in mind that i know nothing about this, lol

Good morning!

So you would like to make a website? That's great! This is a great board to get some help in getting started.

First of all, you'll need the following:

1. Some sort of HTML editor (I highly recommend Dreamweaver - it is easy to learn and use, and writes very clean code).

2. Some sort of graphics program to create your images if you don't have them already (I highly recommend Fireworks or Photoshop. Fireworks is probably easier to learn and is better suited for web design. It's also a Macromedia product).

3. Somewhere to host your site. You'll need to make the site available to the world and that means hosting it someplace other than your hard drive. :) I can recommend ICDSoft.com for that. They're very inexpensive and VERY responsive to everything. It takes about a half an hour for them to set up your account -- and you get as many email addresses you want with them. You also get a very easy to use control panel to manage your website.

4. A domain name - I.e. www.mysite.com . You can register your website at any number of places. Network Solutions is a very well known registrar, however I think they are overpriced and hard to get ahold of if you need technical support. Try 000domains.com -- again, pretty cheap and easy to use. A URL will run you $13.50 with them.

5. Some imagination! Use your graphics program and your HTML editor to put together your website. This will be the bulk of your work. Some designers will create the website layout in the graphics program, then slice up the images and create the HTML out of it. Actually, if you create your layout in Fireworks, there is an option to save it as HTML... that gets a little more complicated (but not terribly!) and I'd be happy to help if you have questions once you get to that point.

Once you have some pages created, it's a matter of FTP (file transfer protocol) up to your host server and you're set!

ON the other hand -- if you want an easier approach, you might consider trying one of those build-your-site packages that you can find online. There are a ton of places you can just build everything through an online interface. I don't use those - but that's probably because I'm a web designer and I like more control.

I hope this gives you a little bit of directions. Basically, what will happen is you'll start to do things and have a thousand questions. So just feel free to ask me or anyone on this board and I'm sure you'll find your answers.

Good luck!

Shannon
Second Platform

[indienick]

All the above options are quite good, except for one thing: they cost money.

Of course, you could always download a cracked version of Dreamweaver, but if you wanna keep it legal, I recommend checking out a program called PHP Designer . It's 100% free. While Dreamweaver gives you a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) interface (as well as a more hardcore, "code" interface), it's always good to know ACTUAL HTML, and not just rely on a program generating it for you.

For free hosting, Geocities is one of the most popular and has nice options for uploading TONS of files at once.

For learning the actual HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language), check out W3C.org Schools. Here, I've saved you the trouble of looking around, and found a beginners tutorial for you: click here

If you get a chance, check out my website, which I hand-wrote 100% from HTML: http://www.geocities.com/foinfo_phreak