Creating a webpage?

[DBE]

My answer would be: what exactly do you want to use your web page for?

a) A simple "this is me, I live on a beautiful island in the middle of nowhere, but I exist"? Then you should probably head for an app such as
Frontpage or Dreamweaver.
b) More of a "this is me, and you'd never believe just what happens on my beautiful little island in the middle of nowhere.."? Then a blog
would be perfect. Here you've got two choices: go for a blog provider or use one of the ready-made blog packages which you basically upload to your
site and configure to your needs.
c) Or do you need a "this is me, and I'd really be happy to share your views on this beautiful little island I call home"? In this case, maybe
a forum would be best.

In any case remember rule #1: stay away from "freebie" web hosts (such as Lycos et al.). Get yourself a reliable local provider who offers PhP, MySQL
and FTP access at a reliable price.

And, as Dan already mentioned: learn from other people's work. Check the source code of pages which you like. Use google to find the right syntax for
HTML or PHP commands.

...And don't hesitate to request more guidance over here: we've got a couple of great people within this community!

[WBHoenig]

Don't fill up your page with huge graphics, 'enhancing' the presentation. It makes the load time slow and annoys people.

This is an example of a bad site:

http://tinyurl.com/cf2pl

This is an example of a good site:

http://tinyurl.com/avru9

I use Blogger myself, heavily editing a template and uploading it to my server, my own computer. And, if you want a forum, I reccommend PhpBB. But for the latter, you need to learn basic facets of SQL and PHP, and have a server that supports them.



Post Edited ( 01-17-06 23:52 )

[WBHoenig]

Also, if you are running XP, it is not hard to run your own site, using your own computer as the server.

[crowebird]

DanSteph wrote:
I personnaly never learned programation, php or any language in school and a very few in books.
Usually I study how other have done and then search in the documentation when I encounter
something that I do not understand. Then I try to make my own based on my knew
knowledge and refine stuff by searching on internet about tutorial, doc, people that had problems
with one stuff etc etc....

Internet is a fabulous tool, it contain almost all the reply to your question. Just ask google.
No need to even post in forum all the reply are already on internet.

For me learning a language is FIRST knowing where to find answer and how to use
google then you have all the material to start and make cool projects.

My two cents,

Dan

Go Dan!! This is how I learned it all, heck im 16 and I know quite a bit of it
Just look for what you want to do on the net, theres tons of tutorials, then build a test page with the tuts, then expand from there and look
for more and try your own things, just experiment with it for awhile and you can pick it up

[WBHoenig]

I'm younger than 16 and I am starting to learn PHP and MySQL.

[crowebird]

its alot of fun, I think I started when I was 14 and can do quite a bit with it now

[WBHoenig]

I am the only one in my school whos definition of 'fun' is web programming. A year or so ago, I tried out some VB.Net, but I like PHP and other web
languages better.

[crowebird]

well if your interested I can show you some of the scripts I made -- I expecially like my encryption script, and I doubt you would be able
to crack it, even if you knew how it worked -- atleat it would take you some time from there

[WBHoenig]

You have my e-mail address via PaxAir...

[eazy]

Runi, I can only second what's been said before: Don't start with a wysiwyg editor at first. Get some simple text or script editor (there are
better ones than Notepad; Homesite+, which comes with Dreamweaver, is a very good one, but there should be good freeware editors as well)
and start with simple layouts. Try to learn the basics of HTML tagging first, creating some basic layouts and going to more complex ones
after time.
In my company I see always the same happening with apprentices. They start drooling over Dreamweaver and Fireworks, doing the most
complicated layouts with CSS layers and ready-made Javascripts, and after a short while they get completely lost because they don't know
what's happening behind the curtain.
It takes some patience to learn things from the bottom but it makes life much easier later on.

Concerning Dreamweaver, Macromedia offer free trial versions for all their software, so at least you can have a look at it and judge by yourself
if you want to spend the money. IMO, Dreamweaver is by far the best you can get (although probably the most expensive).

[WBHoenig]

But FrontPage is probably easier to learn at first.

[runibl]

I already know how to use frontpage. I used it a few years back, and I also helped in learning a few kids how to use it. But I never really liked it,
and I never learned to use the code. So that's what I want to do now. I got a hold of a program called Stone's WebWriter 4, which is danish and free
registration (can also be bought, but only a few extra things that I don't need).
And with all the hints and links you guys have posted, I have started creating now. So thanks again.

[DBE]

So which of the three homepage variants are you going for?

[runibl]

I'm starting out with html if that's what you mean.

[DBE]

Nope: I mean what exactly do you want to use your webpage for?