Building a website.

[Idkmyname]

Alright I've recently decided to make a website, but I don't know squat about building one. I have no experience in HTML, no experience in graphic design and I'm really not sure where to even begin. I also don't have the money to hire someone else to do it for me. So my question is, what are the best programs for beginning web designers?

 

[Treetz]

You can use Microsoft Front page. It is an editor where you can use a combination of static design and html. For instance when you make a bar with text you can see the html wich that produces. On the net is alot of information and standard html code to work with, you just have to practice alot. Just build a few websites to see what you can do with html or other code (php for instance - more advanced).

http://www.w3schools.com/ has alot of free website building tutorials.

With Dreamweaver you can build a website that is non static, so with flash for instance.

Also there are free hosting websites where you can build a website from a template. It isnt the most beautifull website you are making but it is something.

Just depends on how far you want to take this. Learning Java can get you pretty far too!

 

[Idkmyname]

Alright thanks.

 

[Idkmyname]

I was thinking about buying a professionally made template.

 

[Deep Dish]

I started designing websites about 11-12 years ago when I was about 16 or 17, and I was self-taught.

Rather than read tutorials or rely upon HTML generators, I looked at the source code of web pages and figured out what different codes meant, by comparing the code with the rendered version. HTML, even complexly coded HTML, is usually pretty easy to figure out. It's when you get into cascading stylesheets or scripting that referring to tutorials becomes necessary. If you can learn HTML, it's easier and faster to pump out code than by using HTML generators, not to mention your code will be smaller and more efficient than any generated HTML (which is notoriously crappy -- even 11-12 years later). Writing HTML is a skill which once acquired never goes away, but the "skills" of using any HTML generator changes with every version.

 

[It's-Me]

I was thinking about buying a professionally made template.

Are you familiar with the term "warez"? Why pay for it when you can get it illegally? I'll find you almost any paid template for free.

I also recommend Adobe Dreamweaver CS3. Microsoft Frontpage is horrible!

I started designing websites about 11-12 years ago when I was about 16 or 17, and I was self-taught.

Rather than read tutorials or rely upon HTML generators, I looked at the source code of web pages and figured out what different codes meant, by comparing the code with the rendered version. HTML, even complexly coded HTML, is usually pretty easy to figure out. It's when you get into cascading stylesheets or scripting that referring to tutorials becomes necessary. If you can learn HTML, it's easier and faster to pump out code than by using HTML generators, not to mention your code will be smaller and more efficient than any generated HTML (which is notoriously crappy -- even 11-12 years later). Writing HTML is a skill which once acquired never goes away, but the "skills" of using any HTML generator changes with every version.

That's mostly the way I learned... and editing vBulletin templates too.

 

[STR8UP]

Are you familiar with the term "warez"? Why pay for it when you can get it illegally? I'll find you almost any paid template for free.

I also recommend Adobe Dreamweaver CS3. Microsoft Frontpage is horrible!



That's mostly the way I learned... and editing vBulletin templates too.

Have you heard of the term "copyright infringement"?

It's one thing to download a song and play it for personal use on your iPod, it's another thing to steal a template and post it on the internet for everyone to see.

 

[It's-Me]

Have you heard of the term "copyright infringement"?

It's one thing to download a song and play it for personal use on your iPod, it's another thing to steal a template and post it on the internet for everyone to see.

Those laws don't apply in every country, that's why there's warez sites.

 

[Idkmyname]

I started designing websites about 11-12 years ago when I was about 16 or 17, and I was self-taught.

Rather than read tutorials or rely upon HTML generators, I looked at the source code of web pages and figured out what different codes meant, by comparing the code with the rendered version. HTML, even complexly coded HTML, is usually pretty easy to figure out. It's when you get into cascading stylesheets or scripting that referring to tutorials becomes necessary. If you can learn HTML, it's easier and faster to pump out code than by using HTML generators, not to mention your code will be smaller and more efficient than any generated HTML (which is notoriously crappy -- even 11-12 years later). Writing HTML is a skill which once acquired never goes away, but the "skills" of using any HTML generator changes with every version.

That's a good idea. I'm mainly concerned with the graphics of it all. I found a template I like on templatemonster.com for $62 I think I'm just going to buy it.

 

[Treetz]

Buying a template isn't going to help you understanding how to build a website.. Start by creating a simple site using source code for other sites and tweak that in a notepad, save it as an .html file and see what is does! There are many ways that leads to Rome..