Making a website? Here's where to start...

[kram 2.0]

Hey,

I've been seeing many people start on websites and I see many people with questions on how to make them and debug them. I've been through that process three years ago and I can help.

First of all, you have to decide whether you are going to build the website yourself by coding or use a program that would do it for you. Most of you will probably pick the latter - those brave enough to venture into the relams of hand coding, I applaud you - coding and eventually programming is a handy tool that will help you in life that you may find useful.

The former - those who want to use a program - that's a good place to start. There are many programs out there that would do this job for you. You basically enter exactly what you want, text and pictures and all, and then you have a very easy interface that would allow you to customize stuff like fonts, placements, background, etc. It's a great place to start. These programs are called "WYSIWYG"...what you see is what you get. Here are some good programs that I might recommend:

Mozilla Composer: A software that comes with Mozilla's Internet Browser package. Freeware. Though I personally never used it, it is said to be very versatile and efficient.

Microsoft Office 2003 Frontpage: A MS product - still, pretty good for novices. I used the OfficeXP version and it was easy to learn from. Though its range on what you can do is limited, its very good for novices - seeing the source code while you do the "WYSIWYG" program, it aids in, if you desire so, the learning of coding a website.

CoffeeCup: Seemingly a very easy to use HTML editor. I just fideled around with it before writing this sub-article, and I think that it is pretty good. It can do many things that MS Office and Mozilla Composer can't, and it's pretty easy to use. It takes some getting used to, though.


Well, there you are for those new-to-coding PC Mechers. Next are those brave souls ready to conquer the world of coding. Basically, almost every web page you see in your browser, whether it'd be MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, or Mozilla, is reading off a coding language called HTML. I'd be skeptical in calling it a coding language, since it really cannot do a standalone program and largely, is easy to use once you get the hang of it.

To start out, I've found some good books and good websites that I think will aid you in the learning of HTML (HyperText Markup Language). When I went up to my friend three years ago about HTML, he recommended a website in particular - it's HTML Goodies. It's a very good website that teaches you HTML then leads you into other languages that can also help "jazz up" your website. Though the original author of HTML Goodies, Dr. Joe Burns, is gone as of a few years ago, his tutorials are still there and they're good. Consider getting his book - it's worth it. I have the HTML Goodies book always next to me, handy for when I need it.

Books? For HTML, I'd recommend HTML for the World Wide Web - Visual QuickStart Guide by Elizabeth Castro.

Well, those are the few advices that I can give for you new people in HTML. Of course, there is always more to learn - other coding languages as JavaScript, and other server-side programming languages (programming - take note) as PHP/MySql and Perl/CGI scripts.

Please tell me if this mini-tutorial helped - I haven't done many of these before and I hoped that with this, I'd be able to clear up some questions many have regarding the starting of webpages. Of course, if you ever have any questions on HTML, just create a thread and ask the question


Hope that helps,
kram

[mxfury]

kram8806 has forgotten about Dreamweaver, the best WYSIWYG editor of them all

[kram 2.0]

Actually, I purposefully forgot it, knowingly, because Dreamweaver isn't much for novices. I've used Dreamweaver and still use it for all my websites today (if I'm too lazy to whip out TextPad) and I really like it.

As for whether it is good for novice WYSIWYG users, I think not. However, you can download the free evaluation from Macromedia's Website and try it on eval for 30 days. After that, it's 400 USD - a bit on the expensive side. But if you wanna try it, it's a really good application. I'd highly recommend it, once you dip your toes into HTML and website coding for a while

Hope that helps,
kram

[mattg2k4]

As far as books go, I would also recomend "HTML & XHTML: The Complete Reference, 4th edition" by Thomas Powell. It is indeed, a very complete reference. It covers HTML, XHTML, and CSS very well with practical examples, as well as including sections on the design process behind a good website.

[mxfury]

Originally posted by kram8806 Actually, I purposefully forgot it, knowingly, because Dreamweaver isn't much for novices. I've used Dreamweaver and still use it for all my websites today (if I'm too lazy to whip out TextPad) and I really like it. As for whether it is good for novice WYSIWYG users, I think not. However, you can download the free evaluation from Macromedia's Website and try it on eval for 30 days. After that, it's 400 USD - a bit on the expensive side. But if you wanna try it, it's a really good application. I'd highly recommend it, once you dip your toes into HTML and website coding for a while Hope that helps, kram

Just a note, if you are a student you can get the whole Macromedia suite for $200 www.journeyed.com

[Vigo]

Although its a lot of good information I wouldn't advise it for completely inexperienced web builders.

If you're completely new to web programming and don't know where to start I would suggest you first sign up for a free service that provides a control panel with tools that aid you in building a simple site. Angelfire and tripod come to mine but there are others.

The reason why I suggest starting there is because the tools/scripts/how to guides they offer are usually simpler and dont take as long to learn as opposed to more extensive programs like Front Page, Dream Weaver, Macromedia MX...

So if you start there you can decide whether "This is too simple, time to move on to something more substantial" or "Eh, this web stuff is a waste of time and I'm not really going to apply it".

A lot of people that get their feet wet realize web site construction isn't for them. If it is.. then graduate to learning the code itself, or using more advanced programs that give you more control.

[kram 2.0]

I should add onto my article with this as well:

There are many companies making many types of browsers - MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, etc. As you might imagine, not all browsers read codes at one standard - they're similar, but not all the same. In other words, some browsers, like MSIE, are more leninent to coding mistakes - if you forget to put a space between something, it sometimes detects it automatically. Others, like Netscape, are more strict on interpretation - they read your code verbaitim on what you instructed it to do. There are many people using every type of browser. That's why it is crucial to learn coding as closely as possible to what you read in the books, see on tutorials, etc. MS Internet Explorer might read a code, while Netscape may just give you an error message.

Also another topic I forgot to cover - FTP. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. Every browser can download or upload data - such as the PC Mech website you're viewing right now. They use what is called HTTP (first few letters of the address bar): Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The reason I mention both of them right now is it's easy to learn from their contrast. FTP is used strictly for uploading files, such as to a server. HTTP can be used to do both uploading and downloading.

After you complete a webpage, whether it'd be from using a "WYSIWYG" editor or by hand coding, you have to upload it onto a server. The general audience cannot access your webpage simply from your computer - that's where a server can come in handy - uptime 24/7 so anyone can access it at any given time. To upload it onto a server, you need a FTP. I've used several FTPs, both paid and free, but I like WS_FTP Pro or Cute FTP the best - their interfaces are very easy to utilize and it's user friendly. They are both paid versions - sharewares. For freewares, I heard some good things about BatchFTP. Microsoft FrontPage, that I mentioned on my first post, has its own built in FTP.

Using the FTP is very easy - there are two types of uploads: ASCII or Binary. Generally speaking, all coding type files are to be uploaded as ASCII, all image and other stuff are to be uploaded as Binary. Often times, these FTPs automatically classify how it needs to be uploaded for you.

Once you have it uploaded onto the server, you're good to go - everyone on the WWW can see it. They use HTTP here - the normal browser.



Hope that helps,
kram

[aym]

Great guide, just a minor correction, FTP can be used for downloading too.

As for FTP clients, there's FileZilla and SmartFTP too, both are free and easy to use.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by aym_7 Great guide, just a minor correction, FTP can be used for downloading too. As for FTP clients, there's FileZilla and SmartFTP too, both are free and easy to use.

Yeah, now that I think of it, it can be used for downloads (I remember downloading MSIE with an FTP :-p)...sorry about that - I was basing this off of experience.

kram

[TennBikeBerk]

Kram,

What about website hosting? Maybe some good cheap places to host a small web page? Maybe you also want to mention how some ISPs offer a limited amount of space and bandwith, free with your internet access.

For me I already had Frontpage on my computer when I got it, and I leanred how to use it fairly easily. The hardest part for me though, was publishing the site.

[kram 2.0]

Yes, good idea.

There are many hosting companies out there. Often times, your ISP (Internet Service Provider, like AOL) will provide a limited amount of space on their servers to use as a homepage. Those are often around 10 MB, sometimes without MS Frontpage support.

When you go and try to get your site on the web, you need two things. First, you need a hosting place - a place where all your data will be stored, so that the world can access your page. Then, you need the physical address under which your hosting location will be labled as.

There are a few things to looks out for when looking hosting. First, is obviously space. You want a good amount of space if you want to host a normal webpage. Generally, if you go free, you're often limited to around 10 MB, maybe more, often less. This is the amount of space that your files can take up on the hosting server. Then, there's bandwidth. Everytime someone goes to your website, they are taking up a certain amount of internet from the server. If so many people access it at the same time, they clog it up. So servers often have a limit to that - like 1GB per month, or what not. The larger the better. Then there's additional features. This is like MS FrontPage support, PHP, databasing, etc. If you're going to use MS Frontpage, you'd want to find one that saids it will support MS Frontpage, so you can publish your website using Frontpage, instead of a third party FTP software. Other stuff are more advanced - like PHP, MySql databasing, etc.

On address - the domain. You know that to get the PC Mech, all you have to type in is http://www.pcmech.com and you're there. That's the domain - the addresss you have to type in to acces the server. Often times, the hosting service provides a domain along with the monthly fee you pay - after all, you need a domain.

I've had some mighty good luck with a service called PowWeb - it offers a gig of space, a good bandwidth, and a free subdomain (a physical address) for only 7.77 USD a month - a pretty good deal. With this, all your bases are covered as for putting your page up on the web.


Hope that helps,
kram

[Parangles]

Can a newbie take over the running of a web site that has been written/created from scratch with code, and use some software like Front Page, Dreamweaver whatever, to just make minor changes like correct spelling mistakes, make price changes, substitute one photos for a different one etc ? Or are they two different, incompatible formats? There are many 'orphan' sites out there.

Also, what power/capacity is needed to host a website ?
What sort of traffic could a dedicated, older PC ( say 850Mhz cpu ) handle if it was connected to a home network with cable internet ? How many hits/activity could it deal with on the site at any given moment ?

In answer to your Q. Kram, Yes this is a very useful thread !

[ric449]

One notepad user here .

In reply to your post Parangles, yes, you can use those programs for small changes like that, with ease.

Power for a website? It depends. If it is a new website with not much traffic, then anything will do really. I get around 80 a day to my site at the moment, and these are the servers specs:

Intel Celeron 1.8GHz
256MB RAM
Windows XP

They are the relavent specs, does a good enough job for me. But you should know it's all about the internet connection really.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by ric449 Power for a website? It depends. If it is a new website with not much traffic, then anything will do really. I get around 80 a day to my site at the moment, and these are the servers specs: Intel Celeron 1.8GHz 256MB RAM Windows XP They are the relavent specs, does a good enough job for me. But you should know it's all about the internet connection really.

Just the person I was hoping would answer the question here - I've been to your website many times, and noticed you host your server yourself .

Another add-on post - if you're going to self coding, I'd recommend using a program called Textpad - a good tool that has nice color coding for codes, and is user friendly for HTML. It does cost 29 USD for a single liscence. This is not a WYISWYG program, and is recommended after you learn HTML. It can be used amont other things - I used it to code Java before, though a lot of times, I just use Eclipse .

kram

[RVFmal]

Excellent thread guys. Have picked up a number of hints from reading it.

I got myself a copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver and (being a novice myself) I would not recommend it to a "newbie". Am using a program called Actual Drawing which is quite useful and easy to use (drag and drop stuff) and it has it's own FTP program built in. Very limited from a design perspective though (with regards templates and such). You also cannot open other templates that have been downloaded from other sites.

As to DW, I have difficulty in opening templates that I have downloaded as well (those that have been written in Dreamweaver) I can understand if a template was designed in Photoshop or another program.

Just as an aside, in Dreamweaver what constitutes WYSIWYG? As I understood it, it was virtually the same as drag and drop. Where can I get decent graphics for backgrounds, Buttons etc?

This is a great site and forum. Very informative!

[kram 2.0]

Thanks RVFMal - glad you found it informative. Well, the hard thing about getting into templates and such is that you have to design it seperately, but exactly as it is on your webpage. In other words, you would use programs that edit images, such as Adobe Photoshop (highly recommended - expensive), or Photoshop Elements. You need to design ever button, every curve, and the hardest part, generally the navigation. Here, I'd say since you are still new, stay away from them. The best thing to do right now is to learn HTML, or learn the program.

For background, my suggestion would be to keep it as simple as practicable. In other words, PC Mech uses a while background - easy to see, not strenuous on the eyes. Putting a picture of someone on the background, and having it repeat is most times a sign of bad webpage design. A good example I want to use is Gamespot - they have an elaborate but easy design. You see that the backgorund is grey, or outside, it's small stripes of grey and black. I like this, as it doesn't interfere with what the content is, but rather adds onto it. Tell me if you found this explanation rather confusing - I'll try to reiterate it then.

Hope that helps,
kram

[bigandy]

Great job here Kram. Very useful resource. I've dabbled in a little HTML myself, and because of it have been able to help out a few friends. I think it might be interesting to learn some more advanced stuff, but for now, the basic HTML knowledge and Notepad is good enough for me .

By the way, I used the online tutorials at W3Schools to teach myself, do you have any other sites with some good information?

[kram 2.0]

Sure thing bigandy - HTML Goodies is how I learned HTML when I was new back three years ago. The guy who founded HTML Goodies left on Janrary 2002, but his tutorials are still on there - easy to learn, very lucid and informative. I'd highly recommend it, though the website design itself leaves much for question (yes, the orange wave design ).

Also another post of caution/addon to all - I've seen and written HTML/JavaScript codes that were sloppy, but since I used MSIE, it was all fine. Ever since I started using Firefox, I noticed a lot of errors. Try your best to learn/adhere to standardized coding - adhere to all the caps and standards of HTML and JavaScript. When you get to standalone languages, like Java and C++, caps and such really do matter. Happy programming/coding

kram

[ric449]

I would like to add: If you do want standardised code that is readable in all browsers such as firefox, DO NOT USE FRONTPAGE. I spent a whole day fixing the code of my site, and even now it is still not up to scratch. I just wish I learnt HTML by hand from the start. Either way, Frontpage is very inefficient. From cutting out all the crap Frontpage felt it needed to add, I cut at least 5 kb off every page. Doesn't seem a lot, but when you think of the extra bandwidth that is taking up it is worth considering.

[ric449]

To do that you need:

A broadband connection
No-IP software and account (Unless you have a static IP, which is unlikely)
Web server software

First you get a no-ip account here:

http://www.no-ip.com/

You download the software, and change some settings on the site. Next you need to know how this woks. On no-IP.com's servers, they have a list of all the accounts registered with them. When you get an account with them you are given a domain name, for example, mine is ricserv.servebeer.com. Now, when someone types in ricserv.servebeer.com, the request for my website will go to the No-IP.com servers. No-IP will redirect the request to my IP address, and my server software on my computer will serve the site. Now, because I have a dynamic IP address, it means my IP address will change from time to time. Thats why I need the No-IP software I downloaded and installed from the No-IP.com website. The software will send my IP address to the No-IP servers after a set period of time, if my IP has changed, then No-IP will change the IP address to redirect requests for my website to. Thats how it works.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by mxfury kram8806 has forgotten about Dreamweaver, the best WYSIWYG editor of them all

Plenty of other ones forgotten too. Homesite, which is used by a lot of people that hand code and is now bundled with DW. Adobe GoLive which writes awful code but integrates well with other Adobe products. Others like Editplus and Textpad are good as well. There are also others for 'nix based systems like vi(m) and bluefish.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by kram8806 Also another topic I forgot to cover - FTP. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. Every browser can download or upload data - such as the PC Mech website you're viewing right now. They use what is called HTTP (first few letters of the address bar): Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. The reason I mention both of them right now is it's easy to learn from their contrast. FTP is used strictly for uploading files, such as to a server. HTTP can be used to do both uploading and downloading.

That is totally not true. FTP is not just a one way communication. You can get as well as put using FTP.

Originally Posted by kram8806 After you complete a webpage, whether it'd be from using a "WYSIWYG" editor or by hand coding, you have to upload it onto a server. The general audience cannot access your webpage simply from your computer - that's where a server can come in handy - uptime 24/7 so anyone can access it at any given time. To upload it onto a server, you need a FTP. I've used several FTPs, both paid and free, but I like WS_FTP Pro or Cute FTP the best - their interfaces are very easy to utilize and it's user friendly. They are both paid versions - sharewares. For freewares, I heard some good things about BatchFTP. Microsoft FrontPage, that I mentioned on my first post, has its own built in FTP.

Most WYSIWYG editors including DW and GoLive and also some of the hand coding editors like Homesite have a ftp client built in to them to allow editing of pages on the fly (live). WS_FTP Lite used to be a free download and you may be able to still find it somewhere and works quite adequately. Actually Windows has a FTP client built in that can be accessed at the cmd prompt.

[kram 2.0]

Originally Posted by mairving That is totally not true. FTP is not just a one way communication. You can get as well as put using FTP.

That has already been mentioned and corrected - thanks for the heads up though - appreciate the keen eye . I was basing it off of experience and was not thinking of transfering files.

Originally Posted by mairving Most WYSIWYG editors including DW and GoLive and also some of the hand coding editors like Homesite have a ftp client built in to them to allow editing of pages on the fly (live). WS_FTP Lite used to be a free download and you may be able to still find it somewhere and works quite adequately. Actually Windows has a FTP client built in that can be accessed at the cmd prompt.

I have WS_FTP Lite Edition as well - it's still free to academic users. It's still very usable and very recommendable. Some servers do not allow you to use built-in FTPs such as MS Frontpage, hence my recommending a few FTPs.

As for my "forgetting" WYSIWYG editors you mentioned on yoru first of two posts, I selected the few good ones - Adobe GoLive I just excluded as it costs a lot and is a bit user-unfriendly IMO. I excluded Dreamweaver as previously mentioend, because it is not very friendly to novices - it's best to get your feet dipped in HTML coding and such before using dreamweaver. Homesite is a good tool, but I was told that it was sold to Macromedia and is now no longer sold seperately - might be wrong there.

Thanks,
kram

[mairving]

Originally Posted by kram8806 Some servers do not allow you to use built-in FTPs such as MS Frontpage, hence my recommending a few FTPs.

I think that you are confusing FP extensions with a built-in FTP client. I really don't know of any server that wouldn't allow a FTP connection from a FTP client built into a program. FP extensions are also available from nearly every host but are as evil as some of the new demons in Doom 3.

Originally Posted by kram8806 Homesite is a good tool, but I was told that it was sold to Macromedia and is now no longer sold seperately - might be wrong there.

You are partially right. Homesite was originally owned by a company called Allaire back when I bought my first copy or version 4. Allaire was bought by Macromedia a couple of years ago which is a shame. Homesite 5.5 is the current bloated version. I use version 5 myself.

[batiso]

can somebody tell me a dreamweaver(any not specifically dreamweaver and except the Mozilla) equivalent for Linux.

[ZeratulsAvenger]

Originally Posted by batiso can somebody tell me a dreamweaver(any not specifically dreamweaver and except the Mozilla) equivalent for Linux.

Not sure if this is enough like it, but it's free so what the heck, eh?

Nvu

[kram 2.0]

I just upgraded myself from MS Frontpage XP to Frontpage 2003...just a few words on it. I find it has changed quite significantly as compared to the other programs - like Word 2k3 and Excel 2k3. The FTP within Frontpage seems to be more like a FTP Program. There's a "remote server" side and a "Computer HDD" side - something Frontpage needed lots of work on from XP that went well. This should be far far better in helping people see exactly how an FTP Prog works once one should decide to get into hand coding.

I should add the interface is increasingly getting similar to Dreamweaver - though the versatility and usabilit of Macromedia Dreamweaver IMO is a bit hard to beat. From this - I'd still recommend MS Frontpage fully.

Happy Coding


Hope that helps,
kram

[ITlover]

Hello Everybody

Their are five Phases involved in Creating a dynamic and professional Website.

FIVE PHASES INVOLVED IN CREATING A DYNAMIC WEBSITE

1. Planning

2. Development

3. Testing Trouble Shooting

4. Opening

5. Minding

Their are eight important factors in Planning

PLANNING :

1) Purpose

2) Audience

3) Load

4) Resources

5) Schedules

6) Look(apperance)

7) Security

8) Long term goals.


1)You should know what is your purpose for creating a website ? Different people have different purposes ,some create website for business purpose ,some create website for educational purpose etc.

2)The next important factor on which you should concentrate is the audience/visitors, this should be followed by the 1st factor. You should know the potential of your future site. How much traffic will your site attract and
what kind of visitors are you trying to attract since different people have different choice.

3).Load is another important thing, you should know how much load will your site afford, since the number of users to your site can increase tremendously if they find your site interesting and enjoyable.

4) You should manage the resources of your site while keeping in view the choices and tasts of different visitors.

5) setting the schedule of your site.


6) Look of your site should be pretty attractive so that it could catch the attention of majority of the users.

7) Security is the most important issue, if your site contains valuable and important resources then you should set high level security and protection system in your site especially if your site is a professional and interactive.

8) What are your long term goals? ,what do you really want to acheive from your future website ? what is your target?1


Development Tasks:

1) Outlining the site

2) Site preparation

3) Webpage Design & Development

4) Data base Design & Development

5) Banking Integration

6) Data input

7) Third Party Software integration

8) Managing the process.

1) Outlining the site, you should draw a ruff draft of your site before creating it.

2) You should collect all the necessary information and material which you want to add to the site and should prepare them in a proper way.

3). What contents are necessary to create a website.

4). Design a database of your site.

5). Banking Integration is only required if you want to have a website for business purpose like if you want to create a site to sale some products online ,as you know that online purchasing is done through credit cards,forthat you(Merchant) must purchase a merchant ID from a specific Bank in your local area which provides this service. Bank will provide you a merchant ID, and install this software in your webserver for the verification of the credit card no. of the client(user). When a client inserts his credit card no. into your website inorder to purchase some products ,the Merchant ID software in your Webserver sends that credit card no. through a secure channel to the financial Bank and that financial Bank will verify the credit card no. for you(Merchant).


6). You should set some security parimeters in the function of your site to protect your site from being misused. Make sure that data which the client inserts into your site is precise and not irrelevant.


7).You should have third Party Software integration .


8).Managing the Process is also an important issue, the processing of your site should not be so slow that it drives away the client. It is obvious when the load on the site increases, the processing of the site especially the processing of credit card verification is greatly effected. Managing the site resources and the load in such a way that the processing is not hindered.


Testing and TroubleShooting

1) Troubleshooting

2) Developing Beta Test Shoppers.

3) Conducting the test.

4) Fixing the Problems


1)You should check your newly created site for troubleshooting before uploading it otherwise it might create problems for the client and may hinder its access.

2) Test your site from a Beta Tester, it is a software that accesses a site like general users to test it.

3). conduct the test.

4) fix the problems before launching the website.


I hope these informations would definitely help those who want to have a bright future in Web designing.


Regards,

[jonnyboyh]

I used 1&1 (www.1and1.co.uk) for Domain Name Registration, i.e. to choose and buy a name for my website and they are VERY cheap (£1.99 for a .co.uk) and pretty good too, giving you full control over the DNS entries, maybe a slightly advanced topic for this thread, but very good to have.

For web-hosting (the people who I pay for space on their web servers) I used www.webmania.co.uk, again I think they are very good. £20 for a year for 500mb, loads of support for scripting languages (php, perl, cgi etc. look them up on google for more info), plus MySQL databases and MyPHP control panel for administering your DBs. Also they have this great 'live-support' messenger type chat-box that you can get instant support through.

If you just want to try out making your own website then try something free like geocities from yahoo where you can get a bit of free webspace for basic html (and javascript if you want). This will let you play around and create a 'static' site, ie it never changes unless you go in and edit the HTML and content yourself. When (if) you decide you like making web pages then you'll want to move up to professional hosting and a proper domain name of your own. Then you can start playing with scripts that make your site more dynamic, it changes depending on what you program into your scripts, add some pre-written scripts to provide forums, blogs and other things and then begin to learn how they work and customise thema dn then write your own.

That's more or less the learning curve that I followed myself and I've found it very rewarding and interesting...hope you will too.

My own thoughts on MS Frontpage, it sucks, it teaches you bad coding habits and it produces bloated 'bad' code. You don't want beginners to learn bad habits, you want to learn good coding from the start. Use some other WYSIWYG editor or a simple text editor. Once you understand HTML a bit better then use whatever editor you want 'cause you can then tidy up the code it makes yourself afterwards.

Also try to learn CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) from the start and use them for layout/formatting of your pages rather than using tables.

I echo the sentiment about w3cschools being a great learning resource, but there are now loads of CSS tutorials out there, just google for them.

[Punkjunky]

Hi.
Had to congratulate you on the thread.
I first built a website for a Uni project over three years ago using a program called Hot Metal Pro that came free with a CD. It was ok, nothing special but a few years later when I decided I wanted to have another go at building a website I found it a bit limited, and part of the problem was once you let the program do the work for you - if something doesn't work out quite right you end up spending more time working out what the program is doing than understanding what went wrong.

So, hehe I decided to try and teach myself HTML... and guess what HTML Goodies was the site I found that taught me. It really is a brilliant site and has little projects to try, that help you build up a collection of codes that you can use to create your own sites. I would recommend this, using Notepad, because not only do you begin to understand a little about coding but you can fix problems and feel as if you are in control!? lol.

Good idea to create most of your pages on your computer and check things work before uploading them to the net - (but remember you will need to update the links once it has gone on the net).

I eventually paid for some web space - I think around £50 - 70 with topcities and have rented two domain names with 1&1. Approx £1.99 each. Remember you never buy the domain name - you merely rent it so that it points to your web address, with 1&1 this usually expires after two years - and you can even find domain names which people no longer want - you might even have a domain name which other people want and can sell to them for a profit - although there are certain regulations in this respect.

It is a daunting prospect for beginners (of which I still am) but, you get a great sense of achievement afterwards. HTML is the easy part lol. I'm just getting used to basic CSS, but then there's Java Script which continually confuses me lol. By the way if anybody can explain how I can get more than one mouse over to work on one page I'd love to know - all the code I use keeps messing up lol.

http://newzport.topcities.com/dystop...ages/menu.html
www.newzport.co.uk

Celeron 2.6, 512MB DDR Ram. 40 Gig HD. 200Gig Seagate External HD (still haven't got that working lol). Asus P4ge Motherboard.