yabbadabba Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 As the title suggests I am after a "Idiots guide too creating a web page" and some pointers for the best way of doing it and what programs to use. I already have my web hosting provided by my ISP so thats sorted. This is for a home/business website for myself but the knowldege will be used at the school when I upgrade both thier website and intranet site. Now the main question would be am I better using a WYSIWYG program such Frontpage or should I do it manually and learn HTML? Any good newbie friendly WYSIWYG programs, open source would be fine and possibly preferable. Or any good links that people have used and recommend? The plan is too create my own first asd a trial/practise/learning curve then use the knowledge to improve the schools at a later date. Just too add I am not after an instant solution so dont mind a few evenings reading and playing Cheers in advance.
webman Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) I would definitely say that if it's something you are interested in, learn about HTML and CSS. W3Schools is a good place to start but there are loads of tutorials out there on the web. Two good editors you might like to look at are Amaya and Nvu. They are recommended over Frontpage or Expression Web - as Expression/Frontpage have a tendency to generate poor, non-valid, non-comprehendable and unmaintainable code. If you want the end product without the hard work or learning curve (or want to learn as well as having some form of dynamic content) then you can use a CMS (Content Management System) such as Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress etc. Edited February 3, 2009 by webman
powdarrmonkey Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Now the main question would be am I better using a WYSIWYG program such Frontpage or should I do it manually and learn HTML? Flamewar alert! I would say both. You need to learn how it works underneath, but for getting down and dirty it's a PITA cutting HTML by hand. Any good newbie friendly WYSIWYG programs, open source would be fine and possibly preferable. NVU.
ninjabeaver Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Theres a nice book on using CSS with HTML. I used it and learned a shedload from it. It takes you from making a website from scratch called 'BubbleUnder.' [ame=http://www.amazon.co.uk/Build-Your-Website-Right-Using/dp/0975240293/ref=sr_1_39?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233661885&sr=8-39]Build Your Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS: Ian Lloyd: Amazon.co.uk: Books[/ame] Very good and I still refer to it. It's based around using freely downloadable tools like Notepad++ and GIMP. Other tools are suggested.
vikpaw Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 WYSIWYG is by far easier and can then be passed on to others with no knowledge of HTML to edit. I prefer hard coding myself, so use a decent text editor such as TextPad or Notepad++ that will 'mark up' the reserved words. Some even prompt you for the info you need to enter in some cases. So in summary i agree with PowdarrMonkey : both. Here's a basic one: Hello World Example Web Page Hello World save it as a file with .html extension make sure the text editor doesn't still add a .txt after it though. as that's usually the first mistake:doh: EDIT: Please no corrections to my code! I know i've missed lots of 'required' declarations to make it standard, and it probably will fail in firefox anyway
HarryMonkey Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 As far as HTML editors are concerned, FirstPage takes a lot of beating. It looks as though the new version includes a WYSIWYG feature as well ... and it's free. The original FP2000 is (IMO) one of the best editors ever produced. Evrsoft First Page / 1st Page 2006 HTML Editor / Website Builder
powdarrmonkey Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 EDIT: Please no corrections to my code! I know i've missed lots of 'required' declarations to make it standard, and it probably will fail in firefox anyway Awww, spoilsport!
K.C.Leblanc Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 W3Schools Online Web Tutorials END THREAD.
gibbo_ap Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 (edited) one last one is web monkey i have a ton of bookmarks for css photoshop ajax etc if required PM me and ill post EDIT: would be good to have a sticky in the web dev section with links to useful sites Edited February 3, 2009 by gibbo_ap added idea
somabc Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Try BlueGriffon.org it is an updated version of NVU
srochford Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Two good editors you might like to look at are Amaya and Nvu. They are recommended over Frontpage or Expression Web - as Expression/Frontpage have a tendency to generate poor, non-valid, non-comprehendable and unmaintainable code. Won't disagree with the suggestions for editors and your criticism of Frontpage is fair but Expression is a whole different animal. It's pretty much impossible to generate invalid code in Expression - you tell it what version of HTML you want and it will flag as invalid anything which doesn't match up.
webman Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 @srochford: In that case, I stand correct and take it back
yabbadabba Posted February 3, 2009 Author Posted February 3, 2009 WOW, cheers to all the replys so far, looks like I have some reading and experimentation to keep me amused tonight.
ninjabeaver Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 WOW, cheers to all the replys so far, looks like I have some reading and experimentation to keep me amused tonight. Don't forget to thank or add rep for those who helped.
SPC Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Website Building For Idiots | Web Site Design This should cover it all for ya
srochford Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 @srochford: In that case, I stand correct and take it back No problem :-) After the mess that's created by Frontpage or Word (or Powerpoint!) it was something of a surprise to find the MS do understand how standards work and can implement them! Visual Studio 2008 also pretty much forces compliance.
PaulBM Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Run up iTunes or similar podcast software... Subscribe to 'The Art of Code' video podcast, the first dozen or episodes take you from the very beginning. He types a bare document into his favourite text editor and then shows how to add stylesheets etc. He explains why things happen etc, worth a lot more than any WYSIWYG editor in my opinion.
tsky Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 If you want to get into coding properly for CSS and XHTML, Komodo Edit is a really useful tool - Open Komodo | Open Komodo It's freebie OSS, so you can even install it on your school network without incurring the wrath of the license monkeys. The problem you'll find with Frontpage is that although it is easy to use, it adds in all kinds of weirdness that will confuse you if you're trying to look at the source code and figure out what it's doing. NVU is a good tool, but I'm just a traditionalist in regards text interfaces!
mossj Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 I'm a notepad man myself, but tbh look at joomla before diving into html/css/php. If you combine W3schools with Joomla you should be all set, without having to spend weeks learning the languages behind the whole thing.
Andrew_C Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Many sensible suggestions above, but surely what an idiot would do would be to create the page in M$ Word and save it as html? You are far from being an idiot as you're not doing that!
vikpaw Posted February 3, 2009 Posted February 3, 2009 Awww, spoilsport! ok Go on then:nerd:. . . . There's enough useful posts on here so you can slate my code now if you wish, but you must do it by way of constructive criticism and explain everything clearly so that yabbadabba and anyone else can learn from my omissions. i'm all :ear:s but be nice
mac_shinobi Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 WYSIWYG is by far easier and can then be passed on to others with no knowledge of HTML to edit. I prefer hard coding myself, so use a decent text editor such as TextPad or Notepad++ that will 'mark up' the reserved words. Some even prompt you for the info you need to enter in some cases. So in summary i agree with PowdarrMonkey : both. Here's a basic one: Hello World Example Web Page Hello World save it as a file with .html extension make sure the text editor doesn't still add a .txt after it though. as that's usually the first mistake:doh: EDIT: Please no corrections to my code! I know i've missed lots of 'required' declarations to make it standard, and it probably will fail in firefox anyway whats the difference between htm and html ? Also have not seen anyone suggest dreamweaver or rapid weaver ( which I think is more for mac ). Am guessing the question was after a free one ? htmlgoodies.com and the other site mentioned above the w3schools website are 2 good websites with examples and explanations etc.
powdarrmonkey Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 whats the difference between htm and html ? Choice. Also have not seen anyone suggest dreamweaver or rapid weaver ( which I think is more for mac ). Probably a reason for that
mac_shinobi Posted February 4, 2009 Posted February 4, 2009 Choice. Love it - choice that is lol. Got a comedian amongst us j/k lol Probably a reason for that Would be nice to know what the reason is
HarryMonkey Posted February 5, 2009 Posted February 5, 2009 I still quite like Frontpage Express. As a simple starter tool it did all you needed, was free and didn't fill the page up with unecessary code a la it's big brother. (must have a dig round in the CD box and find an old copy)
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