Help making a website.

Hi, I'm pretty good when it comes to computers, but I've never learned how to make a website. Is there any website or book someone could recommend to help me out? I would like one with my own domain name too, not just one that you make at a site (anyone know what I mean?) Any help would be appreciated, hope this is the right place to post.

 

http://www.webmonkey.com. Personally I would go and pick up HTML for Dummies, along with possibly Web Design for Dummies http://www.dummies.com/WileyCDA/DummiesTitle/productCd-0764508237.html

Usually your ISP if they have a personal webpage for their users, have tools available for you to design. If not, there are plenty of free tools out there. I have used the Coffeecup software series for designing webpages and it is very good software for the beginner.
http://www.coffeecup.com/

 

Webmonkey.com looks good and it doesn't sound like you're pressed for time, so you've got some options. I use www.godaddy.com to purchasing domains. They have live customer support lines, unlike some other sites. They also offer the use of the Website Tonight technology for a turnkey website design. They have tiered offerings: one page, five pages, 20 pages. The options (e-mail usage), etc., are varied.

The Website Tonight templates are a little dull and unnecessary unless you can't spend the time on the learning curve. I had to open that way because I needed something set up for a workshop I was promoting.

Anyway, checking out Go Daddy will give you an idea about pricing options. Good luck and good fun!

 

Learning how to use HTML is great, as is CSS (read up on it!). However if you want to make an effective website you really need to know how to design. Not how to write code, but to design.

Do sketches, flow charts, diagrams, note down ideas - and use a solid design to write the code. One of the worst mistakes by the newbie is to learn how to code (X)HTML, and then make really rubbishy websites which throw useability and accessibilty to the wind, because they didn't plan properly.

It takes less time to do it this way, and makes your job simpler when it comes to coding. And it makes advancing to more complex designs easier since you're used to the planning process. You can't write any web application without planning, especially when it's complex and includes lots of parts (for example an eCommerce application). Even the simplest of personal websites should be well thought out if you want them to work well. Even if all you want is a couple of pages with your CV/Resume and a few photos, if you design it and plan it well, you'll have a great website that people will like reading.

To get you started I'll list the main points I go through with every design:
- Function: What does it do, how should it do it, how can it do it.
- Useability: How will the user make it perform it's function, and what parts of user interaction are important to this function
- Accessibility: Who needs to be able to see it? What browser do they use? How technically proficient might they be? Give a User Profile for your target audiences.
- Aesthetics: What should it look like? How will it's looks tie into the functionality, useability and accessibility of the website? How is the look appropriate to your target audience?

Usually after that I'll do either a "mood board" or some kind of look and feel sheet to work from while writing down the finer aspects of the design.

Overall you should remember that XHTML, CSS, XML, PHP - whatever, is a means, not an end. Just because you know how to rivet steel sheets doesn't mean you can build an oil tanker!

 

http://www.w3schools.com/default.asp
this will give you a quick intro
as for the look and feel of a website, you might want to bookmark this for later. http://colorblender.com/
and as goldfish stated, learn to love css, as they will make life easier.
glhf

 

Thank you all so much for your help! www.webmonkey.com is AWESOME! I am halfway through the html basic lessons and I'm L ving it! I used to take a Pascal Programming course in high school, and this code is cake! You just need to learn it. Also, thanks for the advice goldfish, I will put alot of thought and planning into my first website, and will make it look awesome (I am going to college for art by the way, so it WILL look good, lol). Again, thanks for the help everyone! When I finally get my first site up I will post a link to it here (barring of course if it is against some Code of Conduct rule or something).

 

Bowserstein, if you use CoffeCup to design the page, the limited use version will "Watermark" the website, but works for just building for your own use. Also OpenOffice is a good free program. If you have Knoppix LiveCD, you will get some free tools with it since it is Linux.

 

Just finished the last few things on the http://www.webmonkey.com/webmonkey/teachingtool/index.html Teaching Tool guide. I must say I thought HTML was hard to learn, therefore never tried until now, but now that I see it's this easy, I'd like to learn more! Where do I go from here? I would like to some more advanced things to make the website better looking, and learn how to make a store. I eventually want to sell stuff on the website I make, and would like to learn how to make a 'shopping cart' style program so I can have people buy my stuff and not have to just link them to an eBay auction or something. Thanks.

-Bowser

 

I've never used WebMonkey before , but this is where I learnt everything I needed to start.

W3

Enjoy.