How to build a website?

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by saden1

Plus you can customize the hell out of software like WordPress.

I think this is what im looking for. Obvisouly i dont really know how to ask the right questions with this stuff......

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

I think that since im completely new to this that I should start off easier than building something from scratch. I guess you see tons of things out there like:

http://www.homestead.com/~site/hslo/website/features.ffhtml
http://www.godaddy.com/hosting/website-builder.aspx
http://www.intuit.com/website-building-software/?pd=t&s_cid=CJ

Has anyone used any of these or others before with good results?


Here is a review site that I looked at:

http://www.buildwebsite4u.com/building/free-website-builders.shtml

I have my domain with 1 & 1 so that’s likely who I was going to start with, then I decided to ask thewarpath. So my thoughts are building a website with one of these cookie cutter builders might teach me a little bit especially without knowing anything about css, javascript or html. I want something uncomplicated to start out with. But im completely ignorant when it comes to these things so maybe im over thinking it, and should just get started with the builder 1and1 offers?

no no no no no (in order)

[MTK]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

I think this is what im looking for. Obvisouly i dont really know how to ask the right questions with this stuff......

That's what I was saying earlier. With add-ons for blogs you can do pretty much anything you want. I would look into going that route if I were you.

Or how about this, what kind of sites do you want to model yours after? Can you show us some examples? Then we can give you a better idea of what you need.

[SmootSmack]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

oh man, not even sure what to say haha

I honestly never tried that type of program.. well I lied, I tried it once but it cluttered up my code so much I went back to hand-coding the same day

did you follow up with dreamweaver?

You know it! But I mean this was like 12 years ago

[tryfuhl]

Yeah that's about when I started too.. 99 or 2000 I believe, so a year or two later

notepad or cutehtml (amongst other editors), photoshop 4.. man I thought that I was boss

I ran and contributed to a handful of popular e/n websites

things were a lot more fun back then

[BDBohnzie]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

Yeah that's about when I started too.. 99 or 2000 I believe, so a year or two later

notepad or cutehtml (amongst other editors), photoshop 4.. man I thought that I was boss

I ran and contributed to a handful of popular e/n websites

things were a lot more fun back then

a lot easier too...

I still use my HTML/CSS/javascript background, but I'm behind the curve when it comes to the newer stuff. I am familiar with ASP.net, but I'm by no means a whiz at it. Haven't touched Ruby on Rails or Drupal or Joomla yet either.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

That's what I was saying earlier. With add-ons for blogs you can do pretty much anything you want. I would look into going that route if I were you.

Or how about this, what kind of sites do you want to model yours after? Can you show us some examples? Then we can give you a better idea of what you need.

Honestly when you used the term blog i was completely thrown off. Blog and website meant completely different things to me before today.

So the layout I have in mind would be along the lines of this:
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/political-leaders.php

You see a picture of a person and click on it and it then it directs you to a page detailing the event that got them on the website along with some other basic stuff.

Also I started looking at some websites that I go to and I realized that maybe they are just blogs?????? Are these essentially blogs:

http://www.fastcompany.com/
http://www.slate.com/
http://gawker.com/index.php

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by tryfuhl

no no no no no (in order)

See when i was reading the descriptions of this stuff i was thinking to myself this just doesnt seem like what i want to do.

What web host do you all recommend?

[BDBohnzie]

If you go the WordPress route, you can pay for premium features and have it sit on the WordPress servers. I've heard Bluehost is good. I've heard mixed things about hosting with GoDaddy.

This site has some good reviews and links for hosting: Web Hosting Reviews & Rating - Best Web Hosting 2010

[MTK]

I've used BlueHost in the past, no complaints and good bang for your buck.

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by BDBohnzie

a lot easier too...

I still use my HTML/CSS/javascript background, but I'm behind the curve when it comes to the newer stuff. I am familiar with ASP.net, but I'm by no means a whiz at it. Haven't touched Ruby on Rails or Drupal or Joomla yet either.

yeah when everything started becoming much more dynamic I was left behind

you could find a cgi/perl script for nearly anything and that's still kind of true for php and asp, but things just have to be so tailored nowadays, etc

never got much into the real coding as opposed to just markup

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

Honestly when you used the term blog i was completely thrown off. Blog and website meant completely different things to me before today.

So the layout I have in mind would be along the lines of this:
http://www.thefamouspeople.com/political-leaders.php

You see a picture of a person and click on it and it then it directs you to a page detailing the event that got them on the website along with some other basic stuff.

Also I started looking at some websites that I go to and I realized that maybe they are just blogs?????? Are these essentially blogs:

http://www.fastcompany.com/
http://www.slate.com/
http://gawker.com/index.php

the term that you'll find what you're looking for under is CMS (Content Management System)

things like Wordpress started out more as a blog-oriented package but have evolved into offering much more

[GhettoDogAllStars]

I agree with others ... you want a CMS. I suggest WordPress.

So, then you'd probably want to start learning PHP. Everything you need to know is on the Internet, but it might be hard for you to find it (although the most useful and powerful skill a developer can have is to find information/answers online without assistance). So, you might want to check out a book on PHP. O'Reilly is a decent publisher.

Programming PHP - O'Reilly Media

[mlmpetert]

Is there a way i can see what cms a website uses, like when you use whoishostingthis.com to see who the host is?

So ive been looking at wordpress and joomla, Ive got a lot of reading to do. It seems like wordpress is a little simplier, so im probally gonna go that route, plus if i was ever to make a real website i think it would be more along the lines of the format for one of those "news" websites i listed above.

What CMS do you think was used to make this site:
Famous Political Leaders - Famous Leaders, List of World Famous Politicians

Also i like to think my internet searching skills are pretty good, but obvisouly ive had a hard time with this. Im not really the type of person to read books (ive read 3 chapter books in my life and rarely bought books in college (i went to vcu)), so until i get through this and unless i have any real interest ill be holding off on any PHP or CSS/javascript stuff.

[MTK]

A lot of web hosts offer CMS packages, they should have a list of what they offer somewhere on their site. They are usually very easy to install too, just a click or two and you're good to go.