Looking for introduction into website creation

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EnderXC

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 20, 2004
Messages
449
I'm completely new to this topic and was wonering if you guys would point me in the direction of a tutorial or book for that matter that explains what I would need if say I wanted to host a website from a diedicated server in my house, do I still need to buy a domain name, what sort of tools would I use to create/design my website, etc. Thank you.
 
Buy a domain, get a static IP, get Dreamweaver. Sorry, don't know of any books, but google is your friend.
 
Basic minimum is:
Web server software (Apache / IIS)

Virtual requirements:
domain name
static IP or dynamic IP tracker

Everything else is some degree of optional. Dreamweaver, for instance, is expensive (looks like $300ish, though I might have checked the wrong thing). There are plenty of free or cheap editors that will go well beyond Notepad provided you know the basics of how HTML works -- and Dreamweaver isn't what I'd recommend to learn HTML anyway.

As for tutorials: I'm sure Google has plenty. For server setup, the nutshell version is:
Download Apache
Read the readme/install files
Install Apache
Read the config file
Read your router/firewall manual
Open appropriate port
An external tutorial isn't really required.
 
Above poster is right, Dreamweaver is not the best prog to learn HTML, and its not cheap. However, it is the standard, and it will do powerful things for you and help you learn the code if you try.
 
dariob said:
...However, it is the standard, and it will do powerful things for you and help you learn the code if you try.
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I'm not even certain this is the case. I'll agree it's the closest thing to a standard, but there's a whole lot of web development that DW just can't handle. At some point, WYSIWYG becomes a crutch for a designer.
 
lomn75 said:
I'm not even certain this is the case. I'll agree it's the closest thing to a standard, but there's a whole lot of web development that DW just can't handle. At some point, WYSIWYG becomes a crutch for a designer.
Click to expand...

True. Seems to be a good, nice, general recommendation though.
 
a good thing to do is just get an HTML with CSS book from the library. use notepad or some freeware software from tucows.com or download.com or wherever you get your shareware/freeware (or full-ware)

or just get some tutorials from the internet


CSS will let you do formatting much much easier than using tables in HTML.
 
I suggest Chami's HTML-Kit for your development environment. I used to be all about Notepad, then I started using HTML-Kit, and if you've ever had any experience with programming in an IDE, you'll like it. Syntax highlighting, an assload of neat plugins, can be used for (X)HTML, XML, XSL, CSS, PHP, and a whole lot more, and it's got a preview mode that emulates both IE and Gecko/Mozilla.

As for actually learning to USE it, I always had good luck with sketching a layout on paper and then recreating it in XHTML and CSS. I learn best by doing, so if I have an actual project in mind, I can adapt information more easily. After getting some (X)HTML under your belt, look into getting Eric Meyer on CSS. The book has 13 projects that show you how to actually do things you might really do. It's how I learned a lot of what I know now. Eventually, you're able to just run with it and do your own things.

Oh, and www.w3schools.com is a great place for reference.
 
twyztyr said:
...and it's got a preview mode that emulates both IE and Gecko/Mozilla.
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I sorta wonder why software makers bother with this. I've got great preview engines for these: IE and Firefox. They show the page just like the real thing!

Seriously, preview windows can be helpful because they're convenient (and it's very easy to link in the IE rendering engine), but never let that replace the actual browsers. Additionally, it doesn't hurt to back-install old IEs, as there's a good amount of 5.x floating around (at least as much as Firefox).
 
lomn75 said:
Basic minimum is:
Web server software (Apache / IIS)

Virtual requirements:
domain name
static IP or dynamic IP tracker

As for tutorials: I'm sure Google has plenty. For server setup, the nutshell version is:
Download Apache
Read the readme/install files
Install Apache
Read the config file
Read your router/firewall manual
Open appropriate port
An external tutorial isn't really required.
Click to expand...

What other software should I use? Can I run it on linux? What the best (free) install of linux to use for webservering? is a dynamic IP tracker software or some thing I get when I get my domain name? Thanks.
 
GTPoompt said:
CSS will let you do formatting much much easier than using tables in HTML.
Click to expand...
I learned that the hard way...but at least now I'm a pro at tables...and tables within tables...and tables within tables within tables HAHA...

http://www.htmlgoodies.com has some good introductions and primers for baic HTML and stuff...
 
Suggestions:

Never use wysiwyg software until you know how to code html all by hand in notepad or basic text editor. I use dreamwaver but ONLY in code view.

Always use lowercase tags!!! and end ALL your tags ie: <p></p> or <br />

Learn CSS while your at it and only use tables for formatting data - not webpage layouts.

If you need inspiration look at:

www.csszengarden.com - and remember web pages are pretty much open source - you want to see the layout - just look at the code and grab the css files - they are usually linked.
 
BTW what part of apache do I download?

How much hardware do I need? Is a P3 300~400Mhz fine? w/128MB RAM? How about an old XBOX - P3 733MHz 64MB RAM?
 
EnderXC said:
is a dynamic IP tracker software or some thing I get when I get my domain name? Thanks.
Click to expand...

You might want to fool around with running a web server on your home/work network, internally, before you start publishing. Thatw ay, you can get bored and quit without wasting much money.

Anyway, if you have DSL or Cable at home and get a dynamic IP from DHCP from your ISP, you might be able to use a service like dyndns.org to get a domain name that points at your machine.

It's pretty easy to use, and the most basic version is free.

.B ekiM
 
mikeblas said:
Why?
Click to expand...
Because if you ever want to turn your pages into XHTML, you will realize very painfully that XML is actually case-sensitive, and XHTML wants 'em lowercase. ;)

I used to uppercase all of my tags just for the sake of legibility. Then I switched to vim instead of vi, discovered the joy of syntax hilighting, and have never looked back.
 
Chroma said:
and remember web pages are pretty much open source - you want to see the layout - just look at the code and grab the css files - they are usually linked.
Click to expand...
I suppose that's true for a sufficiently distorted definition of "open source". They are "open source" in that you can view the source. The vast majority are not at all open source in the sense that the term is usually used.
 
HorsePunchKid said:
Because if you ever want to turn your pages into XHTML, you will realize very painfully that XML is actually case-sensitive, and XHTML wants 'em lowercase. ;)
Click to expand...
There's also the fact that unix is case-sensitive (or at least older versions were, haven't kept up with it), so it would see image.jpg, Image.jpg and IMAGE.JPG as different files. It's just easier to stick to an easy to remember naming convention, such as all lower case. The exception I make is that I give thumbnails a TN before the extension, just so they stand out in a directory. Think out how you want to structure your directories, and settle on a naming convention that works for you. This may not seem important at first, but as you grow a site, lack of organization can become painfully obvious.

Another thing is that it's best not to use spaces in file names. Netscape would be very fussy about them and sometimes refuse to display anything (image or html page) if it had a space. Just better to avoid them altogether.

Also, before you buy a domain and go to the effort to set up your own server or pay for hosting, just about every ISP offers you web space. You can always experiment with that first to get your feet wet.

Good luck with it. :)
 
EnderXC said:
What other software should I use? Can I run it on linux? What the best (free) install of linux to use for webservering? is a dynamic IP tracker software or some thing I get when I get my domain name? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Your favorite text editor, preferably one with syntax highlighting.

Apache is on all major *NIXs. Installation procedure is different from that of Win32 but still documented.

Pick your favorite Linux flavor; they're all Linux, and they're basically all free (save Linspire, AFAIK). Heck, go *BSD for variety.

The dynamic IP stuff might be Win32-only. I've never used it so I can't really say. I do agree that you should stick to internal development first. A google search on dynamic ip server looks promising.

...as for later stuff: Yes to lowercase tags. Yes to lowercase file names. No to spaces in file names. General good web practices, even if they're not required. Exceptions are allowed -- Lethal's "TN" prefix makes sense; I use a "thumb/" subdirectory for comparison.
 
lomn75 said:
Yes to lowercase tags. Yes to lowercase file names. No to spaces in file names. General good web practices, even if they're not required. Exceptions are allowed -- Lethal's "TN" prefix makes sense; I use a "thumb/" subdirectory for comparison.
Click to expand...
Actually, I use it more as a suffix before the extension. :) That way things stay next to each other when I view a directory, like this:

image1.jpg
image1TN.jpg
image2.jpg
image2TN.jpg

Fine if you want to use a separate directory for thumbs, but I like seeing them next to each other so I can see if I've accidentally forgotten to upload one. Also makes it easier when I change something and want to delete stuff to not have to jump between two different directories.
 
lomn75 said:
Your favorite text editor, preferably one with syntax highlighting.

Apache is on all major *NIXs. Installation procedure is different from that of Win32 but still documented.
Click to expand...
What's syntax highlighting? I'm guessing notepad isn't going to have it.
 
syntax.gif
 
I've just started doing a Web Applications Development course (Doing it as part of a degree). This so far has been great, there’s a real variety of people doing the course from those who just started using computers to guys who can effortlessly use php.

Apart from the resources and tuition on the courses private website; the other websites I've been using are: -
Web standerds organisation
w3c html guide
A more advanced guide
w3Schools Is a great resource on just about everything

And the two books I've received are 'HTML second edition' & 'Designing web sites' (both by Thomson learning). Really great books.

Also as others have said, don't use a wysiwug editor at first if you ever want to understand what is going on.

I've you really interested in this i recommend you do the course or something similar (If you got the cash.
 
yeah - i'd recommend to firstly start off with a wysiwyg editor such as microsoft frontpage or dreamweaver. and once you have familiarised yourself with website creation and management then go onto learning html.

A good apachie server is www.uniformserver.com - its the complete package and gives you the option to either run it whenever you need it or run it as a server. Currently the site is down as the host's harddrive broke but the sourseforce section is still available: http://miniserver.sourceforge.net/

Hope this helps
 
m1ck97 said:
yeah - i'd recommend to firstly start off with a wysiwyg editor such as microsoft frontpage or dreamweaver. and once you have familiarised yourself with website creation and management then go onto learning html.
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not to be rude, but that's probably the worst thing to do. it should be the other way around.

the senior designer at my work did it this way, and he asks me XHTML / CSS / code questions on a weekly basis. you won't learn as much, as fluently, and as easily if you don't learn code first.

now, to those not suggesting Dreamweaver as a first editor, i will disagree with you also :) It's excellent as a code editor. I love developing with it, the code hints is awesome, but syntax highlighting isn't all that hot. But still, it's not bad in the least.
 
I also went down this route by using dreamweaver and then learning HTML and i'm now quite fluent in HTML.
 
m1ck97 said:
I also went down this route by using dreamweaver and then learning HTML and i'm now quite fluent in HTML.
Click to expand...
It can be done, yes, but I'll cite a common "critique my site" scenario.

Person X posts a site made in DW. Person Y views it in Firefox, and it's FUBAR. Person Y is thoughtful enough to read and troubleshoot the site, which is hard due to the DW name schemes.

Person X is then :confused: (despite having a blow-by-blow description of the incompatibilities and fixes) because he's never gotten out of WYSIWYG.

There's no rule that says personal sites aren't allowed to suck, but this is usually somebody who wants their website to make some sort of impact. All it would take to fix this is two days of doing HTML from scratch just so you've got a basic understanding of what the markup means. If setting up a complex tabular layout (not that you ever should!) is intimidating -- sure, make it in WYSIWYG. Then go fix it in code. The longer you distance yourself from the HTML, the less likely you'll ever hook up with it again.

Note: it's worth mentioning that I am not Person Y. I like to help, but if I see source with 20 content-less <div>s labeled index1 to index20, I close the site and post "I can't read that." That summarizes the other benefit of hand-coding -- there's no excuse for illegible markup.
 
as for the question of the best linux distro to use for a web server, that depends on your level of expertise with linux in general.....most linux webhosts will probably recommend slackware (typically used by the linux guru elite) I used to run a mandrake and debian webhost system from home a few years ago. and I liked debian better then mandrake just for the security.

now as for the debate on using a editor vs learning code by hand....both have advantages and disadvantages to using 1 or the other...and in what order you learn them in......I use dreamweaver on almost a daily basis and I use the split view so I can see the layout and the code but I ALWAYS do a preview in IE and firefox before I post it to my site just to test the real world versions compared to the preview mode in dreamweaver.....I learned HTML back when prodigy classic was around and had a little page editor. (never used notepad and never will) I learned HTML first because that was all there was when I started....now there are so many things out there to use that you have a lot to go through to see which you like best....but most will recommend dreamweaver over frontpage without any thought about it...

just my 2 cents worth
 
HorsePunchKid said:
I suppose that's true for a sufficiently distorted definition of "open source". They are "open source" in that you can view the source. The vast majority are not at all open source in the sense that the term is usually used.
Click to expand...

For lack of a better word to call it...

Of course you not going to see server side scripts and includes but to get an idea for basic page development - you can see everything that your browser is showing you.
 
Chroma said:
For lack of a better word to call it...
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The problem is that calling it "open source" is woefully misleading. I can't think of a better single word or phrase to call it, but calling it something it almost always is explicitly not doesn't help. ;)

You just need to reword the sentence to avoid having to refer to it that way. "You can usually view the source of web pages", as opposed to "web pages are pretty much open source".
 
mostly everyone suggest dreamwaever, but whats wrong with Adobe Golive. I dont see whats wrong with it, besides being a resource hog once in a while.
 
I've used GoLive since it was CyberStudio v2.0 and have just stuck with it. I think the reason more people don't use it is because for years it was a Mac-only program. It wasn't until Adobe bought it (I'm thinking that was around v4.0?) that it was ported to PC.

Meanwhile, Dreamweaver was really the only game in town if you wanted a high-end WYSIWYG for PC so it dominated the market share. I think most people choosing one for the first time will likely go with DW because they figure it's more popular, so it's gotta be better, right? And those already using DW are usually happy with it so they see no reason to switch.

I haven't tried DW in years, but at the time I just didn't like the interface, probably because the port wasn't very Mac-like. :)
 
I never knew about Golive being only mac back in the day. I first began on html :( Figured out Draemweaver, then Golive, and for some reason i enjoyed golive much better, although my old pc would struggle once in a bit. Wish you could control how much memory is devoted to the program like you can with PS.
 
Lethal said:
I think most people choosing one for the first time will likely go with DW because they figure it's more popular, so it's gotta be better, right?
Click to expand...

Being more popular has one benefit: more support. It's easier to find books, add-ons, websites, samples, and so on.

.B ekiM
 
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