Just my luck, I know nothing about designing a website and my boss wants me to, he figures if I know how to build pc's and should know how to build a website :mad:.
I tried to explain to him that it's not the same but he just doesn't get it.
Any good books out there to read up on this? After work I'll be heading to Barnes and Nobel.
ooooooh!!!! you said a dirty word in the title :nono: :nono:
Boss's usually do want you to do shaZam! you have no clue how to do. :icon_rolleyes:
Just a plain-old html site?
""acquire" a copy of dreamweaver some how, then go to blueportal.org sign up (its free) get some ebooks on it. read em steal ideas from other sites your set...
or
go to the store plan out your own website, write it in html upload it
Quote from: Nepix on July 06, 2007, 09:47:10 AM
steal ideas from other sites your set...
+1 :thumb: thats the easiest way. just do a google search on basic html, you will get the hang of it once you starts.
Dave, while I'm not GREAT at HTML, I'm a decent hand at it, so feel free to ask me anything, I'd love to help.
If you have any programming experience at all you will not have a problem with HTML. It's not even a real language, it's markup. No flow control, no loops, no logic, nothing. HTML syntax is ridiculously simple and there are numerous references online.
Design or backend will be the issues. There are plenty of decent design books out there in any bookstore's computer section. I like a lot of the Adobe series of books. The most popular design oriented tool at the moment I believe is CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). Also a pretty simple syntax. If you do need a backend (like a shopping cart application or a forum) then you've got lots of choices. You can write your own or purchase an existing one. They come in a variety of language (Perl, Python, Javascript, even C) and most will interface with your database system of choice probably using some sort of SQL.
Personally I'm not a fan of Dreamweaver or any other page-generating program, I think the code they generate is too messy. But I'm a freak, I write my pages by hand in Notepad.
Hope this helps.
-James
+1 on the CSS. It's fairly easy to learn.
If you want to go super basic, html is fine, but I personally think it's worth it to learn CSS. (Although you will have to learn some html regardless)
You can get an O'Reilly book for that.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780596527334&itm=5
There's also Sam's teach yourself Web Publishing with HTML and CSS, which is good.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780672328862&itm=1
I lent it to a friend, and he had a pretty nice basic site up in 3 days from zero experience.
Thanks Casi will check those books out tonight. I'll be useing Dreamweaver I guess, thats what I was given to use. :dunno_white:
Will keep you posted on how this turns out, who know's it might be good for a few laughs.
+1 on Dreamweaver
One of the easiest things to do w/ Dreamweaver is to go to a site you like. Go to File and save as, select webpage complete. You will get a folder and an html file.
Open the HTML file w/ dreamweaver. That way you can see how things are done. I use dreamweaver for all my webdesign :thumb: if you need a hand I would be happy to help.
Also Fireworks is Dreamweavers graphic counterpart and I find it much easier to use than Photoshop :thumb:
Good luck
Dave-
If you are looking to make a simple INFORMATIONAL website... You can use MS Word to make it... It's called WYSIWYG (I think)... Just like FrontPage and Dreamweaver...
Although Dreamweaver is MUCH more advanded.
THEN, you'll need to upload the files onto a server for public viewing.
I used Blue Voda website builder.The program is free,but you can only load the site you build to bluevoda.com's servers.By the way it's a drag n drop site builder with video tutorials to help you through it.They even provide web templates and other things free. here's the link if anyone is curious http://www.vodahost.com
Quote from: ben2go on July 06, 2007, 12:58:23 PM
I used Blue Voda website builder.The program is free,but you can only load the site you build to bluevoda.com's servers.By the way it's a drag n drop site builder with video tutorials to help you through it.They even provide web templates and other things free. here's the link if anyone is curious http://www.vodahost.com
Good call, that's actually another option- a lot of these hosting companies have their own very easy to use graphic interface site builders. I know 1and1 has them, as does Yahoo and Godaddy. Might be worth a shot if you're feeling lazy ;)
Our company has a website, he just wants me to somehow update the look of it
This is what it looks like now
www.swimports.com
he wants it to look more like this one
www.swtrading.net
INFORMATION OVERLOAD !
Please, before buying an Idiots Guide, read this. http://www.zosima.com/horriblewebsite.pdf (http://www.zosima.com/horriblewebsite.pdf)
Then take a little while to think about what is to be the most prominent thing you want to sell.
Avoid putting annoying flashy things everywhere. Avoid horrid color schemes. Think GOOGLE, and KISS. Think usability.
Please for the love of all things decent, don't put banners everywhere.
If you need https (you're making a business site, right?) get someone that KNOWS security. You don't want to be serving from your office computer (Hint: nothing windows).
Flash isn't needed.
Explosions aren't needed.
GIF's aren't needed.
Simple Sells. Er, sex, but your boss won't let you flood it with boobies, will he ?
Good luck !
i would stay away from ms word- they add a bunch of useless crap that will mess up thing when viewed in the browser.