WEB CREATION???

[Niteflyer]

Helloooo:)

Ok guys, I am on th everge of building a website, was gonna pay for someone to do it for me but decided that I want to try myself.

Does anyone know of a software package (price not a problem) that is EASY to use, I say easy because I have NO HTML coding experience and programs like DREAMWEAVER are impossible!

I may have to pay someone but wanted to try first.

So, does anyone know of any software that will llet me create a professional looking site easily?

Thanks

Matt

[ewo]

I am on th everge of building a website, was gonna pay for someone to do it for me but decided that I want to try myselfIs this a business web site? Do you need the site to cement credibility?

[Niteflyer]

Yes it is and yes I do :)

I know you are probably going to say pay to have it done but I REALLY want to try myself first :)

Thanks

Matt

[Coding Monkey]

Although I handcode everything and spit on Dreamweaver, I think you'll find if you read some tutorials that it's really very easy to use. The reason you're finding it so hard to use is because none of it makes sense, but then I doubt any other software would. The most common method that a newbie will use to create a website is in tables, so do some Google searches for "Dreamweaver HTML tables" or just "Dreamweaver tables" and it should guide you in the right direction.

Although, following on from Tins recent outburst of people believing they can do SEO, I will insist that you can't just pick up a book and become good at web design over night. Not just the design side, but the coding practices for cross-browser compatability, web standards (and I don't just mean validating, but working toward the WC3 levels of web accessibility) and basic design. Especially for your company website.

[Niteflyer]

MacMyDay,

Thank you very much for your help amd info, it's very much apreciated.

I will do as you said and search Google for teh tables.

Thanks again.

Matt

[ewo]

Yes it is and yes I do...but I REALLY want to try myself firstSo, it's just a hobby then?

[Coding Monkey]

No problemo. Just be careful, because I did some searches for those terms, and lots of information appears, but a lot of it is actually pretty rubbish and gives very archaic methods of doing it.

[gravitymark]

well....someone has to say it, so here goes....you should definately pay for it to get the site your business needs. if you need a solid credible site you might do your business some damage by trying to do it yourself...however, you may make me eat my words! post your url for us web geeks to see and we can dish out some advice and pointers etc but honestly if i were to go and buy a car, it wouldn't make me a good driver...i'd need tuition and experience first

[Tin]

MacMyDay said:
Although I handcode everything and spit on Dreamweaver
so that's why my copy arrived slippy heh!

Dreamweaver is excellent at allowing anyone to knock out a design in about as simple a way as possible. It's easy to learn enough to create your own site within an hour from using the software but you really need to hand clean the output code as it can be really messy at times. Stick with it, don't get too caught up with all of the functions available and you'll have a basic design in no time as MacMDay will testify :wink: ... and once you've got a single page cleaned up just copy and save as you want.

Jumping on my usual bandwagon again, if you are expecting your business to be generated through the internet it is really important to take on board the SEO of your site at the outset and not lob something up and just expect to get the visitors flocking in.

The comments regarding the impact on your business credibility being reflected through your web site are absolutely true, clients can most times tell the difference between someone new and someone who's been doing things for years.

And no Tom...
Tins recent outburst of people believing they can do SEO
it wasn't an outburst I just spat the dummy out of my pram a couple of times :wink:

[thesaint]

Hi

I have no experience of building websites or HTML however I have recently purchased a software package called XSitePro. You dont use any HTML at all. The websites are relatively basic but with a bit of practice you can make them look OK, and the publishing part is really straight forward. The site I built for my friend is www.3000persale.com if you want to have a look.

I wont post a link to XSitePro as I dont want to be accused of only recommending it as an affiliate. You should find it through Google. Think it was about $170.

Gareth

[epiphany]

You can hand code stuff in dreamweaver as well Tom :) Not quite as cheap as notepad but it does colour in stuff for you :P

[Coding Monkey]

Yep, but it's pure bloatware. SSH via VIM with syntax:on. 4 Terminal windows open, with direct access to any database I want, and immediate on server alterations. The only downside is that I end up typing e-mails with lots of :wq! and $ all over them.

[ewo]

Yep, but it's pure bloatware. SSH via VIM with syntax:on. 4 Terminal windows open, with direct access to any database I want, and immediate on server alterations. The only downside is that I end up typing e-mails with lots of :wq! and $ all over them.Can anyone recommend any good translations of MacMyDay's last post?

[Niteflyer]

I think he said he doesn't like it!

[Coding Monkey]

Nope, no idea what he just said :roll:

Basically, I use a pure keyboard instant access method of working on any project. Much more efficient, but takes a while to learn. Not for the beginner.

[c2webdesign]

Have to agree with Gravitymark. If you need a business website I would really recommend getting in a professional.

It's good you want to have a go yourself, but a website needs to be built with the right foundation (incorporating a good search engine optimised base), building up to the right colours - good layout and useability. Without these you do run the risk of failing before you start.

If you want to have a go yourself build yourself a hobby site. Something that if not done correctly will not cause your business any long term harm.

[falconinternetlimited]

I think there is merit in doing it yourself initially - as long as you have a mid term view on getting a professional to do it.

I say this for a number of reasons

If you get a professional developer to build your site you need to understand your requirements inside out. In my opinion, the best way you can understand your own requirements is to sock up your site - and run through the "customer journey" - sorry I hate that expression.

I believe this is the best way of buttoning down your requirements before comitting cash to a project. By mocking it up yourself, you can also use forums like this to get people to critiqeu the site, the layout, the imagery etc.

I used this approach which allowed me to determine the colour scheme I wanted that would work with our logo, the imagery I sourced once I had a clearer idea of what I wanted, layout etc without comitting any funds. It also gave me an immediate web presence - and allowed the domain proliferation, email addresses etc all to be sorted before I went officially live.

In fairness it took 2 or 3 iterations and 1 or 2 complete rebuilds before I had a framework that I then went to our design agency with to build the site. I ended up with exactly what I wanted - and I think it looks pretty good too - so if you have the time - I don't think there is any harm in it.

http://www.falconnet.co.uk in case you are interested in the end result.

Good luck,

Rupert

[DavidHorn]

If you're not going to hire someone, and if you don't want to spend much time learning HTML, then some of the blogging solutions are a good bet. Blogger.com, www.wordpress.org, etc. - they all offer good enough templated designs and a very quick means of getting online. Worth a look.

[toystoyou]

hi
I would suggest Actinic to anyone thinking of building their own website.
It's easy to use, kinda like place your text here and put your picture here easy.
That's what I used.
It takes a bit of getting used to but if you know a bit about html code then you can make it sing for you.
Good luck with your venture.

[james595832]

Macromedia Dreamweaver and Studio 8 are the best web development tools on the market.

Some may disagree but they are industry standard and with Adobe now owning them the Marcomedia and Adobe integration will something worth waiting for!

[walldred]

If you don't have any experience in web design and you're trying to build a business website straight off there's a risk you'll damage your business credibility. I think (personal view) you're better off hiring out a professional straight away because the chances are it won't end up looking the way you want it to and you'll have wasted the time and effort. If you're still determined to try it out I recommend you check out http://www.webstyleguide.com/ to at least point you in the right direction.

Hope this helps.

[trondez]

Just to jump on the bandwagon, I to would agree that it may turn into web distruction rather than web creation, its not just about coding its about the graphic design elements and visual stimulus, infact there is a list of things you need to know and do, so everyones comment is spot on.

Running a business, hire a business, having some fun then have a play..
Good Luck!

Joy
trondez.com

[WakingDragon]

Yes it is and yes I do :)

I know you are probably going to say pay to have it done but I REALLY want to try myself first :)

Thanks

Matt

What is it that you want to try: just the coding or the planning and design? If you want to try the coding then you should learn the languages, but if you are just interested in the planning, writing and visual design I would recommend paper and pencil and a copy of Adobe PhotoShop. You can then get someone to "code" it properly for you from your visuals.

[OakApplianceTesting]

Nope, no idea what he just said :roll:

Basically, I use a pure keyboard instant access method of working on any project. Much more efficient, but takes a while to learn. Not for the beginner.

Just out of curiosity which editor do you use?


Niteflyer
I use a great free program called Textpad available for download at: textpad.com/download/index.html#downloads

You can also download very useful clip libraries and stuff, take a look.


Its easy to start messin with creating a webpage in this program, double click the 'Blank Page' tag on the left and it puts the code in for you, save as test.html and then open it in IE.

I personally think its a lot easier to learn basic html than it is to learn something like Dreamweaver... take a look at some html tutorials at somewhere like htmlgoodies.com

Don't worry about CSS or Javascript yet if your just starting to learn, understand html first... its pretty flexible and you can get most of your needs from it.

I've done a quick basic website of my own, its not very pretty and the design of it needs changing, but its functionally fine for what I need, take a look at the source code if you wish, copy it, learn from it, whatever.

Try copying a line of code into your test.html and save, then once opened in Internet Explorer all you need to do is press the Refresh button to update and view any changes you have saved in textpad.

my site is oakappliancetesting.co.uk

~good luck

[Coding Monkey]

Just out of curiosity which editor do you use?


VIM. For regex alone, it is simply amazing.

[SteveGibson]

I may have to pay someone but wanted to try first.

I think that this could be a good idea.

Most businesses don't think enough about what how their sites are going to produce results for them (and most web designers seem fixated on "design" and don't seem to think much about how the site is going to produce sales).

Perhaps, by putting together the site yourself, you'll be forced to think about the site as a marketing vehicle.

Even if you then go with a pro, you'll have a foundation of what you want your site to do.

Also, not every site needs fancy design and a "sales letter" type site is perfectly acceptable in many cases.

I use frontpage with my site, but it can be quite clunky and I find myself going into the html editor and stripping out a lot of unnecessary (and unwanted) HTML that Frontpage puts in.

One thing that helped me was going to my local library and borrowing "MS Frontpage in 12 steps" and "Learn HTML in 24 hours" type books.

Just walking through the examples in these books showed me how to do most of the basics.

Of course, knowing "the basics" is enough to create a basic site. If you want a really good looking site, you need to know more (or bring in an expert).

Steve

[Freelancealot]

Hi,

Well done for wanting to give it a go yourself. It's the way I first learnt... but I didn't have any money so downloaded a 30-day trial version of Claris Homepage (not sure they even make it now) and learnt on that.

One thing I would suggest is to use software which, like Dreamweaver (which I, personally think is simple to use), shows you the preview and the html code in the same view - this is how I learnt to recognise what the individual HTML tags were doing at each stage.

Another thing you need to be aware of is the issue of browser compatibility and your site's 'usability' (ease of use), ie. will your site work on visitors using MS Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, Netscape, etc, etc. Then will it work on MS IE on Mac and PC, on Firefox on Mac and PC... and so.

With regard to 'useability', it's about where people are used to finding things on a website and how easy it is to find the information they want from your site, without having to press 5 links to get there.

It's about the contrast of your text (foreground) colour on the background - can people read it easily? Is your site accessible to people with poor visibility: ie, are your fonts given in % or ems, so that your visitors can easily resize the text. Have you used standard fonts that your visitors will have loaded on their pcs/Macs - there are standard fonts web designers use, such as Verdana, Arial, "Trebuchet MS", etc, as these are loaded on most computers today. Will people be able to browse your site using their keyboard keys...

Then, of course, as someone else mentioned, there's the SEO aspect. Making sure you have your meta tags, entering alt descriptions for images (also necessary for people who have images turned off in their browers) is another... and all the tricks that go with getting your site higher up on search engine results.

... there's a lot involved, but there's no harm in learning yourself if you're willing to do some research first.

Haven't tried it myself, but you could try something like nvu(dot)com for PC - it's free (I think) and runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Have fun.

Cheers,

Tracy
Freelancealot.co.uk