Setting up a webpage - advice please
Discussion
Been posting here/reading for some time now and i get the impression that a lot of you guys work with computers...
So i have been 'given' up to 50mb free webpage space with my ISP (haven't gone broadband yet, don't have the machinery....) and i was thinking of putting the motor on it, a few other bits and bobs.
Question is how do i go about it??
All the FTP stuff and gizmos to upload is on the ISP webpage site, but obviously i must need some sort of web design package. And i'm not totally clear on the upload bit, but i think i could work this out if i spent half an hour researching it....
So advice/explanations of things please (if you wouldn't mind) and try to go easy on me ok..?
Ta muchly!!
>>> Edited by Buffalo on Thursday 6th March 20:18
So i have been 'given' up to 50mb free webpage space with my ISP (haven't gone broadband yet, don't have the machinery....) and i was thinking of putting the motor on it, a few other bits and bobs.
Question is how do i go about it??
All the FTP stuff and gizmos to upload is on the ISP webpage site, but obviously i must need some sort of web design package. And i'm not totally clear on the upload bit, but i think i could work this out if i spent half an hour researching it....
So advice/explanations of things please (if you wouldn't mind) and try to go easy on me ok..?
Ta muchly!!
>>> Edited by Buffalo on Thursday 6th March 20:18
Get yourself a copy of Macromedia Dreamweaver MX and do one of the tutorials. It comes with built in FTP and is a doddle to use.
At the risk of being flamed, you could try using MS Frontpage, it is readily available with most versions of Windows. If you've never done any HTML coding before, its not bad at holding your hand as you try it out. I give it a wide berth, it doesn't write the cleanest of code at the best of times and the fewer Microsoft products I use the better...
At the risk of being flamed, you could try using MS Frontpage, it is readily available with most versions of Windows. If you've never done any HTML coding before, its not bad at holding your hand as you try it out. I give it a wide berth, it doesn't write the cleanest of code at the best of times and the fewer Microsoft products I use the better...
As xsaravtr says, the HTML code generated by FrontPage is not the best - it is usually full of irrelevant Microsoft-focused code which just make the pages download slower.
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX is definitely the way forward. 2 tips I learnt - if you use the tutorials, then follow it step by step and DON'T skip over anything because "you know how to do that". You will end up well and truly scuppered. Secondly, if you plan to have the majority of pages in your site in a similar layout, take the time to learn how the template system works. It saves a lot of effort later.
Use as few images as you can, and don't try to enlarge images - it just doesn't work. Also, always use relative paths when you add images to pages because if you set the image to be "c:my documentswebsiteimages123.jpg" then when you upload the site, the image will not appear.
HTH
Edited to add: the upload bit is simple with Dreamweaver. You just right-click the file, and click "Put" and it puts it up to the site for you.
>> Edited by miniman on Thursday 6th March 20:44
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX is definitely the way forward. 2 tips I learnt - if you use the tutorials, then follow it step by step and DON'T skip over anything because "you know how to do that". You will end up well and truly scuppered. Secondly, if you plan to have the majority of pages in your site in a similar layout, take the time to learn how the template system works. It saves a lot of effort later.
Use as few images as you can, and don't try to enlarge images - it just doesn't work. Also, always use relative paths when you add images to pages because if you set the image to be "c:my documentswebsiteimages123.jpg" then when you upload the site, the image will not appear.
HTH
Edited to add: the upload bit is simple with Dreamweaver. You just right-click the file, and click "Put" and it puts it up to the site for you.
>> Edited by miniman on Thursday 6th March 20:44
Problem is DWMX is £200 odd! Have a hunt around on www.download.com for a wysiwyg editor for free/shareware.
DWMX is the daddy but its also a professional tool so you pay for it! Once you get going there are loads of us on here who know our HTML/Graphics Onions so drop us a line and we'll all help out.
Good Luck
>> Edited by alunr on Friday 7th March 08:11
DWMX is the daddy but its also a professional tool so you pay for it! Once you get going there are loads of us on here who know our HTML/Graphics Onions so drop us a line and we'll all help out.
Good Luck
>> Edited by alunr on Friday 7th March 08:11
Dreamweaver is deffo the way to go, BUT if you want to go further into it you'll also need Photoshop and Fireworks.
Actually thinking about it, you'll need photoshop anyway, for messing about with your images.
I can point you in the direction of where to get such programs for evaluation purposes.
PM me for details. Or I can post it here if no-one minds??
Actually thinking about it, you'll need photoshop anyway, for messing about with your images.
I can point you in the direction of where to get such programs for evaluation purposes.
PM me for details. Or I can post it here if no-one minds??
Forget about Dreamweaver, Photoshop and all that other expensive stuff the pros use because you don't need any of it.
Keep an eye on the freebie CDs that come with Internet magazines and you'll be able to get yourself an old version of a web design package such as HoTMetaL Pro for free. That has both WYSIWYG and HTML options and is easy to learn basic web site design with.
You'll also find that Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator come with their own basic web design packages, namely Frontpage Express (but see prior comments about MS code) and Composer, either of which would do for building a 'home page'.
When it comes to sorting out images for your site, while Photoshop is the best, any imaging package such as Paint Shop Pro etc. (or the one that came with your scanner) will do.
You can even build web pages in Microsoft Word 97 and later, but again you've got MS code to consider.
Keep an eye on the freebie CDs that come with Internet magazines and you'll be able to get yourself an old version of a web design package such as HoTMetaL Pro for free. That has both WYSIWYG and HTML options and is easy to learn basic web site design with.
You'll also find that Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator come with their own basic web design packages, namely Frontpage Express (but see prior comments about MS code) and Composer, either of which would do for building a 'home page'.
When it comes to sorting out images for your site, while Photoshop is the best, any imaging package such as Paint Shop Pro etc. (or the one that came with your scanner) will do.
You can even build web pages in Microsoft Word 97 and later, but again you've got MS code to consider.
Deester said:
Size Nine Elm said: Or you could use the worlds greatest HTML editor - Emacs
I'm more of a VI masochist, Emacs is for weirdos.
Its not the 1980s anymore. Can you two please use something more modern, wordstar isn't considered cutting edge either anymore 
>> Edited by Niggle on Friday 7th March 09:42
Cheers so far guys...
Dont have photoshop, but i do have micrografix (i think its micrografix - its been a while since i looked at the box), which i understand is similar just about half the price (works for me). Its a little old now (prob about 2000), but handles jpegs etc and has a jpeg compressor too. I have had good results with this in the past for projects, presentations etc....
As its my first attempt at a webpage, maybe i won't go for the DW software just yet (was contemplating it till you mentioned the price
), but definitely think about it if i get into this malarky.
So i guess i am looking for something a little more budget in price but with still good results (its gotta look good otherwise no point doing it huh?) - perhaps last seasons progs as grahambell suggests might be the way forward, or dave_s13 if you could suggeset evaluation software, maybe i'll try that. Will try and remember to send something your way later...
Cheers for now
Dont have photoshop, but i do have micrografix (i think its micrografix - its been a while since i looked at the box), which i understand is similar just about half the price (works for me). Its a little old now (prob about 2000), but handles jpegs etc and has a jpeg compressor too. I have had good results with this in the past for projects, presentations etc....
As its my first attempt at a webpage, maybe i won't go for the DW software just yet (was contemplating it till you mentioned the price
), but definitely think about it if i get into this malarky. So i guess i am looking for something a little more budget in price but with still good results (its gotta look good otherwise no point doing it huh?) - perhaps last seasons progs as grahambell suggests might be the way forward, or dave_s13 if you could suggeset evaluation software, maybe i'll try that. Will try and remember to send something your way later...
Cheers for now
Have a look at Macromedia Contribute there is a trial version available.
You can get a trial version of Dreamweaver from the Macromedia website. think it lasts for 30 days... go to www.macromedia.com and then look in downloads...
I just bought Teach yourself HTML in 24 hours Off amazon and used notepad. But then my website isn't exactly cutting edge 
Oi! I use vi all the time at work. Us unix users find it bloody invaluable...
>> Edited by Fatboy on Friday 7th March 11:13
Niggle saidIts not the 1980s anymore. Can you two please use something more modern, wordstar isn't considered cutting edge either anymore
Oi! I use vi all the time at work. Us unix users find it bloody invaluable...
>> Edited by Fatboy on Friday 7th March 11:13
Niggle said:
Deester said:
Size Nine Elm said: Or you could use the worlds greatest HTML editor - Emacs
I'm more of a VI masochist, Emacs is for weirdos.
I've been known to use Windows Notepad
Never had any experience of Dreamweaver but I can recommend HoTMeTaL Pro as being ok. Probably sits between Frontpageand Dreamweaver.
>> Edited by Niggle on Friday 7th March 09:42
I use Notepad. Get yourself a book on HTML. It's a bit daunting at first, but after a while it's a piece of piss.
www.loconinja.co.uk
www.loconinja.co.uk
Just to take a step back a bit (sorry if you know this)...
Web pages tend to be written using a markup language called HTML. The idea is that if you want some text on the page to have certain characteristics such as being bold you'd put some tags around the text which tell the web browser how to render the text. If you go to this web page (one of mine) www.cwork.co.uk right click on the page and select view source you'll see the actual HTML source code of the page.
You can write this source code in an editor such as notepad, vi or emacs and save it to a file called something.html and open it with a browser and you'll have just written a web page in HTML. For more information on how to do this go to www.webmonkey.com
To make the pages dance a bit more you can add supplementary code to it in a language called javascrpt (this is not the same as java that you may of heard of) which will enable you to do more complicated things like make stuff move about or make pop-up menus. Again, webmonkey is a good place for tutorials and you can use a text editor such as notepad to write your javascrpt.
If you don't want to get involved with coding the page yourself and would rather select fonts from menus, type stuff in, drag images onto the page, select pre-built menus and stuff like that then you'll need one of the wysiwig (what you see is what you get) editors that have been mentioned by others.
That's basically the decision you need to make and that will dictate the tools you use. Writing basic HTML is dead easy, javascrpt is a bit more difficult as it's an actual programming language rather than a markup language but the tutorials are there if you want to learn.
I tend to write basic pages in HTML with a bit of javascrpt if needed because I can't be *rsed with faffing about with all the presentation stuff as my job is mainly about getting the web pages to talk to servers and databases etc. I leave the pretty stuff to the sensitive types
What people have said about the wysiwyg tools producing a lot of 'stuff' can be seen by right clicking on this page and selecting view source. Compare what you see with my page and you'll see a lot of extra stuff defining fonts etc. and the page contents aren't very readable.
Hope this helps,
Mark
>> Edited by dern on Friday 7th March 18:13
Web pages tend to be written using a markup language called HTML. The idea is that if you want some text on the page to have certain characteristics such as being bold you'd put some tags around the text which tell the web browser how to render the text. If you go to this web page (one of mine) www.cwork.co.uk right click on the page and select view source you'll see the actual HTML source code of the page.
You can write this source code in an editor such as notepad, vi or emacs and save it to a file called something.html and open it with a browser and you'll have just written a web page in HTML. For more information on how to do this go to www.webmonkey.com
To make the pages dance a bit more you can add supplementary code to it in a language called javascrpt (this is not the same as java that you may of heard of) which will enable you to do more complicated things like make stuff move about or make pop-up menus. Again, webmonkey is a good place for tutorials and you can use a text editor such as notepad to write your javascrpt.
If you don't want to get involved with coding the page yourself and would rather select fonts from menus, type stuff in, drag images onto the page, select pre-built menus and stuff like that then you'll need one of the wysiwig (what you see is what you get) editors that have been mentioned by others.
That's basically the decision you need to make and that will dictate the tools you use. Writing basic HTML is dead easy, javascrpt is a bit more difficult as it's an actual programming language rather than a markup language but the tutorials are there if you want to learn.
I tend to write basic pages in HTML with a bit of javascrpt if needed because I can't be *rsed with faffing about with all the presentation stuff as my job is mainly about getting the web pages to talk to servers and databases etc. I leave the pretty stuff to the sensitive types
What people have said about the wysiwyg tools producing a lot of 'stuff' can be seen by right clicking on this page and selecting view source. Compare what you see with my page and you'll see a lot of extra stuff defining fonts etc. and the page contents aren't very readable.
Hope this helps,
Mark
>> Edited by dern on Friday 7th March 18:13
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