How to make a website

WindSock

A very simple and very basic question to all you techies but where do I start? I am fairly creative but I havent a clue when it comes to computers. Is there a Website I can go to to do this?

Liam Byrne

I am fairly creative but I havent a clue when it comes to computers

I'm not sure how "havent a clue" is meant, but if you really mean it then step 1 would probably be to get reasonably good at computers first; any of the tutorial sites will contain references to at least some basic computer terminology.

And whatever about "sticking one together" the easy way, any of the sites that have details of how to put together a properly-constructed site (no tables, semantic markup, proper navigation, etc) will have even more technical terms. And without using Word or FrontPage, and catering for cross-browser and different screen sizes....

Knowledge of at least one decent graphics / photo package is also a major plus, PhotoShop being the best one.

Of course, you could always grab a template to play around with first, and use that as a step up, and then work backwards once you'd gotten a grip of the basics.

Best of luck!

AARRRGH

Read tutorials on the web.

A good way to learn is to get the HTML of a page you like (right click the page, left click show source or something), save that to your computer, view it in your browser, and then play around with it.

WindSock

Thanks. I've been looking at Weebly.com. Have you ever come across it?

WindSock

AARRRGH wrote: »

view it in your browser,

What is a browser. Is that like Internet Explorer, etc? How do I change some one elses html from their page?

Goodshape

WindSock wrote: »

What is a browser.

Srsly? o_O

Yes.. the browser is what you use to view the web. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera, and so on.

Haven't looked at Weebly much myself, but from a glance if that's the sort of thing you're after then maybe you're more interested in simply having somewhere to write / talk / post photos / call your own on the web, as opposed to actually making a website - i.e. constructing the code yourself.

If that's the case then yeah, maybe try Weebly or Wordpress or something like that. You'll have your own space in about five minutes and a nice administrative backend for adding and editing content.

WindSock

Goodshape wrote: »

Srsly? o_O

Yeah, I said I was pretty clueless with computers. The terminology is a different language to me .


I'm looking to set up a business, not so much a social thing.

zeusnero

might be worth looking into getting it done professionally if it's going to be a front for a business - while getting a basic website up and running isn't terribly difficult, it does nonetheless require a sizeable investment of time and energy.

Then taking a basic website to the next level (navigational structures, contact us forms etc) is much harder and requires some knowledge of code.

No offence but if you're at the stage where you're asking what a browser is, then you have a long long road ahead so like I say you may want to seek professional assistance.

what's your timescale on this btw?

Goodshape

Yup, if it's a business rather than personal site then you should probably look into hiring the right people to do the job.

Putting up a tent to sleep in is something anyone can do... building a working home with plumbing, central heating and all the wires in the right place takes a bit more time, effort and skill.

smemon

Have a look at W3 Schools - that's where all the lecturers shove us off to in college when learning stuff :pac:

That, or what some of the other lads have suggested.. take a site, look at the code, slice it apart, try to make some sort of sense of what bits and pieces mean and then google any bits you don't understand.

Also, downloading a few free templates is a great way to learn about how sites are put together and coded - it'll make coding seem less useless then ;-)

p

If it's a business, then I wouldn't do it yourself, it'll just look amateur. There's a lot of budget web design companies that will do a better job.


If you want to learn how to build websites, then there's an excellent book called 'Heads first XHTML and CSS' that teaches you all teh terminology from the start and would be perfect for you.

turgon

My two cents - http://www.yourhtmlsource.com is a great place to start. Unlike W3 Schools its like a step by step thing, from learning how to start at the very start, to advanced stuff. I always viewed W3 Schools more as a reference site.

El_mariachi

get it done by people who know what they are doing, its pointless to think you can build a good business website if you don't even know what a browser is.

WindSock

Thanks for the advice. I think I will just pay someone to do it. I will however look at all the suggestions on this thread too. (and I do know what a browser is, I just didn't want to be bombarded with terms that I had to google ) Godzilla firefox, ftw :pac:

forbairt

If you've a business or are starting one ... then your website will be one of your key marketing tools no doubt.

whether its personalised emails or whatever.

Your basic costs of getting a site up and running will be

1: domain
2: hosting (try to get irish hosting if your market is ireland)

that should cost you around 50 quid + ...

Doing the site yourself ... looking professional and getting good rankings and so on ... are going to take you months of work and probably won't look that great.

So as has been said .. hire a professional at worst hire a student with a decent enough portfolio.

If you don't have a decent budget for it ... you could always try adverts.ie

Make sure of their portfolio first and even ask a few others what they think of their portfolio.