Dreamweaver Templates

eirebhoy

I'm an absolute amatuer when it comes to building websites but I'm doing it none the less. I'm going to put a website together which will basically have details on every professional Irish footballer in England. I have all the data put together but haven't started the website. I think this is the banner I'll be using (don't ask me why I got the banner done before putting the site together):



I've looked over this tutorial on using dreamweaver and all I really know is the basics. I could put a website together but it would be nothing special.

What I was wondering is if it is possible to get a template and would I be able to just fill in what I need or is it more advanced than that?

Cheers.

Shrimp

You'll want to look into making a database.. check out the programming forum too.

Molly

I don't think there is any need to use a database as it may be over complicating things and force eirebhoy into learning something he may not have any interest in as well as having to get more expensive hosting. If he wants to learn how to do it then fine but in my opinion static pages would serve this just fine as they wouldn't need to be updated that often really. It doesn't have to be a dreamweaver specific template. Any website template will do and just open it up in dreamweaver and make alterations as you see fit.

It's a really good idea eirebhoy, good luck with it.

seamus

I'm not sure Molly. Obviously this kind of data is going to change - people get transferred to european clubs, new kids start playing, etc. This time next year he could have a pain in his tits updating/creating static pages, and will decide to go the database route anyway.
It also leaves him free to redesign his site as much as he wants. Imagine creating 100's of static pages, and then deciding, "Actually, I'd prefer to have that logo on the right-hand side". Nightmare.

So in conclusion eirebhoy, it would be simple to create a template and just create new pages, but if you're interested in knowning more about web design/programming, I'd advise going down the database route. The learning curve can be quite steep, but once you know the basics, it becomes a piece of piss.

Molly

Well you hit the nail on the head with some of your post seamus. If he wants to learn more about web development then a database driven website would do no harm. From reading the soccer forum and other soccer boards which eirebhoy posts on he seems to be well clued up so would probably update the site when things happen, and being realistic he might be making two or three changes a day at most. That won't really be worth the extra effort that he'll have to put in to learn php/asp/asp.net, but on the other hand if he does want to do a site redesign then it would be easier with a database driven site.

Drapper

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm an absolute amatuer when it comes to building websites but I'm doing it none the less. I'm going to put a website together which will basically have details on every professional Irish footballer in England. I have all the data put together but haven't started the website. I think this is the banner I'll be using (don't ask me why I got the banner done before putting the site together):



I've looked over this tutorial on using dreamweaver and all I really know is the basics. I could put a website together but it would be nothing special.

What I was wondering is if it is possible to get a template and would I be able to just fill in what I need or is it more advanced than that?

Cheers.

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http://www.freewebtemplates.com/download.php?id=1005&t=t
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http://www.templatesbox.com/templates.htm (dunno if there is any sport related ones in there)

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Shrimp

Getting the template isn't the problem. I presumme the 'database' will not been to big. Prolly about 1000-2000 entries. Maybe?

It would be logical to make a database, It would make it easier to search by Name, Team, Age, etc.. or any other field.

As far as I am aware it is possible to use a database application such as access, then using that programme, you can upload it directly to the net. that way it'd be very easy to make the database.

If anyone knows what I'm talking about, could you elaborate, I only heard about this briefly.

Molly

If he were to end up using a database, he would probably end up using a php/mysql set up as they are free whilst msaccess isn't. PHP and mysql hosting generally isn't free and would require eirebhoy to learn to code, which is all well and good if he is that way inclined or if he already knows how to. It's only logical to make a database driven site if it will infact save time/money.

seamus

Molly wrote:

It's only logical to make a database driven site if it will infact save time/money.

I'd add hassle into that equation too.

WhatsGoingOn

eirebhoy wrote:

I'm an absolute amatuer when it comes to building websites but I'm doing it none the less. I'm going to put a website together which will basically have details on every professional Irish footballer in England. I have all the data put together but haven't started the website. I think this is the banner I'll be using (don't ask me why I got the banner done before putting the site together):



I've looked over this tutorial on using dreamweaver and all I really know is the basics. I could put a website together but it would be nothing special.

What I was wondering is if it is possible to get a template and would I be able to just fill in what I need or is it more advanced than that?

Cheers.

I presume you have seen http://www.soccerbase.com/ ?

Molly

Heh, hassle is surely part of time though seamus

seamus

Molly wrote:

Heh, hassle is surely part of time though seamus

Sometimes it can be justified to bill for time and hassle separately

eirebhoy

Cheers for the help. I actually might be going back to college within the next couple of years to study computer science so if learning about databases will help me in that then I'd probably go down that route. atm I haven't a clue what you are talking about tbh. How long would it take to learn? What are the advantages to this compared to just putting a site together with basic dreamweaver knowledge?

I will be updating it frequently but lets say I just build a non-database driven site (if there's such a term). If I get more knowledge on Web developing could I easily convert the site into database. As I said, I haven't really got a clue about these things but it seems fairly easy to build a site with dreamweaver.

Cheers.

WhatsGoingOn wrote:

I presume you have seen http://www.soccerbase.com/ ?

There's a lot more to it than that. I (and possibly a few others) will be keeping people up to date with how all the Irish are doing in England. Bascally, I started this thread up last year:
http://foot.ie/forums/showthread.php?t=19834

it has 270 replies and over 12,000 views. People are posting in it daily with posts on how the Irish are doing. I want to just put it all on one website. There'll be a page for every single player. It'll probably list the matches that player has played each season and a good bit of detail. Obviously someone can search for this on google but I'd like to build a site with this all together as I and many others have an interest in this. As I'm building the site I'll think of things to add.

Molly

How long it takes to learn depends on how you learn it, how much free time you have and how quickly you pick it up. A good book helped me alot. I think it was called visual php for the world wide web. I know people will go on about free online tutorials but I find alot of people only get distracted when they try learn something off of a computer screen.

Advantages of a database driven site
Easier to maintain.
The more it's maintained the more time you save on it overall.
No need for an ftp client after the intial upload.
Site redesign is alot simpler.

From what detail you ahve given a database driven site would seem to fit your needs alot more. However you will need hosting that supports php and mysql. I can provide you with this for free but unfortunately will be something like http://eirebhoy.mollz.co.uk. I can help you out if you need help or even do the php for you if you like, as I think this is a really good idea and I like to know how people i played against when i'm younger are getting on over across the water.

eirebhoy

Appreciate the help Molly. If you were to do the PHP, 1. Would it take long to set it up? 2. Would you like to do it? I don't mean would you be willing to do it. 3. Would I be able to update the site?. An address like that is fine for the time being btw as it'd only be started out being viewed by the likes of Foot.ie users.

One thing thats certain. I am going to get a book on this type of thing as computers is where my career is heading in the next few years it seems. What book would you recommend? I really want to get the site up asap which is why I'm not too enthusiastic about this database thing but if you're happy to do the php that would be great.

krz7e

I would suggest that you look around on sites like lynda.com to find video tutorials on this stuff. These are a great starting point. Also a book is very handy for reference. Sitepoint have good books on this kind of thing.

You will not learn PHP or MySQL before you start, you will learn it as you are building your site. This should motivate you to stick at it.
Set up a local testing server (to see what your php is doing) - I recommend WAMP from wamp.com, it includes apache, php 5 and MySQL and installs in all with one simple installer. It also includes an app call phpmyadmin to manage your SQL database.

You will not need to program much from scratch and theres lots of resources available to you in the form of pre-written code and templates. Open these up, figure out how they work and adapt them to your own application.

zAbbo

Get something from hotscripts, no ?

eirebhoy

krz7e wrote:

I would suggest that you look around on sites like lynda.com to find video tutorials on this stuff. These are a great starting point. Also a book is very handy for reference. Sitepoint have good books on this kind of thing.

You will not learn PHP or MySQL before you start, you will learn it as you are building your site. This should motivate you to stick at it.
Set up a local testing server (to see what your php is doing) - I recommend WAMP from wamp.com, it includes apache, php 5 and MySQL and installs in all with one simple installer. It also includes an app call phpmyadmin to manage your SQL database.

You will not need to program much from scratch and theres lots of resources available to you in the form of pre-written code and templates. Open these up, figure out how they work and adapt them to your own application.

Cheers. I've had a look at a the introduction to this tutorial:
http://movielibrary.lynda.com/html/modPage.asp?ID=145

It says that PHP is a lot like C. I learnt C a couple of years ago so that should help.

You say I don't need to know PHP before I start. So what do I do to get started? Sound a silly question but I really amn't well clued up on PHP or anything other than building a basic site.

Molly

PHP is alot like C so if you feel comfortable with that then i think you should proceed onward yourself. Let me know what address you want and i'll set it up later tonight and pm you the details. If you want me to do it I couldn't start until next Tuesday and it might take me another week or two depending on how busy i am then(Shouldn't be longer then a week but i can't actually say as i don't know what i'm doing that week). There are plenty of tutorials available on the net on php and mysql and if you find you can do them then i'd do the site yourself.

rsynnott

eirebhoy wrote:

It says that PHP is a lot like C.

It is obviously deranged.

seamus

rsynnott wrote:

It is obviously deranged.

That's clearly a geeky joke, but I fail to get it.

rsynnott

The magazine said the C is like PHP. This is obvious nonsense; one or two of the functions have the same names and broadly similar functionality, and they are both members of the curly bracket language family, but it ends there.