Resources for web-building

[Schwinn]

Just wondering if anyone has any advice to offer on building a web-site. I'm working on my mountain bike site, and I'm doing a LOT of code. Wondering if anyone knows any resources on the internet that gives instruction or tips on how to build one. I've got a good book on it, but I'm wondering what othe resources there are. Some pages will be complicated, but the basic pages I'm thinking there has to be an easy way. Any ideas? I'm going to have a general info areas, but also some areas to post pictures, and a bulletin board (which I have no idea how to do...yet), and a singles area for cyclists (ditto). I'm also selling some bumper stickers I've created. Any advice?

[kandy]

My advice? Buy Frontpage - it's simple to use and makes building web sites really easy since it writes the html code for you. I've built three websites using it, none of which have been published. Other than that, when you do your photos, use thumbnails so that the page doesn't take as long to load. Statistics show that if a page takes more than 15 seconds to load, most people will go elsewhere. Don't put a last edited date on the pages, if you don't edit them everyday, it will make the page look outdated. Make sure that you put a link to your home page on every page of your site. When you are setting up the individual pages, you can choose to have a new window open for each page that someone goes to, but then they'll end up with 50 gazillion windows open - I'd set it to where it opens in the same window. Watch your color combinations - sometimes I see sites that have a weird background color that makes the text hard to read. That's all I can think of right now.

Don't know anything about setting up bulletin boards - sorry.

[Daniac]

I found Frontpage VERY easy to use!
Even I was able to make a webpage!

[mrjohndoe]

There's a lot...who am I kidding, there is a tremendous amount of information out there. The best free program (non gui) is definitely HTML-Kit which you can find here: http://www.chami.com/html-kit/

If you are going to use a wysiwyg type of program definitely use Html-Tidy.

The best place to start would also be to google Webmaster Resources and/or Tools.

Actually a lot of host providers give you ton's of free scripts to do all the things you want. Not sure where/how you are going to host your site but, definitely give some good scrutiny in that area.

[Schwinn]

Thanks. I do like to do the dirty work, but for gi-normous pages of script, it's tedious. I've got a good program, but I find for some of my "how-to" pages, it's just mind-numbing.

[Rick C]

I agree with the others. I used Frontpage to build www.goldentales.ca and I really haven't got much of a clue as to how a computer actually works or even what a basic file is.

So, if an idiot like me can do it, you should be an All-Star web designer!!

Rick C
www.goldentales.ca

[dmc123]

My website is on bravenet.com, I started with the free hosting, but upgraded. They have good wizards to do the tedious stuff, and you can always edit the pages if you want.

I am still learning, but so far the site is good for me. I think their free hosting doesn't allow frontpage, but the other paid ones do.

Good luck.
Diane

[CyberKitten]

Read anything by Laura Lemay! She is the whiz kid of HTML. In fact, several of her books are available free online and one is here: http://docs.rinet.ru/PublicPauk/

I am not a fan of HTML editors tho if I had to recomend one, I'd suggest AceFree HTML Editor - it comes prepackaged with lots of scripts (JavaScript and Java - two very different items, one is a computing langauge and the other a script, one used in universities to teach object oriented programming and the other object based sometimes), VBScript among others.

I LOATHE Frontpage but then I do not much care for any WYSIWYG editors. I program for fun so I used an enhanced Notepad and sometimes Ace if I do not want to reivent the wheel (say in creating a navigational menu).

With Frontpage, you never really learn HTML so what is the point? And there is so much more exciting things out there now - swf files, cold fusion (which I have to admit I used a ALOT), and css of course.

There are many places to uplaod your site but most ISP's will give you 5 megs. It depends what you want to do with your site - if you want to say, upload videos, you will need lots of space but for a basic web site, 5 megs may be just fine.

There is a wonderful site http://www.zyweb.com which provides many gifs and other graphics you might need - helps you create them if you do not have the time to be a graphic artist. webdeveloper.com is also good if it is still online. And Joe Burns' site So You Want to has some wonderful articles on how to create the various objects you might want on your site. I forget the site addy but just type Joe Burns and so you want to and HTML or JavaScript in any search engine and it will come up.

Good luck!

[mrjohndoe]

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

Read anything by Laura Lemay! She is the whiz kid of HTML. In fact, several of her books are available free online

Doh! You're right... she rocks.

[Schwinn]

I've got MultiMediaAustralia, and I read "Absolute Beginner's Guide to Creating Web Pages", both great resources. What I'd like to do is get my site up and running, with my stickers I'm selling, then use the HTML to fine tune it. I think my provider gives me 10 megs, and I have a buddy with an ISP who can get me some more and a domain name. I am thinking about doing video as well. There's a neat video camera that attaches to your helmet for making riding videos. If things go well (and I can convince Cheryl!), I'd like to do that as well. I'm right now I'm working on a name, I'm thinking Fat Boy's Ride Guide.