Building A Website

Hunguyen

May 27 2005, 01:08 PM

Im a newbie & I need to make a web site for my group and i was wondering what software should i use to make a nice website like astahost.com I currently have dreamweaver but i do not know how to use it..please help me!

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moonwitch

May 27 2005, 01:18 PM

It depends on what kind of website you want to create. If you are talking about a forum such as this one, it's a premade one (http://www.invisionboard.com/) which you have to buy. The site (astahost.com NOT the forum) is made by using Flash, graphics, php and CSS.

Quite honestly if you are a true newbie, don't aim too high like the main astahost page. I have been doing web design for some odd years in HTML and CSS only and I am just learning PHP. It truly all depends on what type of site you want to create. If you are looking for help on HTML itself W3 School is the best place to start

If it's help in Dreamweaver you want, uhm well just ask. But we can't really give general DW help since the program is far too big for us to explain. And if you're not familiar in HTML and want to learn, I say stick to notepad to learn to write the code itself. I swear by that method.

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Neverseen

May 27 2005, 02:03 PM

Hi,

I agree with moonwitch, that the best way is to follow some tutorials and examples. Also one very good tip is to look at the other pages' source to understand how it works. For example you coud see different tags... how to insert an image or how to make a table etc... You gotta hava some basic knowledge about HTML code.

That's it

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Ozzy

May 27 2005, 07:01 PM

I have created different websites and i have used a few different programs and i have thought that dreamweaver is not that bad of a program but it takes a while to order
peace out
ozzy

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Houdini

May 29 2005, 02:20 AM

Well since Hunguyen is a NewBee then he might want to start a forum from a free vendor like phpBB , Yabb or YabbSE (now SMF) since he said it was for a group, and from that I take that they would like to use the site to pass messages via the internet without having to check email and all. I used Invision until they started charging for it. Also Yabb, SMF and YabbSE, Mercury Board, PunBB and of course phpBB and phpBB2. They all have their own strengths and weaknesses but overall I still like phpBB (which is why I run PHP-Nuke with phpBB as my forum). If he wanted a full blown easy to administer ready made site I would suggest PHP-Nuke which is a CMS (content management system) Many modules and blocks and addons to choose from and after a short learning curve even a NewBee will be comfortable using such a system.

Of course this is just my opinion and I do enjoy my forums but I also need tutorials, news, calander events, weather reports, amberalerts, and more content for my users than just a forum. Also choosing things like this are a matter of browsing the net to look at other systems that are already to go, and hopefully FREE and then after a little research someone should be able to come up with a site that does what they want.

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mimi_m

Jun 7 2005, 01:28 PM

I agree with whats being said here. If you want to make a good, high-quality site but you're new at designing/coding, I'd suggest you get a pre-made template and code, so you only have to make small and basic changes to fit your content in. If you want to use a program, again, you're going to have to have some knowledge in how to use them before you can just jump in and create an awesome site. Start small.

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jipman

Jun 7 2005, 02:30 PM

Talking about the asta frontpage, I do think it needs some remaking forinstance, the sounds quite annoy me especially the start ones and those bleeps you hear when you go over a menu item.

Also the links with the 2 boxes in the center (that arrow like link) does'nt link to anything

Finally when i click on a menu item on the left, there's no way to return to the homepage( I think).

But, I do like the news thingy and the features of the site and the specifics of the hosting are very well explained and listed.

Kinda off topic I guess :|, sorry

ps. I usually skip the frontpage though, just jump right into the forums

ps2. Your not going to kick me away for this are you Opaque

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power

Jun 7 2005, 07:35 PM

You can also use some CMS (content management systems) like mamboserver or drupal or xoops ( i love xoops) . You can make a quality website for your group in no time . You get everything readymade and their forums offer great support for your problems .

drupal- www.drupal.org
xoops- www.xoops.org
mambo- not sure of url just type mambo cms in gogole

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Military Knowledge

Jun 8 2005, 04:11 PM

Hi,
It has already been said I guess, but it really does depend on what type of site you want and how much effort and time you are really willing to put into the development of your website. It also depends on your webhosting services.
The best program as far as I am aware is AceHTML. It combines a very simple but effective coding process with plenty of pre-designed scripts. It is also is (and this is the best part) completely free once you have registered.
Remember, simple is the best. It's great because there is no advanced coding required. You can find a lot of ready made templates over the internet. It is all very simple and the design program can be used to make those really advanced, interactive flash sites (the really cool sites with all the animation). It's all really profeshional but is as easy to use as Word. You can find it at www.downloads.com, just type in AceHTML. It'll be there somewere. I hope this helps.
Sean Webber
militaryknowlege@hotmail.co.uk

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sunny152

Jun 8 2005, 05:30 PM

I'm also interested to build my own website and i'm not familiar with HTML codes.so is there any other free website builder like tripod as one can easily build website step by step very easily without using HTML language.Any help is highly appreciated.

sunny.

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Latest Entries

eXc1te

Oct 15 2007, 01:58 AM

ya, but to use mysql you need a bit of php knowlege as well. And i personally find php kinda advanced and frustrating lol

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A W K

Oct 14 2007, 10:52 PM

I had trouble when I first started my first website at first too. I started off using HTML. It's good for basic web design and easy-to-remember codes. You can find some basic html design on w3schools. When I had my website, I turned to them for many things that I forgot (in different programming languages).

If you want a good software to use, you can use mysql. Mysql is easy and it doesn't take much effort to make a good website.

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eXc1te

Oct 14 2007, 09:35 PM

Ok as people have mentioned already that if its for a group a forums system/message board is a great idea and i strongly recommend SMF as a free one, you can download it at www.simplemachines.org. If you want more features to add to that to make it more like a webpage and less of just a forum you can download tinyportal wich is a portal software that adds many features to smf. Now if you want to make more advanced websites in the future i strongly recommend LEARNING html, xhtml, css to start then after you have that down look into php, javascript, and other programing languages. Dreamweaver works great but i personally perfer to code my sites from scratch, even tho they dont always turn out that great i learn to know why somthing is wrong... well good luck with you website creation

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Impious

Oct 1 2007, 03:19 AM

hung~, to make a website like astahost.com is not so easy. by what i read u dont even know the basic of programming, thats bad man. i recommend to start study html and css... later u can start javascripts and when u got the necessary experience search for php/asp tutorials... i saw some goodies "how-to" here on forum.. ahh by the way, astahost.com is basicaly forums, so u can use scripts already done like phpBB or Invision Power Board(IPB - used by astahost.com)..
now go ahead man, dont waste your time.

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Arbitrary

Sep 29 2007, 11:03 PM

QUOTE

4th Don't use Photoshop

Umm...why shouldn't you use Photoshop? I mean, assuming that you can afford the software, Photoshop's a great way to create logos and other areas that are more graphics-orientated on your site. Obviously if you can't afford it, then use GIMP, but Photoshop's got plenty of good features. Are you denouncing it because it's Windows-only? That still doesn't mean its quality is any less.

Now, I agree with the not-recommending Dreamweaver and Frontpage points--neither creates semantically correct HTML. When you do decide to edit something by hand because Dreamweaver and Frontpage were unable to do it for you, you'd end up dead while wading through those series of nested tables.

QUOTE

6th Don't use Windows
7th Use linux

This is not quite true. When you're testing the website, you do need to consider what a Windows user on IE would see, and not just what Linux users would see. Most of your audience, after all, do use Windows. Key point in making a website is to cater to your audience.

If you're going the PHP way, I'd recommend CakePHP (currently using it as well) and symfony. There are plenty of other PHP frameworks out there and I've tried a few, but those two seem the most well-developed, though they still lack in good documentation.

A good way to learn PHP (after you've brushed over the basics) is to look at an existing codebase and either contribute or at least understand what's going on. So instead of just using CakePHP, try to look under the hood and see why everything is being coded the way it is.

I also use Notepad++ for editing, though I don't think it makes a huge difference what editor you're using if you're just building a site. Notepad++'s got the basics expected from a text editor: highlighting, collapsing sections of code, macros, etc.

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