personal website

[Anonymous]

http://www.123-reg.co.uk - free forwarding to a url, or email forwarding too. Very cheap way to do it and, as has been said; continuity - you keep your domain name and email however often you change the various service providers

cheers
Jacob

 

[Jaco]

HTML?
Well 40 years ago we wrote programs in machine code, Neat&Best.
Calculator? Looked at that slide rule the other day, hmmmmmmmm, would need a course on how to use it.
Who can remember the old Holirith Plug board machine? Punch cards?

Anyway, back to HTML. Actually quite easy to use and learn. Downloaded a few manuals off the web, and a bit of practice.
8)

 

[ByronBlack]

Ok

Here are some wondeful free css templates for you to get up and running. The last one (tinderbox) is probably my favourite from a professionals perspective as it's basic and solid and allows you to add your own distinct design to it, whereas the others are a more out-of-the-box ready to go type.

http://www.cssfill.com/

http://www.freecsstemplates.org/

http://opensourcetemplates.org/

http://www.oswd.org/

http://maxdesign.com.au/presentation/page_layouts/

http://csstinderbox.raykonline.com/

 

[ratkinsonuk]

Gabriele, firstly before I dispense any advice, let me say that I design and code dynamic websites for a living, e.g. www.hpug.org.uk

As far as I can see, nobody has asked you the most important question - what do you want to use the website for?

If't it's simply to put some pictures on for friends and family, then you could easily use something like a Windows Live (http://www.live.com/) webspace. You won't need any programming skills, as it's all point and click.

Secondly, I would suggest using a graphical editor until you get used to HTML. I do 90% of my work in a text editor called UltraEdit, but still use MS Frontpage occasionally to check pieces of code. As well as Frontpage, you might like to also consider DreamWeaver. Don't bother with cheap or freebie programs - they're generally not worth bothering with.

This thread will give you some extra info on what to learn in what order :-
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/1stJ ... ssage/2658

I've noted a couple of tutorials, but there are loads out there. Some of the best are at www.w3schools.com

You DO NOT need a web space to create the content, but will need one to be able to publish it to the world. Once you're ready to do this, you should not pay more than :-

Domain Registration - £8
Web Space - £30

Many web hosting companies will give you a domain name for free when you sign up with them. I personally like www.efextra.net which has a plan for $50 per year including a free domain name (but the email support can be a little slow).

If you want, you can easily get your web pages hosted for free, but these often come with adverts.

If you would like any more advice, feel free to post back here, or PM me.

Robert.

 

[ByronBlack]

Robert, sorry to disagree with you, but your advice is just simply bad and wrong. MS Frontpage is the WORST exponent of bad code fullstop! Your own site doesn't even validate so this not good advice at all.

What has been suggested so far is the correct way to go. Start with a good solid foundation that is both accessible and usable and validates. It's totally irrelevant what he wants the website for as all websites serve one function - the sharing of information.

If he uses frontpage he will end up with horrible clunky code that is no good to anyone. You may 'do it for a living' but if I were a paying client and you served me up an MS Frontpage website I would be very unhappy.

And to qualify this post, I'm a CIW Professional and a ran web agency for a number of years building websites for NHS approved healthcare companies and The university of Gent (Belgium) to name a few.

Gepetto - do as has been suggested by a number of people, use one of the free CSS templates that I linked to (these use solid, accessible, and validating code) and build on that, you'll end up with a much better website than a horrible proprietry mess that Frontpage and Dreamweaver will serve you up.

 

[matt]

Free hosting http://www.freevirtualservers.com/
If you really want to design your own site from scratch. No ads as such, simply a link of your own choosing (i.e. can be simple text) to their site.

Simply publishing: http://www2.blogger.com/home (for which you don't need a host (i.e. the previous link)).
If you want a really simple method of publishing on the web.

As already pointed out - what and how you do it is largely dictated by your objective and motivation.

If you really want to be standards compliant etc, then read Jeff Zeldman's book, Designing With Web Standards. However, HTML in 24 Hours will get you going, although you should still read Jeff's book if you have an underlying interest in the technical/design integrity of your site.

CSS is a very simple concept to get your head around - both Eric Meyer and Jeff Zeldman explain it very elegantly.

As already mentioned, CSS seperates the content & structure of your site from the design & layout. This site demonstrates this more than any other. It's all one content where the design and layout is controlled purely using CSS: http://www.csszengarden.com/. One day, when I have more time, I may even submit a layout of my own.

Finally, if you've not already got some experience etc, brush up on the basics of graphic design. It's the graphic designers and not the web designers that make some of the best looking sites in my opinion.

 

[Anonymous]

snip
Finally, if you've not already got some experience etc, brush up on the basics of graphic design.

Well yes

It's the graphic designers and not the web designers that make some of the best looking sites in my opinion.

Well yes and no.
They also make some of the worst sites in terms of useability, access etc. Esp todays generation of designers brough up on Illustrator etc who make the mistake of thinking that Dreamweaver etc is just an extension of the same. They are often horrified to learn that they must get to grips with html and the basics, and drop out at that point.
Its horses for courses - if your site (or print material for that matter) is about dispensing information (words mainly), together with illustrations and links, then graphics can often get in the way. I've seen a lot of this over the years - projects where you have to prise the graphic designer off the case and keep things simple.

cheers
Jacob[/quote]

 

[ByronBlack]

Jacob is spot on. However good design is more than just visual. There is a discipline callled IA and UI (Information Architecture, and User Interface) If these are designed well then the site will be good without a bunch of flashy graphics/animations etc.

Thats why I advocate using a basic CSS layout - this forces you to concentrate on the important thing: Content. Then after that you can dress is it up with some nice graphics.

Robert: I just re-read my post which was in reply to yours and felt that it came over a bit more harsh than I intended it to be, hope you didn't take offense, but I do think MS Frontpage is about the most wrong way for anyone to learn how to make a website properly due to the terrifyingly awful proprietry code that Microsoft have hacked into it, saying that, most wysiwigs arent much better in reality.

 

[GEPPETTO]

Hi boys,
I'm very pleased about all yours efforts put here for a mine understanding (I hope it's the right english statement :? ) and I must say it's not very simple, for me, to understand such matter which is very new for me....in a foreign laguage too.. however.. my wish is to build a web-site to share with other my jobs, simply, text and pics, without any "fireworks" which are useful for who has to sell procucts :roll: ..
I haven't to sell anything :roll: .
How I said before, for a my proper nature, I have to understand(If I'm be able to) because one thing is in that way, hence I have just began to study HTML basis.
I think, for my needs, it's not too difficult and I'll use CSS for a better usability in the future.
I see a lots know what we're speaking for.. and before yesterday I thought what odd things there were behind a web page.. today I'm a little enlightened.

Thanks again, soon I'll make a little sort of website.


Cheers, Gabriele :wink:

 

[ByronBlack]

Good Luck Gabriele! If we can be of any of help, just let us know!

 

[ratkinsonuk]

Byron, I suspected my comments would get the steam coming out of peoples ears, and I completely agree with you that MS Frontpage is absolutely awful.

It's not even properly aware of <divs> & <spans>.

But.......the ability to be able to put an object on the page, such as an image, and then see what it looks like in HTML will help speed up the learning process. We all learn new things by example, not by copying things we don't yet understand.

True, the HPUG website may not be 100% W3C compliant, but I make no excuse. It's actually based on the Mambo CMS framework, so I'm pretty sure the Mambo/Joomla team know what they're doing.

What's important to me is not whether the 3 people left in the world using LYNX can actually browse the site, but whether the other 99.9% of people find the site useful and interesting.

Gabriele has confirmed what I thought - that he wants a simple site with a few pictures and some text. I still say that Frontpage is the best way to go for this. Once he feels comfortable with the various aspects of uploading and editing, then he can throw Frontpage away and write it properly in CSS and XHTML.

As techies, we give out the right way to do something, including all the bells and whistles - something I often find myself doing. This is not always the appropriate approach to a problem when the end user is learning or non-technical.

Just my 2-penny worth, and I'm happy to join the debate (as long as I'm not bombared with MAC/Firefox users )

Rob.

 

[ByronBlack]

Rob your approaching the objective backwards: Start with awful code and a proprietry experience, and then learn how to do it properly so everyone can share the experience??

Why not start off on the right foot with a site that is correct to begin with and cut out the BS with Frontpage and the likes? There are so many validated easy to use out of the box CSS based templates - like the ones I linked to, and these will be even quicker for Garbriele to get up and running with a site and some photo's than trying to shoe-horn a solution in with Frontpage or something similar.

Also, I never said that you have to cater for a tiny tiny minute population, but if you adhere to standards and code properly from the outset then it'll degrade gracfully on all platforms allowing everyone to see/experience the content.

The people behind Mambo most definitly do not know what they are doing - I checked the source code behind your site and could point about 20 fundamental errors that if one was learning from the start using something easy like XHTML 1.0 would be avoided from the get-go.

Nonetheless we are all free to give an opinion and I respect your input on the debate, i'm now going to duck out of this one as I don't feel that I can add anymore than I already have.

So instead, I wish to leave you with this URL which I hope you might be able to get something from and will improve not only your own design/development awerness of standards, but also as a result improve your business as it did mine: http://www.webstandards.org/learn/

 

[ratkinsonuk]

Let me pose one more question, and then I'll shut up for good (promise).

If you're teaching someone new to woodwork how to cut a dovetail joint, do you :-

a) Give them a 1/2 inch, 2000w router, a jig, plans for a router table, and a box of mahogany

or

b) A few lumps of decent pine, a sharp tenon saw, and lots of help and advice.

My point is that I wouldn't give a novice to HTML and CSS information and tools that aren't designed for them, but rather give them something they can handle but which may not be capable of creating a Chipendale.

I'll certainly be interested to see how he gets on.

Rob.

 

[Anonymous]

Let me pose one more question, and then I'll shut up for good (promise).

If you're teaching someone new to woodwork how to cut a dovetail joint, do you :-

a) Give them a 1/2 inch, 2000w router, a jig, plans for a router table, and a box of mahogany

or

b) A few lumps of decent pine, a sharp tenon saw, and lots of help and advice.

My point is that I wouldn't give a novice to HTML and CSS information and tools that aren't designed for them, but rather give them something they can handle but which may not be capable of creating a Chipendale.

I'll certainly be interested to see how he gets on.

Rob.

Not sure what the comparison is here. I'd see option b as equivalent to starting with html i.e simple basics but fundamentally necessary.
Re earlier point - there is absolutely no problem viewing your hand-done html page done with Notepad, Textedit etc - you simply open it in your browser, IE, Safari or whatever. Edit the html then refresh the browser page to see the changes in an instant.
You can construct a complete fully functional website on your machine without having to host it anywhere - it will only be viewable by yourself however, but the external links will work. The host space is solely to enable public access to your site.

cheers
Jacob
PS I'd add this to Byron's suggested links: http://validator.w3.org/

 

[ByronBlack]

But Rob - your thinking is still backwards.

Frontpage = unsuitable large router

Standards = Finely tuned handsaw and a good book on technique.

If you set them off on the wrong-path, i.e graphical editors they'll have no understanding of the underlying theory or practice and will find it more frustrating when they come to learn it properly.

I've trained many people in XHTML and CSS and most notably a woman with virtually no web experience who was given the job of designing and managing a site for Renault Trucks UK - after two days with me and a couple of CSS based templates to learn from, she was up and running in no time creating solid validating and most importantly accessible websites for her company.

In any walk of life there are going to be right and wrong ways of doing something, and this case a new-comer to the world of web design and development should be set-off on the correct path. At the end of the day lets face it, XHTML and CSS is very easy and logical and there's no reason why someone with a moderate level of application can't be proficient within a handful of days with a couple of good books and some examples. So why handicap them from the outset and making them learn how to use a proprietry piece of software and gaining absolutely no knowledge of how the website is actualy made up.

Over and out!

(they just keep dragging me back in!) :lol:

 

[matt]

It's the graphic designers and not the web designers that make some of the best looking sites in my opinion.

Well yes and no.
They also make some of the worst sites in terms of useability, access etc. Esp todays generation of designers brough up on Illustrator etc who make the mistake of thinking that Dreamweaver etc is just an extension of the same. They are often horrified to learn that they must get to grips with html and the basics, and drop out at that point.
Its horses for courses - if your site (or print material for that matter) is about dispensing information (words mainly), together with illustrations and links, then graphics can often get in the way. I've seen a lot of this over the years - projects where you have to prise the graphic designer off the case and keep things simple.

cheers
Jacob

I was very deliberate when I said "best looking"... Knowing that it was likely to promote disparaging remarks.

However, in my personal experience those that approach web media from a graphic design background are far better informed about what it takes to deliver visually, including information architecture. They are also far more diligent about understanding the media that they work with and easily move beyond the technical web designer in compliance and usability.

For the record - I'm not qualified in either discipline and therefore have no allegiance beyond my experience of working with people in this field. I do, however, have a technical knowledge and also experience of working at the operational sharp end where the visitor experience speaks volumes. The misinformed that are abundant in this field are often very obvious, the technical expert that slips over the edge in to the design side is more often the one that carries the higher risk, although I accept that the graphic guru that fails to understand the media remains a potential but more easily managed liability.

 

[Anonymous]

snip
However, in my personal experience those that approach web media from a graphic design background are far better informed about what it takes to deliver visually, including information architecture.
snip

Well we obviously have had very different experiences. I've found graphic designers often to be clueless when it comes down to communication, by whatever medium, as distinct from visual design. Even worse nowadays when they have so much power at their finger-tips with Illustrator, Photoshop etc.
Graphic designers are often the last to understand that less may be more.

cheers
Jacob

 

[GEPPETTO]

Hi all,

For who know me, and knows because i'm stopped about woodworking I must say i'm on returning again.
The workshop is nearly completed. These last two years have brought my mind towards others interests . :bricklayer for my shop,computer experience and family naturally :wink:
however, I've taken this post to say I've done my proper web site http://www.shavingsonthebench.com/, studying HTML+CSS.
It's very simple and most parts are work in progress again.
I hope, when my woodworking activity will begin, I will improve it with others jobs and old ones


Bye and goog jobs
Gabriele

 

[Argee]

Well done, Gabriele! A very pleasing design with easy navigation.

Ray

 

[RogerS]

Gabriele...beautiful graphics and I love the choice of colour scheme...so much more restful on the eyes then many a Flash-Bang-Wallop website.