Best way to learn about building websites

chalk7 · #1 12-15-2006, 04:00 AM

i really want to get into business on the internet. i have little computer background besides surfing the internet/poker and would like to learn enough about web design/development to possibly build, but at least maintain website(s) even if i hire someone to build at first.

i'm not sure if i should take some local community college courses, maybe an online course, or find someone to "tutor" me.

any advice/thoughts are appreciated.

JoshK · #2 12-15-2006, 10:35 AM

I would suggest going to borders and grabbing a couple of dummy books.

You can outsource online and get everybody to do everything for you. But then the problem lies any time you need to make a small change you won't be able to do it yourself. Anybody that runs websites should really understand basic html.

Most people for website design I believe use a product like dreamweaver. You can use this to create just about any type of site you'd like. So Maybe you can grab a copy of dreamweaver (you know where) and a dreamweaver book for dummies and grind your way through it.

I choose another path. I use xsitepro to make my websites. Since i'm not out to be a great designer or have an awesome user experience xsitepro allows me to make very simple, clean looking sites. An example is my www.your-best-health.com website. (which I need to put some time into...)

But keep in mind there's limited functionality in using a program like this. Also it has a high price. So If you want full control over your site and be able to do a number of things I definetly would suggest dreamweaver.

Wow I just went into a bad sales copy about xsitepro that's kind of amusing.

Unless you're wayyyyyyy behind the pace I wouldn't suggest taking one of the local community college courses. If you put in some effort into using google, or grabbing a couple of books, then I think you'd be just fine.

Cheers,

Josh

Colt McCoy · #3 12-15-2006, 10:39 AM

Open Source Web Design has a ton of free templates to get you started.

UncleSalty · #4 12-15-2006, 10:56 AM

As I posted in one of the forum project threads, I have found "Head First: HTML with CSS and XHTML" to be a fantastic starting point.

I really like the Head First line of books and their teaching methodology. They focus on approaching the material from several different angles to help it stick in your brain and make it more fun to learn. I actually plan on teaching myself Java down the road with their book.

Keep in mind that there are newer tools out there that go beyond XHTML/CSS for web page and content management but I think learning the foundation is a great place to start.

Colt McCoy · #5 12-19-2006, 11:09 AM

[ QUOTE ]
As I posted in one of the forum project threads, I have found "Head First: HTML with CSS and XHTML" to be a fantastic starting point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any other recommendations for HTML/CSS books? It seems like the consensus is that joomla is the way to go...has anyone bought any of the joomla books? Recommended?

Pog0 · #6 12-19-2006, 01:57 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As I posted in one of the forum project threads, I have found "Head First: HTML with CSS and XHTML" to be a fantastic starting point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any other recommendations for HTML/CSS books? It seems like the consensus is that joomla is the way to go...has anyone bought any of the joomla books? Recommended?

[/ QUOTE ]

Joomla is gross, but maybe that's just me.

Colt McCoy · #7 12-19-2006, 02:01 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As I posted in one of the forum project threads, I have found "Head First: HTML with CSS and XHTML" to be a fantastic starting point.

[/ QUOTE ]

Any other recommendations for HTML/CSS books? It seems like the consensus is that joomla is the way to go...has anyone bought any of the joomla books? Recommended?

[/ QUOTE ]

Joomla is gross, but maybe that's just me.

[/ QUOTE ]

What do you prefer?

UncleSalty · #8 12-19-2006, 03:33 PM

Knowing the background knowledge of HTML/CSS will be helpful for a Joomla implementation. It does come with a simple HTML editor for writing your content, but it is nice to be able to edit the HTML yourself to get images, hyperlinks, etc. inserted and looking the way you want. Also, learning a bit about CSS has helped me feel more comfortable altering the free templates I've been looking at.

I'm still taking baby steps myself, but there were a couple of great tutorials I found for Joomla that got me moving.

Here is a great beginner's post on the joomla forum:

http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,47524.0.html

And a great tutorial site:

http://www.screenbooks.net/joomla

Enjoy!

Addiction · #9 12-19-2006, 10:07 PM

Study them.

Jayyyyyyy · #10 12-20-2006, 01:54 PM

If you already have an idea, I'd just go to a site like elance.com and get someone to build it for you. It will be a long time before you can do everything yourself. As far as learning goes, you just have to start messing aroung with code. My first sites used wordpress, which I highly modified so that now wordpress is now almost a cms for my site. I've used some of the tutorials at http://www.w3schools.com/ and they are pretty good too.