Shoutbox

So i want to start writing a website, not really for anything in particular, more just cause i want to learn how...

Any tips on where/how to get started?

I have the ABSOLUTE basics of HTML down, but any help would be appreciated

Once i get HTML down, i want to do XHTML and CSS...

I know CSSzengarden is a great site...but maybe i'm getting ahead of myself

Thanx!

--Coastie

USCG The Only Way To Be Is To Be A Coastie

I'd say learn XHTML instead of HTML, but learn CSS as you go along and pick up Javascript. Just always search what you want to do in google and someone will have an example

"css background colour"

yeah xhtml should be standard these days. And remember keep everything in html to one case... lower case!

Also check out: http://www.w3schools.com <-- great site

Be aware that in the coming years what you learn here may change.

XHTML is currently what most people prefer (as opposed to HTML v4), however, the next implementation of XHTML (commonly known as XHTML2) is going to be a subset of HTML v5 rather than an extension to XHTML v1.

Confusing eh?

In all truth, the basics of the syntax are pretty much the same. You say you know basic HTML, there's very little difference except that you must close all tags in XHTML (like <img /> rather than just <img>) and of course must use a different DOCTTYPE. There's further fancy things you can do syntatically, but they're really not useful for coding websites, as you can use both CSS and ECMAScript (ie Javascript) in both HTML.

The site Nathan linked is propably the best starting place.

would anyone recommend me using Adobe Dreamweaver CS3? I have it on my laptop, but in all honesty it confuses the hell outta me!

I know when i first started using photoshop i just learned it all through exploration of my own and tutorials online so i know i could learn dreamweaver, but i don't exactly know if i should


Thanks again for the help

PS thanks for the site Nathan, it's awesome!

NO! I would say it's rubbish for beginners as it's to bloated with stuff you won't be using and expects you to know what you're doing. Start of small doing things in notepad and then start using thngs like Notepad2 for syntax highlighting etc

Notepad it is! 

andrewdodd...are you sayin that i should use xhtml now? or should i stick with html and just wait for the new gen of html to come around?

spunky...i think you're giving me to much credit, when i say basic html, i mean like i know how to change the color on the font when i leave a comment on myspace, and how to do links...haha i meant BASIC basic

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so i was wondering where i would find a tutorial...or at least some pointers on how to get the graphics started...i know that's kind of a really broad question, but here is where i get it from, you might be able to get what i mean from here

http://www.vineyardesigns.com/resources/build_web...layoutdesign.shtml

thanx!

I agree with Spunky, stay away from the graphical editors for now. They may let you design your page easier, but you won't learn much, and (from what I've experienced) it's very easy to create messy and strange code with Dreamweaver (not used the latest version tho).

A great place to start, and a place that helped me when I started doing webpages 6-or-so years ago was Lissa Explains it All. Don't get put off by the "HTML Help for Kids", it's great for anyone starting out, and it provides all steps needed for creating a basic website. However, note that it does use HTML instead of XHTML, and that it doesn't cover that much CSS, but it covers the basics.

No, I would say use XHTML now but be prepared to change in the future. Once you've got HTML down you'll realise it's not going to be that hard to adapt.

If you use Firefox you may wish to install HTML Validator, it'll tell you if there are any errors in your HTML - just because something looks right, doesn't mean it *is* right.

quote:

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Originally posted by andrewdodd13
If you use Firefox you may wish to install HTML Validator

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84 Warnings on this page Thanks for the suggestions