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

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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Yeah & should be &amp; in the links

Cool, i'm going to have to get that...just google it i guess?

And i got on that http://www.vineyeardesigns.com and they have a basic website starter tutorial, and in that tutorial it says to design what you want you site to look like in a program like photoshop, just so you have a picture to go off of when you are writing all your code and everything...is photoshop the best one to use? (i have CS3) or should i just be old school and have a sketch on paper?

p.s.  you guys are awesome, thanks a million for all this help

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
Cool, i'm going to have to get that...just google it i guess?

And i got on that http://www.vineyeardesigns.com and they have a basic website starter tutorial, and in that tutorial it says to design what you want you site to look like in a program like photoshop, just so you have a picture to go off of when you are writing all your code and everything...is photoshop the best one to use? (i have CS3) or should i just be old school and have a sketch on paper?

p.s.  you guys are awesome, thanks a million for all this help

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so you're saying i would be able to take this background image and include it in my website?  how would i do that cause i'm pretty sure this is the one i want to use

i know last time i used an image as a background for a website i had to link to it and have it display that way...is there any way i wouldn't have to do that?

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
so you're saying i would be able to take this background image and include it in my website?  how would i do that cause i'm pretty sure this is the one i want to use

i know last time i used an image as a background for a website i had to link to it and have it display that way...is there any way i wouldn't have to do that?

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oh....

haha so i have a LOT of work ahead of me then...haha....


Well...guess i oughta get to it huh?

I have a lot more made up for this...but i don't have the buttons or anything

Can i add the graphics into it in PS too? like when you move your cursor over a button it highlights...or is that all to do with css?

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
oh....

haha so i have a LOT of work ahead of me then...haha....


Well...guess i oughta get to it huh?

I have a lot more made up for this...but i don't have the buttons or anything

Can i add the graphics into it in PS too? like when you move your cursor over a button it highlights...or is that all to do with css?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Jimbo
Well you would design 2 images, one for the main button image, and then another for when you highlight over it. You would then use HTML i think to use the onmouseover command to change the image.

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haha...old and outdated...got it

so just make the buttons (and everything else pretty much) look how i want them to in PS then do all the animation and all of that with css

guess it's time to look for some css tutorials!

would you recommend doing one page at a time, like from beginning to end, or should i go ahead and design all of pages of the site in PS, then write the XHTML for them all, then do all their css...etc.?

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
haha...old and outdated...got it

so just make the buttons (and everything else pretty much) look how i want them to in PS then do all the animation and all of that with css

guess it's time to look for some css tutorials!

would you recommend doing one page at a time, like from beginning to end, or should i go ahead and design all of pages of the site in PS, then write the XHTML for them all, then do all their css...etc.?

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jeeze...haha i knew it was gonna be tough doin a website...haha but this stuff is crazy

so i have seen websites where the only thing that changes when you click on the link is the content inside the main block of text in the middle of the page, and i think that that is what i want to do so i don't have to rewrite the pages every time like you said, is that a difficult thing to do?

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
jeeze...haha i knew it was gonna be tough doin a website...haha but this stuff is crazy

so i have seen websites where the only thing that changes when you click on the link is the content inside the main block of text in the middle of the page, and i think that that is what i want to do so i don't have to rewrite the pages every time like you said, is that a difficult thing to do?

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aw but come on where is the fun in that?

baptism by fire right?

haha

i'll do the basic txt and everything, that is a good idea, i was probably getting way ahead of myself...but man i've got a pretty cool page goin right now, at least a design of what i want it to look like in Photoshop

it's pretty cool!

well, back to work

btw...Nitro, you are officially awesome...if i could give rep points, i would definitely give you some positive! haha

--Coastie

Cause Coasties Rule...Duh

So it's been a couple of days since i have been on here...sorry about not keeping you all updated...work got hectic for a little bit

here's what's gone down

i have a rough draft of what i want the final page to look like...not the simple page that i was told i should create first

I started to try to figure out where to start as far as getting the page going in XHTML...then got stumped...

Anyone feel like giving me an idea of where to start as far as writing the XHTML...even just to get a basic page going, i can figure out how to gets stuff where i want it and all once i get the basic stuff up (text, a couple boxes, header, footer, etc...)

I am beginning to you guys than Google

You're just so much cooler! haha

Thanks

--Coastie

*Basically Amazing*

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
(Smilie) jeeze...haha i knew it was gonna be tough doin a website...haha but this stuff is crazy

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haha but i would much rather ask a huge group of nerds...it makes me feel more at home...because believe it or not, i aspire to become one of these nerds that can help people like me right now that want to learn this kind of stuff

nerds rule:

dig it

--Coastie

p.s. so i want to write my own code...i basically want this to be my own thing...but i just need to know how to get started

any ideas?

thanks again

--Coastie

USCG -- Well, it's probably becuase we're better than you.  Just get used to it.

quote:

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Originally posted by Jarrod
but using code does pay off, just look at nathan's websites they always look good and have neat features that make them a joy to use

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quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
haha but i would much rather ask a huge group of nerds...it makes me feel more at home...because believe it or not, i aspire to become one of these nerds that can help people like me right now that want to learn this kind of stuff

nerds rule:

dig it

--Coastie

p.s. so i want to write my own code...i basically want this to be my own thing...but i just need to know how to get started

any ideas?

thanks again

--Coastie

USCG -- Well, it's probably becuase we're better than you.  Just get used to it.

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See why i ask the nerds??  Ya'll are awesome

Thanks Nathan

Hey Nathan, Jarrod said that you have some pretty cool sites, think i could get a link to them to see??

Thanks again

--Coastie

quote:

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Originally posted by Coastie
See why i ask the nerds??  Ya'll are awesome

Thanks Nathan

Hey Nathan, Jarrod said that you have some pretty cool sites, think i could get a link to them to see??

Thanks again

--Coastie

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So after procrastinating for what seems like ages (more just making my photoshop image of what i want this site to look like look awesome) I've finally started my basic HTML for my new page.

When i say basic...i mean BASIC.  I have a header, and one paragraph, and some bold stuff, that's it so far.  But this is just me getting everything in HTML down right now. 

But, i was wondering, should i write the page in HTML now, or just go ahead and write it in XHTML since that is what i am going to be using later...


thanks

--Coastie

Personally, I started on Macromedia (now Adobe) Dreamweaver, producing some okay websites, which was great at the time, but never really taught me anything, so when I started to design websites using Adobe Photoshop, CSS and XHTML, it was like going backwards in time, so I would suggest that you start straight away with using a program like Notepad++ (an extension of Notepad that has many features, such as format recognition and tabs, which is particularly useful when editing a CSS document and XHTML document).

What I'd do initially is get use to combining CSS with XHTML to position different divs on the website (a div is a container, which can have absolutely anything in it, it can scroll and expand depending on how you program it). Once you start doing this, you'll realise how simple and straightforward it really is, you'll remember all of the different codes, what is necessary for a website to be valid in all browsers, what not to do etc...

Your best bet, as Nathan quite rightly said, is to use the w3schools website, as they pretty much set the standards for XHTML and CSS, then to check that you're doing everything right during the whole process, just get used to constantly checking XHTML is valid here and CSS is valid here. That way you can get used to always producing a valid page, which will be very useful in the long run.

My major piece of advice is to not over-complicate anything, it really is straightforward, just take your time and read absolutely everything to help you, and don't try and learn too much at once. This is why you can't go wrong with learning CSS and XHTML, they go hand in hand and are incredibly easy to use together.

If you ever need any help then I'm here, just PM me and we'll have a proper chat about it, it'll be a lot easier for you to learn that way, it's the way that I learnt and I've got a web design business now.