basic web site design

woot · 17 April 2006, 22:08

I would like/need to create a basic website and do not have the first idea where to start. I have done some web searches and had a look at a few books on amazon but haven't bought or signed on to anything yet. I know that there are several forum members who have there own website to chronicle their adventures so hope someone out there can offer me some advice on how to get started. My TV, phone and Broadband are provided by NTL and I believe I have a small amount of free webspace at my disposal so may be able to use this.

Tim M · 18 April 2006, 12:03

I would suggest downloading Macromedia Dreamweaver. It makes it really easy; does all the code for you. The interface is a little bit like word so what you see if what you get. You can get a 30 day trial from their website.

Failing that, chances are you have Office on your pc; does that have Frontpage? It does the same thing, although I prefer Dreamweaver.

HTH

dctucker · 18 April 2006, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tim M

I would suggest downloading Macromedia Dreamweaver. It makes it really easy; does all the code for you. The interface is a little bit like word so what you see if what you get. You can get a 30 day trial from their website.

Failing that, chances are you have Office on your pc; does that have Frontpage? It does the same thing, although I prefer Dreamweaver.

HTH

Agreed. Though for VERY basic web design, you can also use MS Word, or my new preferred (and FREE) word processor, OpenOffice.org and save as HTML to upload to your host. It is also possible that your ISP may provide basic web based web design/layout tools.

ollyit · 18 April 2006, 15:30

frontpage is very easy to grasp mate

benc · 18 April 2006, 15:46

microsoft publisher is good to.

What is it you want to do with your website?

If its just a text/picture log of your travels - you could setup a free blog account... search google for "free blog" there are plenty of sites around around.

Blog sites give you easy access to enter a message and/or pictures. Some have formatting controls which you can use to make the text easier on the eyes.

Blog sites also give you extra features such as listing items by date, and normally they are searchable to.

TQBoater · 18 April 2006, 20:10

I would agree with Benc base your site on blog software makes life so easy and you can change the design to your requirements as you go and as you get more experiance you can make bigger and better changes.

I've used MovableType for a few sites and it's very easy to use and customise

woot · 18 April 2006, 20:15

Thanks for the info guys, I will try and follow up the info.
Benc - I want to use the website to co-ordinate bookings / show availability of a holiday cottage but also detail trips such as boating that I make to the cottage.

benc · 18 April 2006, 20:52

ok, in that case, I dont think that blog software will really be right for that... I would look into the dreamweaver/publisher route... I believe publisher comes with MS Works - which pretty much gets shipped with every pc thats gets sold from places such as pcworld and dell.

I just googled, and found this also:
http://nvu.com/

I haven't tried it, so can't comment - but its free - so may be worth a try

The last option, is - if you can find somewhere to host it - you could use something like mambo (www.mambo.com) or Joomla (www.joomla.org).

I can host for a reasonable fee each month, pm me if you're interested.

BenC

Nasher · 18 April 2006, 21:25

Frontpage is easy to grasp.

Nasher.

MikeCC · 18 April 2006, 22:04

Another less well-known package but easy to use and quite flexible is NetObjects Fusion. Current version is 9 but earlier versions are sometimes free on magazine covermount CDs with a cheap upgrade to the latest.
www.netobjects.com

woot · 18 April 2006, 23:26

Thanks again guys, I have just been experimenting with a free blog, I've been sat here for hours and now my brain hurts. I think the blog is a good idea but will be too limiting once I get on a roll so will start exploring other avenues. Before she went to bed hours ago my wife said that she set up a simple site very easily on a free 14 day trial on "moonfruit" and put some photos etc relating to her horse riding club etc on there. Has anyone got any experience of these I think its around £3 a month, not expensive but I still like free better.