How to make a website?

PHP is industrial geek, while HTML is your average website. That is about the best I can tell you, hopefully in a way you'll understand. I can do some really cool websites and never have to worry about php, javascript, perl, shockwave, or anything other than html. Get a grip on the basics first.
 
HTML = Hyper Text Markup Language,

in essense you write text with tags, these tags tell the browers what to do with your text, infact tags can also imbed other things such as images sound etc, tags can also help the layout of text and images as well as text. HTML is your web page.

PHP = Hypertext Preprocessor, is different to HTML, in the sense that it is a "Scripting language" same as "JavaScript" and "VBScript"

these are little bits of code that the Server executes (NOT your browser), and in return does something depending on what the script wants to do.

PHP can even be written directly into HTML or written as seperate files, for example DVXuser runs on PHP, notice when you click on any thread it is calling a file called:

"showthread.php" this script takes arguments as follows:

?t= Insert thread ID
&page= Insert thread page

so for example :

showthread.php?t=138894&page=1

tells the script to display thread id "138894" at page 1

This is just a 10000 foot overview.
 
Thanks guys that really helps. So I guess I'll leave PHP along for a while and learn the basics of HTML. I was told from another web guy that you can just find codes on the internet and use those as a base and change them to you find what you like ( I guess kind of like myspace ???). I wanted to make the site first, before I buy anything (domain name, host, etc..)

So where to start


- Page Header
- Navigation Bar
- Page Content (the body)
- Page Footer


Is there any sort of layout that I can download to get a better understanding of how the base of a website is made ?


.
 
in terms of layout, it is best that you learn to use CSS (Cascading Sheet Styles) and avoid the old school method of tables.

I'll digg out some paper that I've written on proper formating, web userability design guide.

I'll PM you when I get some time later.
 
CSS is good for implementing the design, but first and foremost, you have to create something that you like with Photoshop (or some other graphics software) and then make it an actual page. That's really the best way to create a page.

In other words, don't worry about how something will work. Just come up with something you like in terms of design and then take it from there.
 
twocik23 said:
Thanks guys that really helps. So I guess I'll leave PHP along for a while and learn the basics of HTML. I was told from another web guy that you can just find codes on the internet and use those as a base and change them to you find what you like ( I guess kind of like myspace ???). I wanted to make the site first, before I buy anything (domain name, host, etc..)

So where to start


- Page Header
- Navigation Bar
- Page Content (the body)
- Page Footer


Is there any sort of layout that I can download to get a better understanding of how the base of a website is made ?


.
Click to expand...


If you need to have a site up now, I strongly suggest you look into www.Joomla.org . Open source and a lot of support for this. This is the best way for new people to start a website. It has tons of modules you can add as needed so you can have a simple site or as advanced as you need. Joomla is free and there are lot's of templates that are free for Joomla so check them out.

Good luck
 
I don't code and what I do is make the design in photoshop, slice out all the images according to color blocks except the buttons. I cut the whole button. Then you do a save for web and this other program opens where you can set the color limit for each slice you made. Since I slice by color blocks, some slices can be like a 3 color gif file which is tiny. Gradients can be like 256-ish png or jpeg. Any photo type image on my site I leave as jpg with full color. After the tedious task of setting the colors then you export as html. Then you can open it in any editor. I use Dreamweaver. Then I select the buttons and make them active with the link to go to and add search meta data to the area where that goes and save. The problem going this way is that to edit anything you have to go all the way back to photoshop and the text or copy isn't searchable. One day I will learn to make the backgrounds only and have the text go where I want and be editable in Dreamweaver but thats far away.

So it looks like this and needs to be updated sorely.
www.puffinfilms.com
 
Older browsers (up to IE3) don't support them at all. IE 4 can crash when loading a PNG. Browser support isn't the best, like it is for JPEG or GIF files.

Granted most people are using newer browsers, so you really have to look at your target audience and what browser they would be using. If you think PNG would be ok since most people are using IE 6 and higher (or firefox) then you're probably OK.
 
I agree with you Tom about browser compatability but just as a point of information the reason when to use PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

Here I have taken a screenshot of my application, this is not a photo but screen graphics (eg large amounts of the exact same color)

Now Jpegs are lossy, i.e. they compress by throwing data away, PNGs are Lossless i.e. they compress but do not throw away any of the original data

JPEG @ default settings around 90.2 KB:

JPG_compare.jpg


PNG @ default settings 33.2 KB:

PNG_compare.png


PNG is actually smaller, yet has zero image degradation (because it is the orginal Data, when decompressed)

Notice the compression artifacts on the letters and numbers as well as the color fade on the graph on the JPEG image.


Conlcusion:

Know when to use PNGs or JPEGs (eg buttons, logos and certain non photo graphics)
 
I agree. PNGs are much better when there are large areas of a single color, like the white background and the button backgrounds.

What you have to watch for with PNGs is gradients or photos. Photographs won't compress very well at all with PNG unlike JPEG. JPEG uses a DCT compression algorithm which is similar to MPEG, which is why they compress so well. Of course PNGs will be smaller than they're uncompressed counterparts (like a BMP or uncompressed TIFF).
 
As mentioned before, browser support for PNG is dodgey at best, regardless of how good it looks. Kind of like dating a supermodel that has no conversational skills and is lousy in bed. Why bother?
 
Capt Quirk said:
As mentioned before, browser support for PNG is dodgey at best, regardless of how good it looks. Kind of like dating a supermodel that has no conversational skills and is lousy in bed. Why bother?
Click to expand...
The only browser that has issues with PNG's is IE6, and Microsoft has been pushing users hard to upgrade to IE7.
PNG's are fine in webdesign
 
Freeway Express is what we use. Unless you're into hand coding. There's a little room for that but not much. A company named Softpress makes it. It's also very easy to upload and modify.

-Nate
 
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