Making Website's

[3dfx]

Ok.
I want to start getting into websites, atm I can make basic one's but what are the best programs to use ?? for adding flash etc

[Gurm]

See, this is a loaded question.

Many of us feel that "adding flash" is not really the same as "making websites".

- Gurm

[3dfx]

I suppose, my question doesn't really go into a lot of detail, what I should have said was how do I make good websites fullstop as I said I can make basic one's, I'am just overwhlemed by all the different posibilities

I think Flash is a nice feature in some websites, I'd like to familiarise myself more with Java in website's.

thx for quick reply Gurm

[breezer]

cut and paste

download apache
checkout php/perl and other scripting languages

find a good help site eg http://www.help4web.net/menu.html

flash is an ass, walk before you can run.

breezer

[3dfx]

thanks for putting things into perspective breezer

[Liquid_Memory]

There are many alternatives, ActiveX, Java, CGI, Perl, ASP, ASPX, Visual Interdev, and many more. It depends on what you want to accomplish.

ActiveX is nice, but people have to agree to download the module in order for them to see it.

http://www.microsoft.com/com/tech/activex.asp

Java is also nice, but if you have done any programming in the past, you are gonna have a real tough road ahead.

http://java.sun.com

CGI is mostly used for scripting and the like and really can't build a good website, but its nice to know if you want to send mail or an online order through a form.
There is no real link for CGI, you have to search the internet in order to find anything on CGI.

Perl is a language that was developed to totally confuse the online programming community, its like starting to write you programs in binary, you have to declare everything and by the time you have done that, you have a 10,000 page program that does nothing.

http://www.perl.com

ASP and ASPX are 2 of the new programming languages for internet out there. They are getting good revues, but its too early to decide whether they are going to take off full bore.

http://www.asp.net

Flash I won't even talk about, it is the worst programming language out there.

All in all if you are going to create web pages with a little more pizzazz than the average table and frame subset, you have to pick one and stay with it. I program in all the above mentioned, but my favorite is ActiveX, although people have to download the control in order for it to work right, it is the most flexible, and if you have programmed in Visual Basic, its the easiest.

Hope the links help ya 3Dfx.

[GNEP]

No. Forget all that. First you should be good at slicing up photoshop mockups for the pictures, and hand-coding an HTML/CSS template using notepad.

Only when you have complete mastery of the above making it display properly in all browsers from Lynx through IE 3-->6 and Netscape 4.x + Moz + opera can you be ready for "real" website building...

Learn the basics well first, by pretending it is still 1998...

[Liquid_Memory]

GNEP, those are the basics, and being able to program a website that actually fits across all those platforms is absolutely impossible. Unless your HTML source only contains:

HTML
Hello World
/HTML

[GNEP]

No. It's possible. Just really awkward. It won't look identical on all platforms (obviously - Lynx is in there), but you can make it look "right" for each and function properly with nothing broken and all navigation etc present.

But honestly it's not worth the effort these days. Code cleanly for xhtml/css and you won't have any problems. But you should learn how to hand-code pages - kind of like learning how to use a hand-saw when you have power-tools available. Just one of those done-things.

[Liquid_Memory]

Your right on the last part, if you are going to program webpages, do it in a text editor.

[GNEP]

Not necessarily "do it in a text editor". More like "know how to do it in a text editor" and then use whatever method you're most comfortable with.

[KvHagedorn]

When making your website, try to remember that an apostrophe only goes before the "s" in the case of a possessive or a contraction, never a plural.

[GNEP]

LOL

[Gurm]

And that it's spelt "mastUrbate", not "mastErbate".

And it's "vagina", not "virgina".

- Gurm

[agallag]

And it's spelled "spelled"

edit: yeah, I know it's generally considered an acceptable american variant (ie. color, nite, etc.), but really, spelt is a "hardy wheat grown mostly in Europe for livestock feed"