I Want to start a website any advice?

[dragongreengolfgti]

Can a website be made before it goes online and tested by myself to make sure it is going well ?

Yes you can test to your hearts content. Dreamweaver website design software allows you to design the entire site on your computer and you can play around with it and get things to look and act the way you want to before uploading it to your ftp server (thats where its stored on a server and accessible by anybody that types the web address into their bar).

The design itself isnt complicated and there is many many websites available when you search that can guide you through it as long as you are patient you will manage just fine.

Just looking at dreamweaver now its £19.53 to download for a year does that sound right? single cloud single app? is this all i need to design my website and does it do functions like installing a search bar and login details etc?

Once i have my design and website how i want it do i then have to buy a server provider ? is that how it works and as soon as that's done it goes live and is started to be used?

Also is there a limit the server can handle i wouldn't want my website to keep crashing or taking long for pages to load that really frustrates me  how do you get a silky smoth server 

[dom]

I'd be looking at getting the full version of CS6:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Systems-Inc-65168512-Dreamweaver/dp/B007UXCZR6

[novadragon007]

I'd be looking at getting the full version of CS6:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Systems-Inc-65168512-Dreamweaver/dp/B007UXCZR6

cs6 would be the way to go reason being is yes dreamweaver can do everything you need your website to do provided you give it the right code input. But your website will need images/banners/ads and possibly alot of other stuff so cs6 (adobe creation suite 6) has all applications in it that you wll ever need to create a professional site such as fireworks, flash designer and photoshop. but it is costly. if you're a member of certain sites that can obtain certain somethings for free  you can get cracked copies but bare in mind this is illegal and if you want to make a business out of it you will need to keep it all above board 

[dragongreengolfgti]

I'd be looking at getting the full version of CS6:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Systems-Inc-65168512-Dreamweaver/dp/B007UXCZR6

[/quote]
cs6 would be the way to go reason being is yes dreamweaver can do everything you need your website to do provided you give it the right code input. But your website will need images/banners/ads and possibly alot of other stuff so cs6 (adobe creation suite 6) has all applications in it that you wll ever need to create a professional site such as fireworks, flash designer and photoshop. but it is costly. if you're a member of certain sites that can obtain certain somethings for free  you can get cracked copies but bare in mind this is illegal and if you want to make a business out of it you will need to keep it all above board 
[/quote]

Looks like I will be getting me a copy of this soon then is it worth doing the trial first maybe?

[novadragon007]

yeah i would get as much free as possible to start getting used to the code and design side of it before you go and buy the full pack.

With regards to your server space question most packages give you unlimited storage or a hell of alot of storage so dont worry about that. In regards to making it run smooth there is alot involved in that but primarily if your website is gonna have alot of images start with compressing the images to make them load faster once someone lands on the page. you can do this through photoshop. Just google "compress image for website" and theres plenty of methods.

[dom]

yeah i would get as much free as possible to start getting used to the code and design side of it before you go and buy the full pack.

With regards to your server space question most packages give you unlimited storage or a hell of alot of storage so dont worry about that. In regards to making it run smooth there is alot involved in that but primarily if your website is gonna have alot of images start with compressing the images to make them load faster once someone lands on the page. you can do this through photoshop. Just google "compress image for website" and theres plenty of methods.

Otherwise known as image optimisation

I'd get onto the w3schools website and have a read. Lots of useful tutorials and examples, the more knowledge of HTML you have the better.

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

I'd start of with basic coding using notepad. Software such as Dreamweaver will generate lines and lines of HTML for you, which for someone who has no experience of HTML will be complete gobbledegook.

Start with HTML in notepad, then have a look at CSS. Then, once you've got a good understanding of each, play around with Dreamweaver.

[dragongreengolfgti]

yeah i would get as much free as possible to start getting used to the code and design side of it before you go and buy the full pack.

With regards to your server space question most packages give you unlimited storage or a hell of alot of storage so dont worry about that. In regards to making it run smooth there is alot involved in that but primarily if your website is gonna have alot of images start with compressing the images to make them load faster once someone lands on the page. you can do this through photoshop. Just google "compress image for website" and theres plenty of methods.

cheers for the advice again mate i'm getting a right learning overload from all this  i shall look around and take notes start learning codes and help from my bro and forums etc i should get there 

yeah i would get as much free as possible to start getting used to the code and design side of it before you go and buy the full pack.

With regards to your server space question most packages give you unlimited storage or a hell of alot of storage so dont worry about that. In regards to making it run smooth there is alot involved in that but primarily if your website is gonna have alot of images start with compressing the images to make them load faster once someone lands on the page. you can do this through photoshop. Just google "compress image for website" and theres plenty of methods.

Otherwise known as image optimisation

I'd get onto the w3schools website and have a read. Lots of useful tutorials and examples, the more knowledge of HTML you have the better.

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

I'd start of with basic coding using notepad. Software such as Dreamweaver will generate lines and lines of HTML for you, which for someone who has no experience of HTML will be complete gobbledegook.

Start with HTML in notepad, then have a look at CSS. Then, once you've got a good understanding of each, play around with Dreamweaver.

Cheers dom more interesting stuff for me to get around cheers i have bookmarked that website so will give it a good going through over the weekend and spare time  This will be a slow process maybe depending on how quick i can get my head around it all this thread might go quiet soon for a while but will keep it updated accordingly and with questions now and again 

Thanks guys
mike

[novadragon007]

yeah i would get as much free as possible to start getting used to the code and design side of it before you go and buy the full pack.

With regards to your server space question most packages give you unlimited storage or a hell of alot of storage so dont worry about that. In regards to making it run smooth there is alot involved in that but primarily if your website is gonna have alot of images start with compressing the images to make them load faster once someone lands on the page. you can do this through photoshop. Just google "compress image for website" and theres plenty of methods.

Otherwise known as image optimisation

I'd get onto the w3schools website and have a read. Lots of useful tutorials and examples, the more knowledge of HTML you have the better.

http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp

I'd start of with basic coding using notepad. Software such as Dreamweaver will generate lines and lines of HTML for you, which for someone who has no experience of HTML will be complete gobbledegook.

Start with HTML in notepad, then have a look at CSS. Then, once you've got a good understanding of each, play around with Dreamweaver.

perfect solid advice. you're not in a rush so you can take your time and learn it the correct way mentioned by dom

i jumped straight into dreamweaver cause i was impatient and wanted it done which may have been a big contributor as to why i had to give it up.

stick at it you will do fine let us know how you get on.

[dom]

Cheers dom more interesting stuff for me to get around cheers i have bookmarked that website so will give it a good going through over the weekend and spare time  This will be a slow process maybe depending on how quick i can get my head around it all this thread might go quiet soon for a while but will keep it updated accordingly and with questions now and again 

Thanks guys
mike

No worries, I've got a Comp Science degree and teach, amongst other things, Website Creation at A-level so know a little bit about it. If you get stuck with anything drop me a PM and I'll help if I can

[Guy]

ooh this is fun 

seems like everyone is making a mountain out of a molehill here

i'd suggest Joomla (as DH said) and using a template which is readily available (pay for a decent one) to upload and manipulate very easily

Joomla sites are easy to edit, easy to add extensions (some are free, better ones you pay for) to (such as ecommerce bolt ons, forums etc) and are already part optimised for SEO (use google developer tools and analytics for the rest)

as for adobe products - consider creative cloud - full access to virtually the entire adobe range for a monthly fee and always have the latest product - spread the payments 

rome wasn't built in a day, but you might as well let those that have the knowledge do the coding and then concentrate on the content yourself, will help get rome built just that bit quicker 

oh.. and don't forget your social media - you'll get out what you put in