I want to learn how to build websites!!!!!

molested_cow · May 22, 2013

Not necessarily pertaining to photography, but generally speaking. I know nothing about web, but I am proficient with photoshop and illustrator (plus a bunch of 3D CAD). So where do I start? Which is the more future proof one to learn?
I have Adobe CS 5 web edition, which includes flash and ... forgot what else. I need enlightenment!

globeglimpser · May 22, 2013

That's like saying I want to take a good photo: we can give you basic advice but unless we know what you are shooting nothing we provide will be truly useful?

What is the point of thy website? Blog, a Store, a Flash design...

runnah · May 22, 2013

The graphics are the easy part of site building. Writing code and troubleshooting is the hard and tedious part.

sscarmack · May 22, 2013

Only question I have is why?

I went to school for Web Design, well Visual Communications. And its not something you learn over night.

I'm teaching my cousin some code and a very helpful site is

Learn to code | Codecademy

Nowadays everything is done for you. I don't even code my own site anymore. I use wordpress and it is way more powerful than anything I could of ever put together, and I did it in less than a week. Contact forms are done in minutes rather than days. Online carts the same way.

If you want to learn how to use code on the cheap, use notepad with basic html structure.

If you need any help, pm me.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Title of the document</title>
</head>

<body>
The content of the document.....
</body>

</html>

runnah · May 22, 2013

sscarmack said:
Nowadays everything is done for you. I don't even code my own site anymore. I use wordpress and it is way more powerful than anything I could of ever put together, and I did it in less than a week. Contact forms are done in minutes rather than days. Online carts the same way.

I disagree 100%. I use lots of module driven ASPX based site builders. It does speed up the process but everything I do I have to rework and hand code to make work the way I want it too.

If you want to really excel you need to know HTML, CSS, basic javascript, xml and aspx

o hey tyler · May 22, 2013

molested_cow said:
Not necessarily pertaining to photography, but generally speaking. I know nothing about web, but I am proficient with photoshop and illustrator (plus a bunch of 3D CAD). So where do I start? Which is the more future proof one to learn?
I have Adobe CS 5 web edition, which includes flash and ... forgot what else. I need enlightenment!

Step 1: never use flash.

Step 2: If you have a Mac, get Coda.

Step 2.5: Don't use Dreamweaver/muse

Step 3: Learn the basics of HTML and CSS, then broaden to HTML5 and CSS3.

Step 4: Go to awwwards.com and get inspired.

sscarmack · May 22, 2013

runnah said:
I disagree 100%. I use lots of module driven ASPX based site builders. It does speed up the process but everything I do I have to rework and hand code to make work the way I want it too.

If you want to really excel you need to know HTML, CSS, basic javascript, xml and aspx

To each his own, for a personal web page or portfolio, its pointless when you can have a site done in a half hour for a quarter the cost and looks just as good. Thats your opinion and I'm glad someone still does their own work

I prefer to focus more on my content rather than the code.

molested_cow · May 22, 2013

For a start I want to build my own website, like a portfolio site and basically, just something to have so I can include it on my business card. It will be fairly simple and straight forward because it's not a site that requires frequent updates.
So far I've relied on mass portfolio site which has been fine, but now that I am on my own ( career wise ), I need an independent site.

I've done a website like 15 years ago using MS front page. Yes it sucked but it worked. I know it's tedious, but it's better for me to know how to maintain it rather to rely entirely on someone else.

Not trying to become a pro, just know enough to get by.

runnah · May 22, 2013

sscarmack said:
runnah said:

I disagree 100%. I use lots of module driven ASPX based site builders. It does speed up the process but everything I do I have to rework and hand code to make work the way I want it too.

If you want to really excel you need to know HTML, CSS, basic javascript, xml and aspx

Click to expand...

To each his own, for a personal web page or portfolio, its pointless when you can have a site done in a half hour for a quarter the cost and looks just as good. Thats your opinion and I'm glad someone still does their own work

I prefer to focus more on my content rather than the code.

My own site is as basic as it can be, plug and play. But clients tend to not want off the shelf designs and functionality.

sscarmack · May 22, 2013

runnah said:
My own site is as basic as it can be, plug and play. But clients tend to not want off the shelf designs and functionality.

Correct, clients.

My personal site however I want to be simply and easy, and since I can update, edit on the go via my iPhone, thats amazing.

o hey tyler · May 22, 2013

sscarmack said:
runnah said:

I disagree 100%. I use lots of module driven ASPX based site builders. It does speed up the process but everything I do I have to rework and hand code to make work the way I want it too.

If you want to really excel you need to know HTML, CSS, basic javascript, xml and aspx

Click to expand...

To each his own, for a personal web page or portfolio, its pointless when you can have a site done in a half hour for a quarter the cost and looks just as good. Thats your opinion and I'm glad someone still does their own work

I prefer to focus more on my content rather than the code.

Having a custom designed website can set you apart from the crowd. From going to your site, I immediately could tell that you used wordpress. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just didn't feel particularly personalized to you. Adding /admin to the end of the URL confirmed that was indeed wordpress.

Again, not trying to knock wordpress. But having a thought out and personally designed website can go quite a ways in this day and age. I'm quite lucky to have a "web team" in that regard.

sscarmack · May 22, 2013

o hey tyler said:
Having a custom designed website can set you apart from the crowd. From going to your site, I immediately could tell that you used wordpress. Not necessarily a bad thing, it just didn't feel particularly personalized to you. Adding /admin to the end of the URL confirmed that was indeed wordpress.

Again, not trying to knock wordpress. But having a thought out and personally designed website can go quite a ways in this day and age. I'm quite lucky to have a "web team" in that regard.

I agree 100%. A full blown custom site is wonderful. I've done it up until about a month ago. All my sites were done by hand and I did everything.

In my journey of photography and design, I always caught myself focusing too much on the design and not as much on the photography. So I wanted simply but I didn't want to sacrifice design, thats when I stumbled upon Wordpress and have been pleased with the results for how easy it was.

When I design for clients, I do build from scratch and make them 100% custom to their needs.

Light Guru · May 22, 2013

sscarmack said:
runnah said:

I prefer to focus more on my content rather than the code.

Click to expand...

Bingo. Thats why I use square space.

runnah · May 22, 2013

Light Guru said:
sscarmack said:

I prefer to focus more on my content rather than the code.

Click to expand...

Bingo. Thats why I use square space.

So wrong. If you don't have tight code the content is meaningless because no one will see it.

sscarmack · May 22, 2013

runnah said:
Light Guru said:

sscarmack said:

I prefer to focus more on my content rather than the code.

Click to expand...

Bingo. Thats why I use square space.

Click to expand...

So wrong. If you don't have tight code the content is meaningless because no one will see it.