Off Topic Thread On website building

[Darren D]

Firstly my apologies for posting an off topic thread.

I know many of you here have your own web pages, yes I have one too, but I did that a very long time ago !!!

That was hard work and things must have moved on since then? Surely?

So, any tips, programs etc etc would be very welcome.

Thanks
Darren

[petercom]

In my opinion you can't go wrong with a combination of Photoshop and Dreamweaver. Create the graphic design in Photoshop CS or CS2, slice it up with the tool provided then import into Dreamweaver to add the detail. Dreamweaver shows you the code and the web page design in split windows so you really can't go wrong. Once you've learnt the software the rest is easy.

[Mister Circle]

My 2p worth here, since I have been writing web pages on and off for a few years now. I am sure Dreamweaver is the best thing since sliced bread, but on Amazon its £376!!!! Thats an awful lot of valve amplifier building tokens.

There are loads of tools available on the web that are free. Granted these wont be as good as Dreamweaver, but free is always good. So have a good look round using Google. Also pick up a book on html coding for a few quid. Its quite easy to do once you learn the basic rules. Also when looking at a good amateur web page, have a look at the html source. Its common to nick good ideas this way, just copy and paste into your editor.

cheers,
Jon

[Darren D]

Had a go with Dreamweaver 8 last night for a couple of hours.

If only I could get my ftp settings right I'd have a couple of new pages up by now. With images links to other pages and all.

It's a cracking program, frequent updating with this should be a doddle.

Ok, it's a bit daunting at first, but really should be ok after a short while.

Thanks Guy's
Darren

[petercom]

the ftp settings should be straightforward, and the help files are pretty good.

things to watch out for when you set up the site management in Dreamweaver:

HTTP address should be the full website address starting with http://

under Remote Info:

Access should be set to FTP
ftp address is usually your site address with ftp in front, e.g. ftp.world-designs.co.uk
Host directory is the directory on your host which houses the html docs e.g. //htmldocs/
If you are using Windows XP then tick the 'use passive ftp' and 'use firewall' boxes.

BTW for anyone else interested you can download a 30 day trial of Dreamweaver from http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/

Upgrade from previous versions is the best way to buy. You might be able to pick up a suitable previous version on ebay.

[Darren D]

Peter,

I'v tried and tried. In the end I used dos in windows, that worked, then I tried another program to up oad my files. Worked 1st time, web site now online. Well some garbage is !!! A coulple of pages with links working fine.

Back to Macromedia, try again, for 3hrs and it's still not playing ball ???

In macromedia we have:

How do you connect to your remote server?
ftp

What is the hostname or ftp address of your web server?
ftp.myweb.tiscali.co.uk/

What folderon the server do you want to store your files in?
http://mywebspace.tiscali.co.uk/mysitename

what is your FTP login
my email add

what is your FTP password
My email password


The last two are at least correct as they work with the other program.

Can you see what wrong?

Thanks
Darren

[Darren D]

Got it !!!! At star/hyphon,percentage last !!!!

Needed to leave blank:---
What folder on the server do you want to store your files in?
http://mywebspace.tiscali.co.uk/mysitename

That's all it was.

But unless I'm doing something wrong I much prefer the other program for up loading. Far easier to see what you're doing.

Thanks foir listening
Darren

[petercom]

Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier. I forgot that Dreamweaver 8 tries to be helpful in asking you these questions, and that one is not very obvious. If you click the Advanced button then you can see all the aspects of the site management and your question comes under Host Directory which I feel is more descriptive. If you keep your files in the root directory then, yes, leave this blank.

You can use whatever ftp software you prefer. Some people like to use an explorer type ftp layout. The Dreamweaver one is just convenient because you can Put a file as soon as you have altered it and Dreamweaver will ask whether you want to put the dependant files too.

For those wanting cheaper web creation software I have just received this month's PC Pro mag which has a free edition of Serif WebPlus. I haven't tried it but Serif usually write reasonable software.

[colin.hepburn]

Hi Darren
Not Sure But you may want to look at this Web building Link
http://www.vodahost.com/create_website.htm