Newbie first time web build

[Jeff]

Hello and thank you for looking at my post.
I have a hobby which has developed into a small business, it makes enough to cover my running costs and allows me do something I enjoy.
Many moons ago I paid someone to build a website for me as I did not know enough about it at the time. I have not provided a link as I am respecting the wishes of this website not to post commercial links on here.

Now I would like to take on the challenge of building my own site for a couple of reasons.
Firstly I would like to update and maintain my own site and secondly for the educational challenge.

I have very limited htlm knowledge, and when I say limited I mean really limited. I picked this up from eBay hosting my photos elsewhere, and inserting a few logos, done using eBay’s htlm editor.
I also have a good idea about hosting packages, but this is where my knowledge ends.

I would like to build a new site from scratch. What I am looking for is advice about what is the best software to use for this. I have had a look on Google but there is so many to choose from and the likes of Dreamweaver are so expensive, as I said earlier this is a glorified hobby.

My main goal is the personal achievement building a site that works. I do have ideas for other sites that I would like to build but firstly I would like to build a practical site that works.

Any tips and ideas to point me in the right direction and highlight the most obvious pit falls would be much appreciated.

Regards
Jeff

[Dunx]

hi Jeff,

To learn HTML these sites are among the best on the web:

w3schools
Tizag

You may also find this site of use... HTML Goodies ...but it seems to be a bit behind the times.

If you want to write the html/css from scratch you could use Notepad, but far better are either of these two programs:
HTML-Kit
Notepad++

My preference is for HTML-kit, but many developers use Notepad++

As for wysiwyg editors, I don't use them because the code they produce can be a bit clunky and slow. It can also be a devil of a job finding errors in code which has been generated by a wysiwyg editor.

Don't learn what you do not need to. Many books will take you through every html tag and attribute under the sun, then you discover that by using CSS you needn't have learnt half of them.

So try to learn the use of CSS right from the start, your code will be smaller, easier to modify and be a lot tidier.

All the best - Duncan

[smifff]

Hi Jeff

I use Netobjects Fusion 10, but there is a free version Netobjects Fusion Esstials you could download the quick start guide pdf to get an idea if it's up to your requirements and try it out for free, if you want more the paid version is 55% off at the moment.

smifff

[Jeff]

Thanks Smiff and Dunx
Note sure which I will try yet but at first glance Fusion looks good.
I will let you know how I get on.
Any other advise gladly accepted

Regards
Jeff

[nedski]

I would also stress the importance of getting to grips with CSS as it simplifies so many things.

The best money I spent when learning was on the book: "CSS:The Missing Manual"