Programming for thickos

cumulusjames · 19 Nov 2010 at 19:20

Do any of you have some advice for a daft person like me with little or no life who wants to build and develop his own website?

The closest I ever got was years ago when myspace was still cool and I managed some basic html commands, mostly from cutting and pasting! I see thse software packages which are meant to be idiot proof but I dont really trust them. I dont have the time, money or desire to go to university either. Could make a good hobby though?

aln · 19 Nov 2010 at 20:22

cumulusjames said:
Do any of you have some advice for a daft person like me with little or no life who wants to build and develop his own website?

The closest I ever got was years ago when myspace was still cool and I managed some basic html commands, mostly from cutting and pasting! I see thse software packages which are meant to be idiot proof but I dont really trust them. I dont have the time, money or desire to go to university either. Could make a good hobby though?

http://www.w3schools.com/

Start with html + css.

Once you've got the hang of this, move on to the php or javascript section based on your needs.

Once you've got the hang of that you shouldn't need to be told the next steps.

MarcLister · 19 Nov 2010 at 21:00

What aln said is spot on. You could also give htmldog.com a go.

Get yourself a text editor like Notepad++ then get yourself some DOCTYPES. You'll need these to be at the top of your HTML pages to help browsers correctly interpret your HTML and render them accurately. Finally have a look at the W3C Validator. This will look at your code and tell you if you've got any errors in your HTML so you can fix it.

Throrik · 19 Nov 2010 at 21:23

If you don't need anything too advanced but still easy to customize then you might want to give Joomla or something a try.

sparkey196 · 19 Nov 2010 at 22:32

It sounds like you have more serious problems than learning how to program. Don't get me wrong, programming is a great skill to have and enjoy but YOU need to find an interest which other people can relate to and one that builds your self esteem.

Unless of course you are happy with being a thicko with no life, then go ahead, take up programming...

How old are you? Stop sounding so hopeless and have some ******** aspirations man.

Please fully star swearies.

_TubbZ_ · 20 Nov 2010 at 00:27

sparkey196 said:
It sounds like you have more serious problems than learning how to program. Don't get me wrong, programming is a great skill to have and enjoy but YOU need to find an interest which other people can relate to and one that builds your self esteem.

Unless of course you are happy with being a thicko with no life, then go ahead, take up programming...

Maybe it was failed sarcasm?

sparkey196 · 20 Nov 2010 at 03:10

Clearly this is not your typical 60 year old, computer illiterate dad, trying to make light of his technological incompetence.

Never have I met a teenager who talks about themself in this way, even as a joke.

AHarvey · 20 Nov 2010 at 03:25

If you find it difficult to take things in, can I suggest the HEAD FIRST books?

They are great for taking things in and keeping it in

nippynoo · 20 Nov 2010 at 10:01

Its a good question. How about using a completely WYSIWYG ("what you see is what you get") editor with a free website such as googlesites? Have alook at googlesites, its all there, including templates. That way you can jump right in and build without learning HTML or CSS (too low level).

Randomface74 · 20 Nov 2010 at 12:25

I learnt that way tbh - using FrontPage. I know I know... but it's a fun way to get familiar with it.

nippynoo · 20 Nov 2010 at 13:51

billysielu said:
I learnt that way tbh - using FrontPage. I know I know... but it's a fun way to get familiar with it.

Yes, Frontpage was good, but now been replaced by Microsoft Expression Web - way more complicated.

cumulusjames · 20 Nov 2010 at 15:18

sparkey196 said:
It sounds like you have more serious problems than learning how to program. Don't get me wrong, programming is a great skill to have and enjoy but YOU need to find an interest which other people can relate to and one that builds your self esteem.

Unless of course you are happy with being a thicko with no life, then go ahead, take up programming...

How old are you? Stop sounding so hopeless and have some ******** aspirations man.

Please fully star swearies.

I am 29. I just thought running a little website about stuff that intersts me would be a good thing to do.

lemonade · 20 Nov 2010 at 15:25

cumulusjames said:
I am 29. I just thought running a little website about stuff that intersts me would be a good thing to do.

So basically you want to run a blog like site? In that case you want something much more dynamic, something like wordpress would be perfect. You would have a product to use straight away and you'll be able to learn some html etc along the way too.

If you want to learn HTML + CSS, it is very very easy learn on its own, read up on tutorials from websites like tizag.com and htmldog.com, use the w3schools for reference, download some html+css templates and play around with it to understand how it all works and comes together, then piece together a simple webpage, there are even tutorials out there to help you with that.

cumulusjames · 20 Nov 2010 at 15:41

lemonade said:
So basically you want to run a blog like site? In that case you want something much more dynamic, something like wordpress would be perfect. You would have a product to use straight away and you'll be able to learn some html etc along the way too.

If you want to learn HTML + CSS, it is very very easy learn on its own, read up on tutorials from websites like tizag.com and htmldog.com, use the w3schools for reference, download some html+css templates and play around with it to understand how it all works and comes together, then piece together a simple webpage, there are even tutorials out there to help you with that.

No not a blog, I am not someone who would assume people want to hear what I have to say. I mean a site that could grow and develop and others could join in with, such as conumer activism (I cant move for tescos in this town. Every little gap that becomes available and a new tescos store spings up, not very good for competition is it). Or alternative music or something, many alternative music sites but few for the dark, melancholy or wierd stuff I like.

lemonade · 20 Nov 2010 at 17:01

Oh okay, well you would still need some sort of CMS for that type of site imo. Be it Wordpress or Drupal. You could post articles, informations, guides, anything really, and people could sign up to the site and take part in some sort of form, be it posting their own materials up or interacting through comments etc. You could even install a forum once you have a following.

Tetsujin · 21 Nov 2010 at 16:18

I'm going to second what lemonade's saying - from your latter posts, it sounds more like you just want a place to stick your "content" onto. For this, do not go down the "code my own website" route. It's not ten years ago, it's zero years ago, and these days platforms like Wordpress are perfectly suited to what you want to do. You can even delve in and start learning some HTML by customising a template.

If you *do* decide that techie dabbling is your thing, then it might encourage you to know that it's entirely possible to teach yourself all of this, in your own time, if you've a logical enough mind. View Source is your new best friend.

cumulusjames · 21 Nov 2010 at 17:03

Tetsujin said:
I'm going to second what lemonade's saying - from your latter posts, it sounds more like you just want a place to stick your "content" onto. For this, do not go down the "code my own website" route. It's not ten years ago, it's zero years ago, and these days platforms like Wordpress are perfectly suited to what you want to do. You can even delve in and start learning some HTML by customising a template.

If you *do* decide that techie dabbling is your thing, then it might encourage you to know that it's entirely possible to teach yourself all of this, in your own time, if you've a logical enough mind. View Source is your new best friend.

I dont mind a a bit of techie dabbling, infact I quite enjoy it when I can manage it. It's just I have a funny mind, for examle I like cosmology, quantum theory and general relativity. I can grasp those subjects, but i could never hope to understand or do the calculations. I feel its a bit like that here. I can grasp ideas in programming, but I am unsure I could ever actually program. Thats not to say I would be adverse to trying. But as there are these programs you guys have mentioned and being as I am a bit thick, I think I will go down that route for the time being.

I think its when my website starts taking shape I will think of thinge I want to tweak, change or make better, it will be easier then because I can learn how to do that specific thing and begin to build up knowledge from there.

Wordpress here I come!

Tetsujin · 21 Nov 2010 at 17:05

cumulusjames said:
I think its when my website starts taking shape I will think of thinge I want to tweak, change or make better, it will be easier then because I can learn how to do that specific thing and begin to build up knowledge from there.

Yup. In my experience learning stuff is much much easier when there's a direct goal to hand.