Complete and utterly helpless newb

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juniodude

juniodude

I need a life
Jul 31, 2006
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Hey everyone,

I really want to get something off the ground...like really. i'm willing to put hours of work into this, but i don't know how to start. i don't even know how to program. can some people suggest some stuff to me? like programs to help setup webpages, shared hosting sites, domains, and such? that would be a great help. thanks
 


There's plenty of content available on this forum that will probably answer most if not all of your questions. Since you're willing to put hours of work into this, how about beginning by searching the forum? ;) Look for a dude named Dave for starters. He writes great articles and most of them are located in his signature.
 
ok thanks:action-smiley-027:

any other tips would still be greatly appreciated. especially help with webpage designing. i tried using dreamweaver, but ppl said that it doesnt format things well? it puts everything into tables or something and that isn't good? i have no idea
 
Html

Well, you can design websites with an WYSIWIG (What you see is what you get) editor, but you will never have full control over the output.

The better way is to learn HTML and CSS so you can look at the code and either optimize it yourself or write it from scratch.


::emp::
 
Dreamweaver works great, you can see the design and edit the code at the same time.

If you are at the beginning I recommend first focusing on learning the tools you need to use:
Dreamweaver (or nvu, a free open source app like Dreamweaver)
Photoshop (or the Gimp)
any FTP app

You have those three, you can make a web site. Either check out free tutorials or books at your bookstore. If you are just doing content or affiliate stuff you shouldn't need to learn any fancy programming stuff beyond basic HTML.

Once you can build and interlink basic web pages, sign up for a cheap shared hosting account and register a domain name. Upload you site with the FTP program, and you are good to go.

Use Google to find tutorials, there are so so many out there that will do a better and more in depth job than us writing this stuff on the forum.
 
Thanks, everyone has helped a bunch already!

So i guess the first major step for me is to learn basic HTML? do I need to know how to do a lot? because I taught myself the VERY basics today. like <p> </p> and <br> and such. Or maybe I should make it more clear, should i code my websites or should I design it through dreamweaver?

thanks for your help
 
check out wordpress and start a blog about any topic and learn.

if you want to make money, you should be more concerned about learning to spot ideas and niche topics and converting them into some profits - through adsense or affiliates.

Then test out techniques you learn here and other boards. Keep building new sites based on your ideas and topics on wordpress and then test some more.

If you are wanting to get into "web design" then learn html - if you want to make money look into converting ideas into clicks and sales.
 
I agree with DanNichol.....starting off with a blog is a way to definitely kickstart your dreams. No programming or web design skills necessary. All you have to know is how to write....hopefully on a topic that your passionate about. Add a bit of "Adsense" and you'll be on your way to earning your first million.

There are a bunch of hosted blog services out there. I would recommend Wordpress or try Google's Blogger. Both are free. Good Luck!
 
Thanks guys,

you have helped me a bunch and are definitely the nicest forum group i have ever seen. thanks i'm going to try the blog idea
 
Probably the biggest thing to accomplishing your dreams is the desire to learn and willingness to work. If you have both of those, the rest will fall into place.

Learning HTML is not necessary, but will definitely help you in the long run. For total newbs, I actually recommend MS Frontpage. It's very user friendly and fairly intuitive. Once you gain some coding ability, you'll probably end up disliking Frontpage for all of it's annoyances and limitations, then it's time to move up to DW or something else. But like I said, if you have no coding skills yet, Frontpage is pretty good.

There are a ton of great HTML books, and tutes out there. One of my favorite series are the "Visual Start" books. The HTML one is by Elizabeth (somebody, can't remember her last name), and is great for beginners and advanced users alike. A great online tutorial is WebMonkey. It's how I started out. They start you out slow and do a great job of building on previous lessons.

On my site, I have a simple tutorial that explains basic tags and has a HTML tester, so you can play around with your new found skill. Webmonkey and W3C also have HTML testers, so that's not something unique to my site. Just thought I would clear that up.

Keep us informed of your progress and feel free to ask questions, even the ones that sound dumb to you. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask! (had to get that cliche out of the way :updown:)
 
Woah, woah, woah...

What do you want to get off the ground? Why are you building a site? Are you going to be doing an adsense/content site, or a PPC landing page for affiliate programs, or mass building throw-away domains?

Because what you have to learn, to get off the ground, depends very much on what you want to create!
 
thanks seo_mike for the inspirational prep talk and the nice coding info!

as for michelles, I'm trying to make a content site with affiliates? maybe affiliate with amazon? can i do that?

I think i'm going to start off by making a couple website with frontpage and wordpress....hopefully i can get some base income and feel more comfortable. should i expect 3-4 months before receiving any income at all? i'm going into college next year and trying to pay off my college debt so sorry for the dumb question=/
 
sorry for the load of questions, i'm posting question before my previous questions are even being answered.

wordpress will automatically make a page look like a blog. in your experience, will this be a major turn off to many people?
 
If you want to learn html something that will help you is to visit websites (simple at first) and view the source for that page. If they use css or javascript you can get those by looking at where they are loaded from and adding that to the URL, a ../ means one directory up from the one the page is loaded from. See if you can figure out how the pages are doing what they are doing. Sometimes it helps to look at other peoples work to understand what is going on.
 
I have trouble focusing and I need a stationary object for reference. I got the book "Head First Html".

My problem is if I start looking on the web, I may not return for awhile because there is something interesting I run across! With the book I stay focused, it's simple, easy to understand, and it makes a great reference book as well. It's NOT styled like a textbook, so it won't give you a headache!

Is anyone familiar with the book?
 
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