Hello Dear Members

I joined today to learn to design the websites. I want to get my head absolutely clear regarding the process involved in designing a fully functional website.

 

I just signed up with 1and1.co.uk and created my own website. But they already had provided everything, I just changed the text and there we go. Fully functional website. Please feel free to view it at www.austincann.com

 

I however want to make many changes to this plus there are certain things e.g adding videos, cyclic update of logos on the home page, ability to sign up my clients on my website, ability to take payments etc. This was easy, I signed up with them and just followed few instructions to get it online. I will appreciate if I get answer to the following questions please.

 

1) First I want to create the webpage. I have all the images saved and text written. The page must also have standard boolean buttons, checkboxes etc which should navigate to the other pages. What is the framework used to carry the images, text, buttons etc and where do I get it from? Is there a development environment I need to download? If so what is it and where do I find it?

 

2) I created all the pages now and I want to put them on the internet. What do I do here? Look for the domain registrar? What do I need to give to them? Only a fixed charge? How do they put this all on the internet? Do I send my application via email? By application I mean that framework which I have created which contains all the tab controls, images, text and everything the user see on my website.

 

3) I want to add the videos regularly. So I want the ability to modify my website whenever I require this. Is it possible. My website above could be editted if I login by clicking on the login button at the right hand corner. But then the website I daily browse dont have usually any login button. Can I hide this button and display it when I want.

 

4) I noticed that my website created above allows the user to contact me by filling the forms on contact us page. I get the email on the email address I registered on 1and1.co.uk. This is great. I want to now be able to support my clients by signing them off to my website. What do I need to do this.

 

5) I want my clients to make the payment using direct debits and paypal. Is this achievable too?

 

I appreciate your time in reading my concerns. Hope I get it all right and get it working soon.

 

Kind Regards

Austin

To build websites you need to learn HTML(hyper text markup language) and CSS (casscading style sheets). There are plenty of free rescources on the web to get you started. You don't need any expensive programs to get you started, Notepad will do (on windows, I don't know what the Mac equivellent is). Ant text editor that can save as .html or .htm will suffice. DO NOT use Microsoft word (or any word processor. the code will be horrible).

You will need some webspace , or Hosting and a domain name. These can be found cheaply on-line. for example I pay £3.40 a month, which includes domain name and webspace.

Once you've built your site, you can then upload it to the web via a FTP (file transfer). When you sign up for a hosting package, you will be sent FTP details. All you need to do is enter the FTP details into your FTP program. When you've logged on, you can then just upload your .html (or .htm), .CSS and any images to your webspace. Your site should now be on line.

If you need help, this forum is a good resoucre for help as there are some fantastic members here.

Good luck!