web site creation - beginner

[Lewis]

Wreck under the hood?

I believe in creating standards compliant and accessible web sites. Dreamweaver, or any other software for that matter, will not do all the work for you.

[Lewis]

Is a CMS just a "process" that includes creating, publishing and being able to edit your website content and then there are individual software programs that allow you to achieve this goal?

CMS stands for Content Management System. A CMS' real power comes from its ability to allow individuals to edit and add entries to pages of a web site without knowing CSS or HTML or any programming languages.

Setting up a CMS and building a web site with one is an entirely different aspect. It's easy if you're familiar with the technologies, but can be a daunting task for someone who is new to the field.

Although it's a great step towards managing your site, you may be biting off more than you can chew. If you do decide to go with a CMS, you do not need to pay any money. Several free CMSs exist that are very popular and well supported by thriving communities. Textpattern is one of several, although one of the best in my opinion.

If my site was re-created in Dreamweaver can I then access it on my hosting company's server to make changes, add pages, etc. using one of these software programs even though my site was created in Dreamweaver?

You're missing something. Dreamweaver does not create anything special. It's simply an interface that allows you to create CSS and HTML (including other technologies). What you do with the pages that it creates is up to you. They are no different than the ones you could create by hand or by using another program.

Having said that, many CMSs utilize a template system that is proprietary. This usually means learning its proprietary template system and then cutting and pasting your pages appropriately. Most CMSs treat web sites as modular, made up of many assets. One of its jobs is to peace those assets together.

Whatever approach you take, you cannot design your web site without knowing HTML and CSS. It's that simple.

[Salimacatwoman]

So am i understanding that I am paying a company to do submissions every month and you are only supposed to submit your site once to all the major search engines? It is probably a waste of money at this time anyway because my site is a mess (underneath). What a nightmare.

I bought the Traffic Blaze for the issue of saving a little time submitting to search engines,besides it was 19 dlls when I bought it ,but I'd never pay for site submission anymore!,just look at google for search enginess (free search engines), at my site I have a few search engines links,so maybe you can use them.

On the other hand, CMS is like Postnuke (I was using postnuke a years ago),currently I am using Geeklog.

[LooseCannon]

So let me see if I am understanding CMS's a little better. Is a CMS just a "process" that includes creating, publishing and being able to edit your website content and then there are individual software programs that allow you to achieve this goal?

You're thinking along the right lines. A CMS is the software that helps you achieve the goal of managing content for faster changes.

[Raven]

Maybe I'm old-fashioned but I like working with U-Edit. I use it to do my webpages. PSP for some of my backgrounds including 20/20 for viewing it tiled. Am content with it too. On my host, they allow me to work any corrections within the site itself and it allows also for uploading my files.

[-scott-]

I'm more comfortable working in the code directly, but use Dreamweaver often for efficiency b/c it has some built-in shortcuts. If you don't understand markup languages like HTML, etc., don't waste your time w/ Dreamweaver/etc trying to learn unless you have extra time on your hands.

If you use a mac, I can highly recommend Rapidweaver for
quick site creation that looks pretty decent. There are a lot of templates available for it, & it's very easy to use.

The CMS suggestions are good as well. Once the framework is in place, updates are easy. I'm slowly implementing ExpressionEngine (not free, but worth the cost for us) on two sites, and I've used pMachine Pro (replaced by ExpressionEngine & now free) on a few in the past. I've been pleased w/ the company that developed these... great support & very refined products.

[waters3]

I'm more comfortable working in the code directly, but use Dreamweaver often for efficiency b/c it has some built-in shortcuts. If you don't understand markup languages like HTML, etc., don't waste your time w/ Dreamweaver/etc trying to learn unless you have extra time on your hands.

If you use a mac, I can highly recommend Rapidweaver for
quick site creation that looks pretty decent. There are a lot of templates available for it, & it's very easy to use.

The CMS suggestions are good as well. Once the framework is in place, updates are easy. I'm slowly implementing ExpressionEngine (not free, but worth the cost for us) on two sites, and I've used pMachine Pro (replaced by ExpressionEngine & now free) on a few in the past. I've been pleased w/ the company that developed these... great support & very refined products.

I guess it is going to boil down to which program I can find that does not require me to know any code but will be able to create my website the way I want it. There is a person that is willing to help me with a program called Word Press http://codex.wordpress.org Has anyone heard of that one? I also remember using something called SiteBuilder a long time ago. And I remember no having to know any code using that, e.g. being able to layout my page, adding navigation buttons and then adding text links in those buttons, choosing colors of the background, text, hover links, etc. all with just clicks of the mouse, no code involved. I am going to look at that Joombla also. Anymore software out there the you know of that will allow me to do this? thanks

[waters3]

A Content Management System (CMS) is a perfect solution for your situation. A CMS allows non-technical content contributors to seamlessy create, edit, and publish web content.

There is absolutely NO reason to pay someone and/or for you to learn all the intricate details of web design/develop to update web content. I suggest you find a developer to install config Joomla on your web hosting server.

Joomla is my CMS choice, it's FREE, Open Source, PHP/MySQL based and has a strong developer/support community. Last I looked it also offers a search optimizer.

Drop me line if you would like to further discuss implementing a CMS.

Good luck!

well i went to Joomla.org and wanted to see a demo. a screen came up but no option to see the demo. I download the latest copy 1.0.3 to my desktop but there is no setup file to run. There is no way to contact them to ask for help either. Not good signs alread

[Salimacatwoman]

Waters3:

Check more options! www.postnuke.com or www.geeklog.net

Suggestion: Try learning by yourself, so you'll make all what you want your page without asking,in the same way, you'll not have to "wait" to be helped

Lol, my brother (youngest one) sometimes hates me because when I need info about settings or other things I am always asking him!

[-scott-]

well i went to Joomla.org and wanted to see a demo. a screen came up but no option to see the demo. I download the latest copy 1.0.3 to my desktop but there is no setup file to run. There is no way to contact them to ask for help either. Not good signs alread

The setup will occur on a web server, not your home computer. I haven't used Joomla, but I assume what you have to do is upload all the files to a server, make sure you have database access, & run an installation script.

[waters3]

Waters3:

Check more options! www.postnuke.com or www.geeklog.net

Suggestion: Try learning by yourself, so you'll make all what you want your page without asking,in the same way, you'll not have to "wait" to be helped

Lol, my brother (youngest one) sometimes hates me because when I need info about settings or other things I am always asking him!

Right. I am trying to learn myself but am having a hard time finding a CMS that will alllow me to try a demo on my computer and not having to have it installed on my server. I want to be able to make sure I can use the software myself to create the site before I go through all the trouble of installing the product (whichever one it may be) on my server, which will be a whole other learning experience itself I'm sure . Thanks for the sites i'll check them out.

[waters3]

The setup will occur on a web server, not your home computer. I haven't used Joomla, but I assume what you have to do is upload all the files to a server, make sure you have database access, & run an installation script.

Yep learning lesson of today. Figured this out today.

[Lewis]

Right. I am trying to learn myself but am having a hard time finding a CMS that will alllow me to try a demo on my computer and not having to have it installed on my server. I want to be able to make sure I can use the software myself to create the site before I go through all the trouble of installing the product (whichever one it may be) on my server, which will be a whole other learning experience itself I'm sure . Thanks for the sites i'll check them out.

You can find many online demos through this site, made up primarily of open source CMSs.

[LooseCannon]

well i went to Joomla.org and wanted to see a demo. a screen came up but no option to see the demo. I download the latest copy 1.0.3 to my desktop but there is no setup file to run. There is no way to contact them to ask for help either. Not good signs alread

The Joomla demo is up and working (maybe they had a brief outage??).

1) Select demo from the homepage
2) Select Administrator from the left nav bar.
3) Login


Joomla runs on a PHP enabled web server (like your web hosting server). You can run it locally, but you'll need to install/config Apache and PHP. You're better off running the install on your hosting server.


Most free opensource software products are not supported by a business, that is there isn't a 1-800 number or email provided for support. Instead the support comes from a community of users and developers via forums. Click on the Forum tab in the top nav.


As already stated http://opensourcecms.com is a good resource.

[waters3]

The Joomla demo is up and working (maybe they had a brief outage??).

1) Select demo from the homepage
2) Select Administrator from the left nav bar.
3) Login


Joomla runs on a PHP enabled web server (like your web hosting server). You can run it locally, but you'll need to install/config Apache and PHP. You're better off running the install on your hosting server.


Most free opensource software products are not supported by a business, that is there isn't a 1-800 number or email provided for support. Instead the support comes from a community of users and developers via forums. Click on the Forum tab in the top nav.


As already stated http://opensourcecms.com is a good resource.

Thanks. I kinda got this idea after looking at several CMS's and all need to be installed on my server. I didn't have my login info with me today and as a matter of fact have never been on my server. I think I understood that after a certain time period it certain demos will uninstall everything off my server; is that correct so I don't have a bunch of different demo info debri left on it.