# making a website for a class at school...



## xoxoGOATSxoxo (Jul 29, 2006)

and man oh man is it HARD!!!! 

We are just learning html and making very simple pages on windows notepad but I find it extremely difficult for some reason.... sighhhh

kudos to all of you with websites! Now I have a tiny taste...its a little sour, I'd say!


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## rzrubek (May 13, 2004)

That why we use WYSIWYG website builders. I use Netfusion, it's a free version and works pretty well. You can check out my websites to see what can be done with it. WYSIWYG probably defeats the purpose of your class though.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

xoxoGOATSxoxo said:


> and man oh man is it HARD!!!!
> 
> We are just learning html and making very simple pages on windows notepad but I find it extremely difficult for some reason.... sighhhh
> 
> kudos to all of you with websites! Now I have a tiny taste...its a little sour, I'd say!


Start with a web template. That's a pre-made web site that you can customize to your specific needs. That will save you a mountain of work. Many are free. Search for them at Google.

http://www.google.com/search?q=free+web+templates

Don't use Notepad, particularly if you're just starting out. Use a graphical html editor, such as FrontPage or Dreamweaver. If you don't have either of those available then download Kompozer. It's free, and it looks & works very similar to FrontPage.

http://kompozer.net/

Good luck!


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## aaronwesley94 (May 23, 2008)

Nvu is also a nice html/WYSIWYG editor. It's also free. You can download it here: http://www.net2.com/nvu/ And yes, templates are great for starting out.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

aaronwesley94 said:


> Nvu is also a nice html/WYSIWYG editor. It's also free. You can download it here: http://www.net2.com/nvu/ And yes, templates are great for starting out.


The Nvu project is abandoned, and has branched into the Kompozer project. In other words, Kompozer is the latest version of Nvu.


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## aaronwesley94 (May 23, 2008)

Nevada said:


> The Nvu project is abandoned, and has branched into the Kompozer project. In other words, Kompozer is the latest version of Nvu.


Woops. Didn't know that. I haven't used Nvu in several years, nor have I been keeping up w/ it...I know it was a pretty good editor when I used it several years ago.  Thanks for correcting me on that.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

aaronwesley94 said:


> I know it was a pretty good editor when I used it several years ago.


Yes, it's actually a terrific html editor.


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## trinityoaks (Sep 17, 2008)

xoxoGOATSxoxo said:


> We are just learning html and making very simple pages on windows notepad but I find it extremely difficult for some reason....


Here's a tutorial Web site that really helped me. It's a little dated in that it doesn't include the latest and greatest in style sheets, etc., but for learning the basics, it's awesome! You can find it at:

http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/index.html


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## lharvey (Jul 1, 2003)

Don't tell this person not to learn notepad! This is what they do in schools.

Although this may look hard and is tedious, it really gives you the true basics of how the code works. Understand how it works and you will understand how to fix it if it breaks.

It is a language. If you learn the language you will be able to speak it no matter what wysiwyg you use.

If you take a short cut and just learn how to say certain phrases in a language by using a wysiwyg program you will have a much harder time making those little tweeks that make OK pages into Great pages.

Everybody is in such a hurry. Then they wonder why they can't do something.

I have a customer that uses a wysiwyg program to build their site. It looks ok, works ok, but they can't go in and make tiny changes because they don't know how to edit code. They have to redo the entire page and hopefully get the various links and stuff like that right.

Then they call and want me to do it for them. This is not part of their 24/7/365 technical support so they get charged for it.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

lharvey said:


> Don't tell this person not to learn notepad! This is what they do in schools.
> 
> Although this may look hard and is tedious, it really gives you the true basics of how the code works. Understand how it works and you will understand how to fix it if it breaks.
> 
> ...


In the first place, I didn't say to not learn Notepad. Besides, Notepad is easy to learn and doesn't require any special knowledge to use. It's creating html with Notepad that's difficult.

There's nothing wrong with learning fundamental html. In fact, you really can't get by without knowing at least a little html. But as an html editor, Notepad sucks.

There are a few problems with using Notepad as an html source code editor. First, with Notepad you need to use two applications at the same time to verify the result of your code (you'll need Notepad to be open for editing and also a web browser to see what your work looks like). That's clumsy, since you need to continually save your work to update the html file, and continually refresh the browser. Notepad also displays all text in a single color (B&W), where advanced html code editors color code different source commands to help your syntax remain accurate. Also, when you use an integrated graphical & source editor you can highlight a problem area in the graphical editor and the corresponding code will be highlighted in the source display, making the code you're looking for easier to find in large html files. Finally, advanced html editors will usually automatically indent certain regions of code, such as tables, to keep them offset from the rest of the code. That keeps the source code neat and organized for manual editing.

Kompozer offers a great way to edit source. You can either edit graphically or by source, and also preview the results, just by selecting different tabs. Quite frankly, with a powerful free tool like Kompozer available I don't know why anyone would edit html with Notepad, even if you only intend to edit the source manually.


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## Madame (Jan 1, 2003)

I can make one fairly easily as long as I don't have to mess with the html code. :-D


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## BeaG (Aug 21, 2008)

To Nevada-

I have followed the answers that you have given on several topics, and I have the utmost respect for your knowledge, your expertise, and your advice. You are one of the best advisors in the group.

But, (you knew there was a "but", didn't you?), I have over 35 years experience in programming in all kinds of languages, and I have to agree with Iharvey on this topic. Yes, it is unwieldy and frustrating, and yuck! to start out coding in notepad. Yes, it is awkward to use two pieces of software to check your work, and to go back and forth between notepad and a browser to find out if you have an error, and to create your own indentations and spacing to see how you are blocking your code..... But - that is the way to really learn it!

It is just like requiring our children to commit the multiplication tables to memory before allowing them to use a calculator. In my opinion, if they don't get down and scrape away at the basics, the true understanding will never be there when they need it. 

I hope you and I can agree to disagree on this subject.


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## xoxoGOATSxoxo (Jul 29, 2006)

Whew! lots of replies.... 

Well, after we get decent at using notepad we'll be going on to dreamweaver. yeah...


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

BeaG said:


> To Nevada-
> 
> I have followed the answers that you have given on several topics, and I have the utmost respect for your knowledge, your expertise, and your advice. You are one of the best advisors in the group.


Good grief, thanks! I didn't know anyone was paying attention... 

I respect your opinion.


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## How Do I (Feb 11, 2008)

Nevada said:


> Good grief, thanks! I didn't know anyone was paying attention...


Whether you realize it or not, I think you have taught many here how to fish, so to speak. Thanks for contributing!


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## rzrubek (May 13, 2004)

I have used the free editor N++ and found it very user friendly. It color codes the html like mentioned earlier. I used it to edit some files for my forum.


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