has anyone used nvu and dreamweaver, or built a website?

i'm going to make a website for my Dad, i told him i've already done it lol. i just want to make a site where i can sell stuff. i'd like it to be quite web 2.0 - quite modern looking. it's not too difficult is it? all i need to do is make some content then find a good css template? is that it?

do i even need a wysiwyg editor for that? i learned some html a few years a go (but i never bothered about css) and i've got loads of xhtml & css books. i'm just not sure where to start? should i find a good css template first and go from there?

 

Hello,
Nvu, KompoZer, Bluefish, excellent choices all.
Of course you should work with CSS - it's a must for a decent site.
I suggest you try building your own template first - because you might need t edit the template anyhow - and if you don't know how to do it, you might mess up, so practice makes ... practice.
Mrk

 

i'm going to read one of the books i've got, i've got nvu and Bluefish too. i was going to spend the day doing it the other day, but i got distracted all day with other things online and didn't do anything.

 

Your Conky looks good. Did you write the script yourself?

 

yeap, i did all the conky stuff apart from the calender script. you can get all the setup stuff you need from here -
http://conky.sourceforge.net/variables.html
http://conky.sourceforge.net/config_settings.html

and there are loads of conky configuration files with screenshots here -
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=281865
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=205865

 

Thanks Iceni, it's a lovely little application, I really like it.

 

Yeh, I would stick to using text mode rather than WYSIWYG as CSS can be tricky and far easier to debug when you know the code.

There are lots of css based layouts around the internet. I would decide what blocks of information you want and you want to lay them out (eg a top or side navigation or both is the first decision, do you want), them have a google for 2 or 3 col css layouts.

I am always bookmarking sites I like the look of, colour schemes or layouts for inspiration.

I have lots of links but they are on my works machine and i am not back at work until next week.

If you need any help reply here or pm me.

Cheers Nick.

PS When you get an initial version up and running can discuss accessibility and SEO if your interested.

 

Learning how to HTML and CSS:

Surf the web (man was that dangerous, no better way to catch a noob than a honey pot masquerading as needed info.)

Bought a book.
Specifically, HTML for the World Wide Web: with XHTML and CSS by Elizabeth Castro (It is the only book I bought on the subject.)

The HTML editor prog, First Page, FREEEE! (not Front Page!, not FREE!) There are other editors that simulate multi browsers, but this one just IE.

http://www.w3.org/MarkUp/
This site taught me that anything anybody ever wrote, about HTML..., and published in a book, they read it at the W3C first.(I only bought one book.)

I right click a web site and View Source. This is how I borrowed my java roll over script for my navigation buttons. (I Am A Cut And Paste Genius.) (I kept the authors name, just in case of copyright issues.)

I created all of my graphics in Photoshop. Some cool effects can add to a simple graphic. Helped in learning about file size and format. I used Giff at the time.

CSS is simple (see W3C) once you understand HTML. If you have ten pages for your site, it lumps all the common ellements of your pages on one page. Using parameters to call the element needed. Coding once versus ten times for most items.
The hard part is learning how your CSS page works with your other pages. That is where the HTML editors come in, some can manage CSS.

FTP. Uploading your creation to the Inet. You need a go between prog that speaks Server. ( A curious language spoken by the secretive Servenians.)

You need a place on the Inet to upload to. Most ISP's offer ten megs of space or more for free. A great place to test your site.

Finding a hosting company. (Go Daddy has the Hottest models! Do beautiful women have anything to do with who hosts your site. No. But I'll keep my eye on them just the same.)

Choosing a web name.info.com.tv.net.on.and.on. Your hosting site can help. Google can help.

I hope this helps.

 

thanks for the help, i just started reading a book, and if i don't like it i've got about 15 others all on xhtml and css. i'm happy i can do must of the things needed, but i need to learn css and learn where xhtml is different to html.

i got KompoZer instead of nvu, and i got cssed too -
http://cssed.sourceforge.net/

but, i made loads of changes to gedit so i want to use that. i added some plugins like the gEdit Browser Preview plugin and changed some settings, i got some of the ideas from this link about Customizing gedit as a Web Developer’s IDE, i'd like to use vim, but i know i won't lol -
http://www.micahcarrick.com/09-29-2007/gedit-html-editor.html
http://live.gnome.org/Gedit/Plugins
http://live.gnome.org/GeditPlugins
http://www.thaumatocracy.com/news/textpad-for-linux/
http://grigio.org/textmate_gedit_few_steps


i found this too, a CLI utility to clean up and format or validate your HTML code -
http://tidy.sourceforge.net/
i got this gedit plugin that works with it -
http://www.eng.tau.ac.il/~atavory/gedit-plugins/html-tidy/
EDIT: the plugin works really well, i just installed the tidy program first to get it working.

i've installed loads of gedit plugins and added lots of stuff i don't need lol, but once i have it setup for html i think it will be fine.

 

Xhtml Vs. Html

Html came along first. The standard was created by the W3C.
Xhtml came along next, a compact version of Html. Reducing redundant tags, so you as a web page designer are able to type less to produce the same results.
Two competing technologies for accessing the web. The Gecko Layout Engine, used by almost all browsers except Internet Explorer, and the Trident Layout Engine, used only by Internet Explorer and FireFox (which contains both).
Some browsers incorporated the Xhtml standard, those that used the Gecko Layout Engine.
Internet Explorer did not incorporate the Xhtml standard.
So pages that incorporate the Xhtml standard will not be supported by the Internet Explorer Browser.
If you want everyone to see your website you really cant use Xhtml which is Html, just lighter.
Another part of it is your Declaration.
If you use the Xhtml Declaration, you can compose your web page in Xhtml or Html. But you can not use the Html Declaration and use Xhtml. The Declaration tells the browser which version of the standard you used in your page.

CSS is a page using the .css extension and a collection of tags called Special Identifiers, because they form a special function. Html pages use a .htm or .html extension. They use tags or Regular Identifiers.

Say you have a list of ten URL's that you reference for your ten images. You place the URL's on the .css page. When you need one on your html page you add an extra identifier that looks to the .css web page. You dont have to type the complete URL, just the Special Identifier.
You only have to learn about 50 more tags and how they function after learning Html.
One of the ideas computer programmers try to live by is to reduce the number of key strokes it takes to complete the same task. Which makes it possible to complete more tasks. That is why Xhtml and CSS were created to simplify everyones lives so we all could be more productive in creating web pages.

Back to the browser portion. To make sure your web page will be viewable on as many browsers as are available in the world, you either need all the browsers loaded onto your computer, and test the code in each one, or use a Html editor that has different previews (multi browser interfaces).
Another benefiet of Html editors with multi browser interfaces you can get instant feed back on your html coding. Allowing you to learn faster, see how your design is looking and reduces your developement time.

Now, If Html Editors with Multi Browser Interfaces is what you want and none of the Linux programs has this feature, you may need Wine. A windows translation tool.
After figuring out if you can get it working. Then search for some windows Html editors with this feature. Hopefully you will find one that is free