Need Help Designing A Non Html Site ... no clue where to start

[.:Piper_2051:. 0]

So this may sound like a stupid question (although theres nowhere I'd rather ask it) but bear with me. Ive only ever used HTML coding and that was awhile ago in school. Im looking to design a website for myself, but HTML was a pain, and I cant do it anymore. any suggestions? Anyone care to point me in the right direction and help me as needed?

[mahesh2k 0]

If you are interested in coding your site completely from scratch. Then i suggest you to learn php and design good site for yourself. Else if you want CMS for your website which does the heavy job for you. You can try software like drupal,joomla and wordpress. Wordpress is much easier and fastest way to start with website/blog. From your posting it looks that you want to code your own site. So i think you should go with PHP. You've to just spend some time with php tutorials online. and after sometime you'll find yourself working with more of php code than HTML. (One secret with webapps is that, you never leave HTML completely, you'll find it coming in one way or the other).

[TheDarkHacker 0]

I think working in Drupal or Joomla is harder then making template with HTML and CSS.So i don't think Joomla is hard because it is not yours,so you it has very much bugs and translating can't be good.So i think you can use WordPress.If not then there is no way without coding in Dreamweaver.

[Baniboy 3]

I think working in Drupal or Joomla is harder then making template with HTML and CSS.So i don't think Joomla is hard because it is not yours,so you it has very much bugs and translating can't be good.So i think you can use WordPress.If not then there is no way without coding in Dreamweaver.

*CORRECTION* ignore the last sentence, as it is wrong, you don't need dreamweaver for anything.

Now answering your question
You can never leave HTML if you really want to design a website. Using WYSIWYG editors, but they don't provide you with the freedom that coding does, besides, working with them without knowing HTML could be hard. So if you're not comfortable with coding and/or using content management systems(CMS), then maybe this is not exactly your thing.
Edited October 23, 2009 by Baniboy (see edit history)

[.:Piper_2051:. 0]

Thank you for your input so far. The only real reason that Im not "comfortable" with HTML is I havent used it in probably 8yrs... Im looking for a new way to do it rather than type out all the clunky HTML coding I used to have to spend hours on fixing and getting the way I wanted. I will take a look thru php and see if its any better. Cheers and please any firther input is greatly appreciated.

[jlhaslip 4]

The thing you need to understand is that html is the language which Browsers use to build web pages. PHP and other server-side languages are used to write the html code for your page.So... you need to refresh your html knowledge so that the pages (whether written by PHP or not) can be displayed properly in the Browsers your viewers are using. Then use a server-side language to create the content for those pages. Dynamic content methods are simplified by using a 'content management system', which is usually a server-side script that can automate a bunch of the things you want to do on the page without needing to learn all about PHP, etc. Learning PHP can be avoided by installing a CMS. Or perhaps a Forum software like AEF might serve your purposes?Another thing to consider is whether your Hosting service allows you to run PHP? Many free hosts restrict their offers. Rack up some posts and Mycents here at the Xisto and get your Hosting here. Lots of good features allowed, and the Forum members will assist you with your site development.To refresh yourself about HTML and the web experience, click on the OPERA link in my siggy.

[k_nitin_r 8]

Hi!If you do not want to use HTML to build your website, you can use Adobe Flash instead. The only HTML involved is in pointing the web browser to the Flash media file, but that is generated by Adobe Flash when you use the publish option. If you do want to have a conventional website but do not want to get your hands covered in the HTML mess of obfuscated structures (something that occurs frequently when you have multiple developers working on the user interface and you end up with HTML markup that nobody really knows till they decide to sit down and trace the output line-by-line) you can use a template and then edit it with Adobe DreamWeaver, Microsoft Frontpage, or some other HTML editing software. If you've found a good WYSIWYG editor, do post back to the forum to let us all know. Microsoft Publisher was also popular way back in the day for designing simple websites. You can find a lot of templates out there to get you started so you only have to place your content onto the templates and upload them up to your web hosting server.BTW, you can also use Microsoft Word (yes, that's MS Word from the Microsoft Office suite of software) to generate web pages though they tend to end up as bulky HTML documents.If you would like to get started with some HTML, do feel free to post any questions that you may have to the Xisto forums and you'll have the community of web designers and developers here helping you out every step of the way to building your own web site, completely in HTML!

[Soviet Rathe 1]

*CORRECTION* ignore the last sentence, as it is wrong, you don't need dreamweaver for anything.

That's true, programs like that not only add a bunch of useless code but they don't give you the experience you need to really get good at it.

 

Thank you for your input so far. The only real reason that Im not "comfortable" with HTML is I havent used it in probably 8yrs... Im looking for a new way to do it rather than type out all the clunky HTML coding I used to have to spend hours on fixing and getting the way I wanted. I will take a look thru php and see if its any better. Cheers and please any firther input is greatly appreciated.

HTML will be in there somehow. and php is alot harder then HTML so if you think HTML is hard your wrong because HTML is the easiest form of web code there is.