Pros And Cons Of Building An Html-only Website?

[The Simpleton 2]

Thank you everyone for your valuable suggestions They've made a lot of good points.

 

@web_designer : I do intend to use some images but not flash, and even the images that I want to use will be compressed so I don't think it'll make a lot of difference. And yes, using CSS does seem to be a sensible thing to do.

 

@web_designer part 2: I've used WYSIWYG editors in the past and even tried Dreamweaver (not cs3 though; an earlier version maybe) once for a sample page, but maybe I didn't do everything right; it didn't make much sense to me and I ended up using notepad to code the sample page. I think I'm going to stay away from those editors in the beginning and if things get too messy I'll take their help.

 

@truefusion : I've considered using a CMS already, but it'll just make things too heavy, even with the little matter I have, and I don't think I'll be needing any complex features like the ones you mentioned. My site is mostly like a reference site, so the visitors will focus on the matter, instead of the design, and in any case they won't be spending a lot of time over there. So I think using a CMS will just slow down things....

 

@StvenWesley: Many people have told me that PHP is really very easy but it also makes the code hackable, doesn't it? That's the main reason I'm staying away from it. And no matter how easy it is to learn, it'll still take some time, and that is exactly what I don't have right now.

Your point about SEO was interesting - it makes me all the more excited to use HTML.

 

@shadowx : You made a really strong statement that HTML-only sites are really boring, and even a small part of the site coded dynamically would make it look better; I agree with that point. However, that's one of the factors egging me on to use HTML. How many HTML-only sites have a good reputation today? I'm aiming to make my site look unique by using the old-fashioned way of coding

 

@shadowx part 2: I'm on your side about the WYSIWYG editors. I don't know how they help new coders. Maybe I'm just too stupid but I learned more by using notepad than with Dreamweaver. It just ended up confusing me more. Frontpage wasn't so bad in the beginning but it lacked a lot of features. So there I was, back to notepad.

 

@Little Asterisk : WYSIWYG editors are useful for some people but maybe I'm just not one of them. I've tried twice in the past but it just didn't work out. Maybe I need to get a For Dummies... book for using those editors!

 

 

Once again thanks to all for the help. I hope to start work on the site in early June and post it here for your stern reviews by early July

[truefusion 3]

Many people have told me that PHP is really very easy but it also makes the code hackable, doesn't it?

The only way to hack the code is if you have access to the code. The user accessing the page will always be given the already parsed compilation. However, the browser will always render any and all HTML (and JavaScript). The worst case scenario of an incompetent developer would be using eval() on unfiltered user input. That's the same as giving anyone the ability to write their own PHP scripts on your server. It's not necessarily PHP with the flaws but the developer. PHP provides you with all that you need to keep your code safe, you just have to make use of them. Yeah, it'll take some time to learn all of this, especially if you don't have any previous knowledge on other similar languages, but this knowledge should be necessary for anyone seeking to learn the language.

[Little Asterisk 1]

Im just glad you havent mentioned frontpage...

 

IMHO WYSIWYG has no place at all on the web!

Hey, everyone has the right to their own opinion. I don't personally use WYSIWYG for the "see" part, but just because of the things web_designer said.

 

@Simpleton

Frontpage is crap, Dreamweaver better. If you have used Frontpage, it's possible you didn't like what you saw.

 

But hey, if you'd like to make your own website (which I see you will) go to http://www.w3schools.com/ and download a program like Notepad ++ and GIMP to make your sites.

 

Also, I don't know if anyone recommended this to you, but Blogger or Wordpress.com could be the solution you're looking for because they are a simple CMS, there are some pre-made templates for them, Blogger has a simple website builder and you can change your template's HTML,... Maybe you could think about that.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Little Asterisk (see edit history)

[The Simpleton 2]

The only way to hack the code is if you have access to the code. The user accessing the page will always be given the already parsed compilation. However, the browser will always render any and all HTML (and JavaScript). The worst case scenario of an incompetent developer would be using eval() on unfiltered user input. That's the same as giving anyone the ability to write their own PHP scripts on your server. It's not necessarily PHP with the flaws but the developer. PHP provides you with all that you need to keep your code safe, you just have to make use of them. Yeah, it'll take some time to learn all of this, especially if you don't have any previous knowledge on other similar languages, but this knowledge should be necessary for anyone seeking to learn the language.

Oh, if there's all that stuff to learn about before making the code safe, then I guess I'm better off without PHP. I want to build everything from scratch so silly errors on my part are risky. Anyway it was good to know my options and I knew there was a reason for PHP to be so popular

@SimpletonFrontpage is crap, Dreamweaver better. If you have used Frontpage, it's possible you didn't like what you saw. wink.gif

Yup there wasn't anything too impressive in Frontpage; it just showed me what a basic website would look like. I guess the only positive point about Frontpage is that even confused folks like me can get the work done faster, even though that work is below standards!

But hey, if you'd like to make your own website (which I see you will) go to http://www.w3schools.com/ and download a program like Notepad ++ and GIMP to make your sites.

I have gedit in Ubuntu which I think is almost the same as Notepad++? And GIMP is pre-installed on Ubuntu so all I have to wait for is the time to start!

Also, I don't know if anyone recommended this to you, but Blogger or Wordpress.com could be the solution you're looking for because they are a simple CMS, there are some pre-made templates for them, Blogger has a simple website builder and you can change your template's HTML,... Maybe you could think about that.

Actually I'm already using Wordpress to power my blog and am very impressed with it. But as I said before I want the work for this new website to be done by me; A-Z! That's why I've ruled out using all kinds of CMS. Still, thanks for the flow of suggestions

[kleong 0]

If the main ojective of your website is to serve information to users, then html is good. But if you want fancy stuff like forum, comments, poll etc etc, then you will need more than just html.

[web_designer 7]

I've used WYSIWYG editors in the past and even tried Dreamweaver (not cs3 though; an earlier version maybe) once for a sample page, but maybe I didn't do everything right; it didn't make much sense to me and I ended up using notepad to code the sample page. I think I'm going to stay away from those editors in the beginning and if things get too messy I'll take their help.

so you are decide to start from scratch, at least we all did. the first editor i used for coding is notepad, it lets you learn step by step and learn from your mistakes. but if you find it hard to trace errors try an advanced notepad, for me the best are editplus and tswebeditor, the first one isn't free but you can use the trial version but the second is, have fun and good luck. we are looking for your site.

[shadowx 0]

I think PHP is getting bullied a bit here as being insecure... PHP is like the engine of your car. Sure you can build a car without an engine but it doesnt do anything! It just rusts.Put the engine in and you can take it places. The disadvantage is so can someone else, so then they invented the key ignition, anti-hotwring etc.... it isnt difficult to make a moderately secure website. It might not stand up to a military level attack but it will damn sure stop chancers. I just dont see any reason *not* to use PHP (ASP is just nasty dirty Microsoft rubbish!)

[Little Asterisk 1]

Yup there wasn't anything too impressive in Frontpage; it just showed me what a basic website would look like. I guess the only positive point about Frontpage is that even confused folks like me can get the work done faster, even though that work is below standards!

Yes, Adobe is much better than Microsoft in the multimedia part for now. However, Microsoft has an advantage in his Visual Studio where you can code in Visual Basic, C++, C#,...(but that's not what we were talking about. )

I have gedit in Ubuntu which I think is almost the same as Notepad++? And GIMP is pre-installed on Ubuntu so all I have to wait for is the time to start!

Gedit is pretty much similar, you should go to Edit --> Preferences to use its more important programming features (Choose the programming language, Display line numbers, Highlight current line, Highlight matching bracket, enable some Add-ons that are useful). I don't personally use Gedit that much, but I have a friend who does, so I think these are all of the options.

Also, a good idea is to check your work in all browsers - I don't know if the most popular ones are available on Linux, but you can use Browser shots to test it online.

Actually I'm already using Wordpress to power my blog and am very impressed with it. But as I said before I want the work for this new website to be done by me; A-Z! That's why I've ruled out using all kinds of CMS. Still, thanks for the flow of suggestions

OK, good luck then!

[Baniboy 3]

If you're looking for good source editors, I suggest Bluefish for Ubuntu (you can find it in the repository). And then there's my favorite, Crimson Editor. This editor doesn't run on Linux by default, but you can make it run by using WINE. You should have wine installed already, it's handy.Anyway, as far as using PHP, it's useful even if you're using flat files. If your site will have more than one page but with some similar components like navigation and header, then use PHP to include your navigation, footer and header from their own files, this way you'll only have to edit your navigation or header file, and it'll take effect across the whole site. Makes it easier than having to edit every navigation bar in every one of your pages. And it has no impact on your site's security.As for the ones here saying that HTML websites are useless, take a look around. Even if we only consider HTML files, there are many websites using them that are pretty useful, like the Python documentation section. Overall many websites oriented in teaching a programming language are in HTML, why? Because they just don't need PHP or ASP and the like. The objective is not to create a facebook replica, but a simple page containing some information. And flat files are good, too. You can look at for example tizag.com. It's based on flat files I think.Anyway the point is to make a site that serves its purpose. Building a MySQL database system for a 5-paged website is useless. And I bet most of those sites don't need functions like comments and RSS feeds either...

[shadowx 0]

I agree that php and web 2.0 can be overdonw but your example of using includes instead of frames, for example, is a perfectly good one.When i make a site, even a small one i almost always use a system like index.php?nodule=something so my index.php can setup the headers, footers, sidebars etc... then just an include safely controlled, to fetch the content of the page in question.That way my site is always consistent and the content is exactly where i need it when i need it. When i need to make a new page all i need to do is write a text document with relevant CSS classes and BR tags and upload it. Usually my links are also contained within a text file formatted with A tags and CSS and they too are dynamically included. That way once my file is uploaded i write *one* link into my links file and that is it. If i have 3 pages or 300 it doesnt matter. It is so easy to update.Sometimes i use a SWITCH statement to check the filename is acceptable, other times i restrict it to a certain directory.

[k_nitin_r 8]

Hi!@The SimpletonI would like to clarify that HTML is not a scripting language but is rather a markup language, as the acronym's expansion indicates - it is a Hypertext Markup Language. It is quite similar to a page description language that tells a parser what to place and in which location on a page. Markup languages offer more flexibility than page description languages in that the web browser can wrap text based on the screen resolution and the size of the browser window. The web browser may also apply presentation layouts to the markup through an external means, such as by using cascading style sheets (CSS) or extensible stylesheet language (XSL). For Extensible Markup Language (XML), you can apply either CSS or XSL, but for HTML, you can only apply CSS. You may decide to go with using attributes within HTML instead of using CSS, which is commonly used by WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors such as Adobe DreamWeaver (formerly Macromedia DreamWeaver) and Microsoft Frontpage.Using HTML to build your website has no security issues as such because there is nothing that is executed. The HTML is rendered by your web browser but there is no execution of code. Think of it as opening a bitmap (BMP) or JPEG file in a picture viewer - there's no execution of code but the picture viewer determines the values of the red, green, and blue components of a pixel (or in some cases, with other file formats, the cyan, magenta, yellow, black components that are used for print media and are converted to their red, green, and blue equivalents for display on-screen).BTW, the HTML 5 standard does include specific provisions for WYSIWYG editors, much to the ire of purists who indicate that the standard should do away with 'lame' sections of the old standard in the interest of cleaner markup that can be parsed more easily.

[The Simpleton 2]

so you are decide to start from scratch, at least we all did. the first editor i used for coding is notepad, it lets you learn step by step and learn from your mistakes. but if you find it hard to trace errors try an advanced notepad, for me the best are editplus and tswebeditor, the first one isn't free but you can use the trial version but the second is, have fun and good luck. we are looking for your site.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will definitely try out the notepad replicas you mentioned and choose among the best. And I'll put up my site here for review as soon as possible

 

I think PHP is getting bullied a bit here as being insecure...

 

PHP is like the engine of your car. Sure you can build a car without an engine but it doesnt do anything! It just rusts.

 

Put the engine in and you can take it places. The disadvantage is so can someone else, so then they invented the key ignition, anti-hotwring etc.... it isnt difficult to make a moderately secure website. It might not stand up to a military level attack but it will damn sure stop chancers.

 

I just dont see any reason *not* to use PHP (ASP is just nasty dirty Microsoft

rubbish!)

I think I'm responsible for all the bullying of PHP- I asked everyone to talk only about HTML You rightly mentioned that if the car has an engine, anyone can take it places, and not just the owner. In order to avoid that risk I want to make the car stationary and ask people from other places to visit instead

 

My site is definitely longer than 10 pages so I'm not sure entirely whether to stick to the first HTML-only plan or to use PHP too....the sensible thing would be to use PHP, maybe? Needs a bit of pondering.

 

And I'm not scared of any military-level attacks as I have no info of that sort I'm just cautious about my own friends.

 

Gedit is pretty much similar, you should go to Edit --> Preferences to use its more important programming features (Choose the programming language, Display line numbers, Highlight current line, Highlight matching bracket, enable some Add-ons that are useful). I don't personally use Gedit that much, but I have a friend who does, so I think these are all of the options.

I like Gedit for the fact that it's pre-installed in Ubuntu I think I'm too lazy - anyway, I'll check out the various editors mentioned in this thread. I want the coding process to be as smooth as possible.

Also, a good idea is to check your work in all browsers - I don't know if the most popular ones are available on Linux, but you can use Browser shots to test it online.

Firefox, Opera and Chrome are available in Linux; IE and Safari are not (haven't checked under WINE, though). The site you mentioned seems to be useful in this case. Thanks!

 

If you're looking for good source editors, I suggest Bluefish for Ubuntu (you can find it in the repository). And then there's my favorite, Crimson Editor. This editor doesn't run on Linux by default, but you can make it run by using WINE. You should have wine installed already, it's handy.

I've used bluefish for a brief while before and it was indeed handy. However I stuck to gedit as it was lighter and faster. I haven't heard about Crimson editor till now, but since I have WINE I'll take it for a trial run soon.

Anyway, as far as using PHP, it's useful even if you're using flat files. If your site will have more than one page but with some similar components like navigation and header, then use PHP to include your navigation, footer and header from their own files, this way you'll only have to edit your navigation or header file, and it'll take effect across the whole site. Makes it easier than having to edit every navigation bar in every one of your pages. And it has no impact on your site's security.

If PHP will help in that sort of way without affecting the site's security it is indeed worth taking a look. I need to go through some PHP tutorials though - never touched it till now, and I haven't much time for looking at too many lessons.

 

That way my site is always consistent and the content is exactly where i need it when i need it. When i need to make a new page all i need to do is write a text document with relevant CSS classes and BR tags and upload it. Usually my links are also contained within a text file formatted with A tags and CSS and they too are dynamically included. That way once my file is uploaded i write *one* link into my links file and that is it. If i have 3 pages or 300 it doesnt matter. It is so easy to update.

Wow that sure sounds an easy way to update the site. I don't know about 300 but I'll definitely be having more than 10 pages so I could use tips like these!

I would like to clarify that HTML is not a scripting language but is rather a markup language, as the acronym's expansion indicates - it is a Hypertext Markup Language

Well I think that's one of the many basic things I need to learn about HTML

 

It's May 3 today - around three more weeks till I get my freedom and start coding. All these ideas are buzzing in my head and the heat isn't helping either Anyway, thanks for another round of discussion folks