Need help to create new website!!

If you have no idea at all I'd also suggest Wordpress. You can make a free site on Wordpress.com and buy a domain and redirect it there, or if you feel like buying your own hosting, I'd suggest a shared hosting with CPanel + Quickinstall so you can install wordpress with the press of a button. There are also lots of hosting providers that sell shared hosting spaces with pre-installed wordpress.

As for the looks, you can grab a free theme, there are tons of them out there, or buy one (around $30~50).

And please, stay away from MS FRONTPAGE!!!!!!!!!! :grief:

 

Avoid FrontPage at all costs!
Not only it's never been good, it usually creates websites that do not follow standards and thus will not display the same across browsers.

If you need an IDE, take a look at:
Kompozer (Free)
WeBuilder (cheap)
Dreamweaver (expensive)

Or google PHP IDE and try whichever you want.

 

For those who don't know IDE stands for Integrated Development Environment which just means you can code and preview your work all in one package. It also includes tools and such to help you develop your websites.

Just thought I'd add that in case there was anyone wondering what the hell an IDE is apart from an old style cable inside PCs...

Also just because it's expensive doesn't mean it's the best, some of the free and cheap ones outperform IDEs like Dreamweaver in some or often a lot of areas.

 

or i have to find a graphic/site developer,but that will cost a lot of money i guess

 

About £250 - £300 for plain HTML from a cheap designer with moderate looks.
£500 - £1,000 maybe more for a bespoke PHP coded site with moderate looks, £1,500+ for one with half decent looks and £3,000+ (sometimes £5,000+) for an excellent looking one and a crap load of functionality. (based on a site your size)

These are just estimates based on last time I did a little market/competition research...lol

Wordpress and a little time is free...

 

you wont need one with wordpress but yes you would need money if you were going to ask someone to design a site for you

we've just had one priced up at work and its over £10,000+ - i admit thats the site will be more complicated than yours needs to be so you wouldnt be looking at anywhere near that much but it usually depends on the features you want

 

PHP coders a lot of the time develop their own interface and code it in their own way, so unless you go to them you can't change it yourself or have someone else change it for you meaning you get your pants pulled down every time you want it altered or updated. It's called 'vendor lock-in' and it's a pain in the arse.

 

You're best off using a CMS as it will do everything you want it to do and grow with you. Have a blog style site (or a site with a blog)? No problem. Want a calendar for events? Sure thing. Need a forum? Simples! Need responsive design for mobile use? You've got it! Want to use a database to catalogue items? That's what these things are made to do! Want it looking pretty? There are probably hundreds of free templates to choose from - or some cheap pro ones. Need a shop added later? Why not!

Wordpress (the stand-alone, not wordpress.com) is good but not for everything. Drupal is great but has a steeper learning curve. There are other CMS choices, e.g. Joomla, Mambo, CMSMS, but Wordpress and Drupal are probably the best supported. Especially when it comes to templates.

As for help, you'd be lucky to get someone to do it for free. I don't do websites for less than £300, personally. If you want something custom coded, you're looking at way, way more. You're much better off using a CMS and learning as you go. You probably won't need to do any coding whatsoever - just know how to set up a MySQL database and follow instructions.

And yeah, don't use Frontpage. Other than anything else, you're over-complicating matters, it's not a good program and, to be honest, you probably don't even need to use Dreamweaver nowadays.

 

before i pay that much for just a simple page,ill give it a try by myself

 

Exactly. To be fair, you do get more than "just a simple page" - you get professional design that's guaranteed to work with whatever your criteria is. And you mentioned you wanted at least a five page setup, not a simple page. Still, there is a lot of advantage in the DIY route - and the best way to do that is with a CMS.

 

i just wanted a page that looks like an archive for all the discs i got.click on one disc to get a hd scan,id number,date,info and download link

 

You could do that with HTML, PHP is complete overkill for a website like that. Unless you want to be able to upload the discs using a web admin interface, but again it's overkill because you could just use a simple HTML editor to update the site.

That way you don't need to pay for PHP hosting and get the cheaper static hosting, and no need to learn about wordpress or PHP at all. Just sounds like you're making a lot of hard work for yourself to be honest, I could have a simple nice looking archive site like that up and running in less than a day using HTML/CSS.

Hell I did a website like that for a client not too long ago:
http://www.impulsedecisions.com/

Click on memorabilia, that section is probably similar to what you're after. Mind you that was my first attempt at a website in over 7 years so it isn't the best, nor the most neatly coded I can tell you, in fact the back end is a complete mess to be honest, but I understand where everything goes and it works all the same.

 

PHP is easy and it isn't that expensive if the right hosting service is found. A page can easily made for administration purposes to add disc details into a database which can then be displayed on a webpage without having to use HTML to add each disc manually. PHP can perform tasks much more effectively.

It's just the case of storing information in the database, retrieving it and do whatever with it then.

 

Yeah but you're not factoring in that he'll have to start learning PHP & mySQL (interact with the database), setup a WAMP server and learn about the admin, code it all into a page learning from others examples on how to do signing admin pages, learn how to debug and correct any mistakes (which will happen). Design and create a nice little theme and tie it all together, shop for decent PHP hosting and transfer all that onto the host.

There are HTML programs out there which are practically desktop publisher simple and he'd get it done in half the time.

Not to mention he isn't looking for a study project, he's looking for a quick solution. I don't care which way you approach it, gaining a working knowledge of PHP is the longer way round for this particular individual. But yeah it's more rewarding in the long run I agree totally.

 

ill give it a try next day..i think the biggest problem will be to create good looking graphics

 

Absolute rubbish, Xeauron.

A site like he described is SCREAMING OUT for a database - it makes things so much easier.

Just about every decent host offers PHP for free. AND at least one MySQL database.

As for needing to know PHP and MySQL - that's totally incorrect.

Assuming the hosting company uses cPanel, you just use the MySQL Database Wizard to set up the database:

You then download Wordpress from wordpress.org and upload it (via FTP or the cPanel uploader) and unpack it (via cPanel).

You then follow the instructions for the 5 minute install - which should pretty much just be visit your site and go through the on-screen instructions.

THAT'S IT. Wordpress installed, website up and running.

From then, you just edit your pages to suit. As I said, I'd make a database of the info as it's the easiest way to play with the data as you see fit.

He'll have to learn his way around Wordpress, sure. There's no PHP or MySQL needed, though.

 

Retro mate, what are you talking about? I wasn't referring to setting up a WordPress site. I was referring to learning PHP and building a bespoke website with database, yes he would need a knowledge of php & mysql for that purpose, no he wouldn't need it to setup a wordpress site.

Also I haven't come across a host which offers free php & mysql anywhere, least of all one which provides a decent service.

You must have read my previous post out of context.

 

Ooh, I see! Well, only you were talking about PHP, I think - everyone else suggested Wordpress!

Some huge webhosts (not saying they're great companies - I've had arguments with several of them, but they're BIG):

1 and 1
Starter Package: http://www.1and1.co.uk/hosting-linux?__lf=Static £2.49/month + VAT
1 MySQL database, PHP5. In their cheapest hosting option.

Godaddy
Economy Package: https://www.godaddy.com/hosting/web-hosting.aspx?ci=76393 £1.99/month (discounted) + VAT?
10 databases, Wordpress support (so has PHP). In their cheapest hosting option.

Fasthosts
Business Bronze Package: http://www.fasthosts.co.uk/web-hosting/ £2.49/month + VAT
10 MySQL databases, PHP 5.4 and 5.2. In their cheapest hosting option.

There you go - three of the largest web hosting companies, all offering PHP and MySQL free with their basic package, for under £40 a year. The only one I can think of that doesn't is 123-reg - but they're absolutely useless.

Joseph - as I said, use Wordpress or Drupal and get a template. You can even get premium templates that usually come in around the $30-50 mark.

 

Check under the first post on this thread, I was the first one to suggest Wordpress...lol - And Decapitated stated he'd be best learning PHP to create something with a database that would be a ubiquitous website/skill. I was stating it'd be more of a ball ache to learn PHP just for that purpose and he didn't seem interested in putting in the effort.

Also, again I could get an html static host from £5 - £12 a year (I've also heard horror stories about GoDaddy and 1&1), I still don't see the benefit of doing this - a VERY simple archive site - with Wordpress/PHP when it's cheaper/faster to just do it in HTML/CSS using a simple editor.

But hey I'm just offering my opinion here.

 

I would argue it's not cheaper to do it in HTML, since you need to know HTML and code the HTML for every page. Do it in Wordpress and you have your page template and layout sorted. You're just entering data in a database. That's simple, because it's literally just that.

I wouldn't touch 1&1 or Godaddy with a barge pole, and I have used both companies in the past. That said, it's more to do with the companies than their hosting - it's not too bad. And they're the two largest web hosts out there. So I'll repeat, any DECENT host offers it as standard.

£5 a year hosting is NEVER, EVER decent hosting. You get what you pay for. And if you don't believe me, Google any of those £5 companies. Or use one of the web hosting forums. I have used a cheap (think it was 35 Euros a year) German company, and you get what you pay for. Constant headaches. E-mail servers consistently going down. Out of date PHP. Permissions issues that you need to submit a support ticket to resolve. And worst of all, their servers have been hacked several times, pretty seriously.