building my website; awesome yet harrowing!!!!

Arrrgh! I had everything going and then hit the Back button accidentally and it is all gone!! Poop.. has anyone else designed their own site? Nate from here is hosting mine.. I want to strike out and make my site.. but darnit for my stupid mistake!

I wrote mine!

It is time consuming and takes loads of nerves. You'll have more than one gray hair when it done. Just save every 2-5 minutes and walk away about once an hour or you get burnt out. :D

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Arrrgh! I had everything going and then hit the Back button accidentally and it is all gone!! Poop.. has anyone else designed their own site? Nate from here is hosting mine.. I want to strike out and make my site.. but darnit for my stupid mistake!

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Jen,
I created my website on my own. I coded the entire thing by hand, and Harrowing might be an understatement. I think you learned the most valuable lesson already (SAVE alot). I did have some help from a friend that was good at it, and whenever I ran into a speed bump, I went and got a lesson. I hope your site comes out great, and if it's any help, I actually drew my website out entirely on paper before I ever started creating it.

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Originally Posted by muddoc

I actually drew my website out entirely on paper before I ever started creating it.

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This is a good tip it helps you figure out layout. Also print out little versons of the images you want cut them out and see where YOU think they look best. This save one the EEEEEHHHH what about here type of coding. :D

I did mine
www.longviewnh.com

my husband does it for a living but I wanted to do it myself :D

I'm currently working on mine... entirely in notepad. Once I get it finished I'll get it hosted and uploaded. It's been time consuming and a lot of trial and error, but also a lot of fun to create something on your own. :)

Uggg, site building!
I've created a few different websites in the past and yes, it can be a royal pain in the arse for sure, especially when your finger(s) suddenly develop an evil, vengeful mind of their own and seek to destroy all you have painstakingly spent the last 6 hours making perfect! :mad:

....or the power goes out....
....or the cat manages to hit the switch on the surge bar.....
....or your husband sneaks up behind you and sticks a cool, slithery, tickley snake down your back....

Ahhh site building... the good ole' days... I don't miss 'em!!!! :D

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

I wrote mine!

It is time consuming and takes loads of nerves. You'll have more than one gray hair when it done. Just save every 2-5 minutes and walk away about once an hour or you get burnt out. :D

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Hey Bro,
Give me a call when you get a chance. I want to let you know of some pinters that I noted that might be of some help (or not).

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

Arrrgh! I had everything going and then hit the Back button accidentally and it is all gone!! Poop.. has anyone else designed their own site? Nate from here is hosting mine.. I want to strike out and make my site.. but darnit for my stupid mistake!

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I'm not sure how hitting the back button (in your browser?) made you lose your site. Are you using some sort of online editor? There is alot great software out there for site building. Sure you can be all "hardcore" and do it from scratch if you have the time, but there are more efficient ways. I'm sure Nate can give you some pointers as well.

Does anyone use those site builder programs (free or otherwise)? I need a site too but don't have the money right now to have someone make it for me...but hand coding sounds like a real nightmare (since I only know basic HTML). Just curious as a lot of hosting sites seem to have "site builders" to get you up and running.

Sorry to Hijack Jen just wanted to know how everyone was building theirs. :)

Dreamweaver is an awesome program for building sites. I just bought www.crazychicago.com and started putting it together. I'm only a couple of hours in, and I don't know if I'm liking the layout, but I'll get it figured out in a few weeks. I'm working on a massive job at work so I haven't had any time to mess with the site. I have a couple of people who are adding content, but it will mainly be about reviews and for people to find out what events are going on in Chicago. If you can get a copy of Dreamweaver I highly recommend it.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

Dreamweaver is an awesome program for building sites.If you can get a copy of Dreamweaver I highly recommend it.

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i second that

It's what I previously did for a living... although, I worked with graphic designers as my talents fall fairly short in that area ;). If you need any help, let me know!

I've used the WYSIWYG programs to build a site and I don't like them. I prefer to either use Microsoft Front Page or to just do all the coding and such myself.

I strongly advise against MS Front Page.


Dreamweaver is not just a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), you can use Split Screen and view your code as well. DW is my tool of choice.

In my experience, Front Page inputs a LOT of useless JUNK and sometimes pages don't even properly function in other browsers, such as FireFox.

Jen, in your page maker, make sure you save your progress and don't hit the back button. If you save, you can always go back and make changes later on.

I use CSS, it just worked out way better for me personally. I usually wrote by hand and uploaded it to my server. I think once you have a format to use, it just breezes by.

Oh yea, if you see a website and you really dig the layout, check their source code. (look up the source file for css) I know alot of people look down on it, but you can really learn some very nifty things that way. I wouldn't clone it, that isn't looked on very well. But I learned some really cool layout formats that way.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I use CSS

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:rockon:

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

:rockon:

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haha! thanks~~

I also enjoy DW as it meshes well with Flash, and Illustrator. It does take some coding knowledge to get the layout and interface you might want but on the whole a very useful tool.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

I strongly advise against MS Front Page.


Dreamweaver is not just a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), you can use Split Screen and view your code as well. DW is my tool of choice.

In my experience, Front Page inputs a LOT of useless JUNK and sometimes pages don't even properly function in other browsers, such as FireFox.

Jen, in your page maker, make sure you save your progress and don't hit the back button. If you save, you can always go back and make changes later on.

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Hmm, interesting. I've never had that problem and... I'm currently running Fire Fox. ;)
I've used it with several different browsers without problems whereas the WYSIWYG and split screen progs have nearly always messed up in one way or other, thus causing me to have to just do it all in code without the "preview" so to speak.
But, such is the way of programs, they seem to work great for some and not so well for others.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

I strongly advise against MS Front Page.


Dreamweaver is not just a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get), you can use Split Screen and view your code as well. DW is my tool of choice.

In my experience, Front Page inputs a LOT of useless JUNK and sometimes pages don't even properly function in other browsers, such as FireFox.

Jen, in your page maker, make sure you save your progress and don't hit the back button. If you save, you can always go back and make changes later on.

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Word.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Oh yea, if you see a website and you really dig the layout, check their source code. (look up the source file for css) I know alot of people look down on it, but you can really learn some very nifty things that way. I wouldn't clone it, that isn't looked on very well. But I learned some really cool layout formats that way.

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But some are like me and have (but not put up) code that keeps you from seeing my source code or right clicking any of my images. :D:D

Ain't I a stinker

Thats very easy to get around :D:D You have to remember that unless you have a very secure sight, anyone can see your source code. I also know that you can disable the disable right click by entering something into the address bar.... I use to do that sorta thing when I was a younger nerdier version of myself. >.<

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Thats very easy to get around :D:D

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Which part???

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

I use CSS, it just worked out way better for me personally. I usually wrote by hand and uploaded it to my server. I think once you have a format to use, it just breezes by.

Oh yea, if you see a website and you really dig the layout, check their source code. (look up the source file for css) I know alot of people look down on it, but you can really learn some very nifty things that way. I wouldn't clone it, that isn't looked on very well. But I learned some really cool layout formats that way.

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I used CSS with DW for the last site I ran, but it's not neccesary for the one I'm working on now, unless I decide to completely change the layout. But I like the simplicity of it now. That's what I love about DW. It can be used so many different ways. I love the split screen.

Well, if you wanted to go and put in the if_right whatnot, i could give you your source code, copy your images and anything else I wanted.

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Originally Posted by PythonWallace

I used CSS with DW for the last site I ran, but it's not neccesary for the one I'm working on now, unless I decide to completely change the layout. But I like the simplicity of it now. That's what I love about DW. It can be used so many different ways. I love the split screen.

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I havent ever used dreamweaver. Is it really that good?? Its been years since I coded.

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Originally Posted by Shadowspider

Hmm, interesting. I've never had that problem and... I'm currently running Fire Fox. ;)

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To each their own. do what works for you :gj:

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Originally Posted by Freakie_Frog

But some are like me and have (but not put up) code that keeps you from seeing my source code or right clicking any of my images.

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Crap. It's all crap Ed. There is no script and no way to "hide" your source code. Put that code up and give me 5 minutes to steal all of your images and your code ;)

There's really no reason to hide your source code. There are some places that will encrypt it...but it's just as easy to decrypt it too.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Well, if you wanted to go and put in the if_right whatnot, i could give you your source code, copy your images and anything else I wanted.

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True, those codes are pretty useless against most of the people who are trying to see your source code or steal your images.

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Originally Posted by nathanledet

To each their own. do what works for you :gj:


Crap. It's all crap Ed. There is no script and no way to "hide" your source code. Put that code up and give me 5 minutes to steal all of your images and your code ;)

There's really no reason to hide your source code. There are some places that will encrypt it...but it's just as easy to decrypt it too.

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Yup... its really not worth it unless you really have something invested in your website.

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Yup... its really not worth it unless you really have something invested in your website.

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and then that's when you get more into the server side languages, such as PHP.

Man this is making me want to mess around with web design again... ^_^

I have Dreamweaver and Flash at home just calling to be tinkered with...its been two or three years since I dabbled in web design...

I don't even know if I remember how anymore...but I just got DW and Flash... so I will have to fool around with it a bit and try to figure it all out.

I've been coding too many years, so I've been anti-WYSIWYG for far too long ;). But I'm a programmer, I'm about as useful with Photoshop and Flash as I am with a surgical scalpel.

My offer stands, however, to anyone that would like assistance. I'd be more than happy to help anyone out that runs into trouble. The benefit of not doing it for a living, is I don't mind doing it for a friend ;).