SO YOU WANNA MAKE A WEBSITE (Programming and Web Development Books in general)

Name: marandina

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Product:	Programming and Web Development Books in general
Date:	28/12/01 (85 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clearly written, Witty, Easy to follow

Disadvantages: Gets more complex

Always wanted to make your own website but thought it was about as easy as bathing the cat in winter (in a steel tub in the freezing back garden)? Well IT IS easy as long as you've got the right book. "Teach Yourself to Create Web Pages" is one of the 24-hour series from SAMS. It's easy to follow and you'll become a webmaster in the time it takes a PG Tips chimp to recite the alphabet.

***Who wrote it?***
The author is a guy called Ned Snell. He's really funny and his writing style takes the edge off any anxiety you might have (maybe it's the thought of not being able to follow the book and looking like a complete eejet?).

***What's in the book?***
The SAMS series concentrate on a step-by-step approach by building your knowledge cumulatively. Each chapter represents an hour's study with clear pictures and sequential instructions. These walk you through the process in a systematic manner. There is an e-mail contact in the book whereby you can contact the author (don't expect a quick response, though). The book aims to get you competent in 24 hours and that's the exact number of chapters you get.

Introduction ~ this explains who the book is aimed at; how to use the book effectively and how to link the book with the free CD Rom that comes with it.Part 1, hours 1-4 ~ this is all about getting started and is written as though you know little or nothing about the Internet or web design. Here you'll cover the rudiments of starting your site. Written in a witty, clear style the author clarifies exactly what a web page is and how to actually get one started. This is so easy that even I understood it and the simple to follow diagrams with step by step guides meant that it was obvious which buttons needed pressing and what happened after you'd pressed them.

Part 2, hours 5 – 8 ~ here you're introduced to the fundamentals of how to influence a page via the introduction o
f text and colour. Before you know it, you'll be able to title your pages; add custom colours; format text and have a go at introducing tables onto your site.

Part 3, hours 9 – 12 ~ the exciting stuff! The whole idea of the web is to link things together and you soon realise just how easy it is to include links to other sites. Going a little further, the concept of bookmarking is brought in i.e. guiding visitors to specific parts of your site.

Part 4, hours 13 –16 ~ it's razzamatazz time! This is what we all yearn for when we are trawling the net. Adding pictures and even sound is explained in the laid back, easy to follow style that makes this book so good.Part 5, hours 17 – 20 ~ beware of the advanced stuff. You'll need to bear in mind that you can't run until you've learned to walk so ignore the following if you're starting to get worried. It will all come out in the wash (honestly). This section introduces basic HTML (the basic code used in web design); using frames; fill-in-the-blank forms and multiple links in pictures (image maps). The Client sided v server sided needs reading more than once, as it's a little tricky to understand.

Part 6, hours 21-24 ~ this is the final section and deals with getting your site published (uploaded) so that search engines can pick it up. There are references included if you want to move on to the next level of web design with suggested software as well.

Appendices A & B deal with the contents of the bonus CD Rom and Online resource references to help with things like finding images (GIFs) to include on your site. You are directed to plug-ins (software downloads that enable things like video and audio to be played e.g. RealPlayer – now called RealOne Player)

***What if I get stuck?***
Well you're only human and we all make mistakes. I'm no exception and unless you've got the obligatory mate that knows all about compu
ters (we all know someone) then I did find a wonderful resource site that helped me on a few occasions. The address is PageResource.com and I found the bulletin board really helpful. Mainly Canadian males man it for some reason but don't let that put you off – they have a great SOH and were extremely knowledgeable.

***So what do I do?***
Well if you are inspired to have a go then buy this book. It's funny, clearly written and worth it's weight in gold. It's available through Amazon.com. and retails at £17.49 (reduced from £21.99). If you do decide to make a purchase, you can get to Amazon through a link at the bottom of my homepage. I get a nominal fee for your introduction (shameless, I know, but I gotta earn a crust somehow).

You are welcome to 'ave a butchers at my site which I threw together in June 2001. It's not brilliant but it's something I always wanted to do and now I've done it.

***Tips***
The programme that allows you to type a web page in almost the same fashion as any other word document is called Frontpage Express. The beauty here is that you don’t have to learn the web language of HTML (there are others too but we won’t go into that). This comes as standard with Windows 95 & 98 (you should be able to find it under programmes > accessories) but it's a little dated now. I used MS FrontPage, which retails at around £132 from Jungle.com (FP2000 is the latest version).

I had problems uploading using both FP & FP Express so I bought Cute FTP through a download for $40 via Globalscape.com. You should not have the same problem using FP2000.

There are a number of free software packages on the CD. The most useful was HTML Assistant Pro, which helped me to divide the main page into frames (makes all the difference). I decided against buying it at the end of the free trial (28 days, I think). It's up to you whether and which applications you buy as most
are on free trial but you'll need to consider how often you're likely to use 'em.

***Wrapping up***
Putting together my website is one of the most satisfying things I've ever done. Yep, I lay back smoking a big, fat cigar after having finally got the finished version. Once started, it can be addictive and take over but you'll impress your friends and attract the babes (or fellas) when it gets around that you've got your own site. I, myself, had a number of offers of marriage once it became known that I was the proud owner of a really cool website (if only some had been from women). Who knows, Rodney, this time next year we could be millionaires.

If anyone is inspired to have a go then by all means let me know if you get stuck. I'll try and help or at least re-direct you to a helpful resource. It would be great if sometime in the future, someone did contact me to draw my attention to his or her latest creation.

Happy designing and have a great New Year!

This opinion is based on version 2 of the book. Version 3 is now available in paperback and will be more up to date. However, you’ll need to check carefully that the application to be used is compatible with what you’ve got. There’s every chance that you have FP Express already included as part of Windows 95 or 98.

Thanks for reading and...it's June 2002 so I just thought I'd bring this to the top of the pile as it's consumery and my first ever crown...ahhhhhhhh

Marandina :O)

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