i need some web coaching

[jkaz]

Hi,

Never really had a website of my own that was anything more than a page.

Looking for advice on where to start and where to take things.

What kind of questions should I be asking myself?

I feel like I'm a cook in a kitchen with some decent ingredients, but I just don't really have an idea of what I should cook.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[shadownddust]

I think the first thing to think about is what is the website going to be used for. I think that will determine a lot of other factors as far as what tools you will use, how complicated it will be, and what the requirements will be for hosting, etc.

 

[jkaz]

I'm thinking pseudo self promotion, slight amusement, convenient place to find information- contact info, events, etc

 

[detz]

wordpress.com

 

[jkaz]

i have my own domain and study graphic comm, i'm looking for something I can create, but thanks for the thought!

 

[angelwatt]

I'd hit the stickies as a start. There's mentions of tutorials and applications that you can use. You should figure out if you're wanting to learn to hand code, or to use a WYSIWYG type editor. There's different routes. Essentially are you wanting to design or develop?

You also need to decide what type of content you want to have on the site. If it's mostly sharing of information and pictures, you might be best off with a blog-based web site.

If you need more inspiration, then surf the web until the ideas come to you.

 

[jkaz]

Thanks for the response.

I have limited capabilities with flash, dreamweaver and PHP.

So I know a few things, enough to get me started.

I'm hoping to create my foundation content from scratch.

I'd like to have a semi-promotional website, maybe a cross between a business card and a resume, but very very washed down resume.

I don't want to talk much about 'resume' topics, but I want my 'professional' side to be present.

Thanks for the dialogue, this is helping already.

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

I waited a bit on this one to see where this would head.

I might suggest using iWeb if all you need is a static but professional LOOKING site (via cool templates) that isn't interactive nor dynamic. By interactive I mean comments, uploading by uses, ratings, forms that integrate date into a server side database or XML files. By dynamic I mean content that changes on each page load based on database or server side calls, i.e. you might not need a form, but you want to run blogs and you need a special page to display only your latest blog or two.

If you need to go interactive or dynamic in any way, then I suggest investing in RapidWeaver, which has great templates AND support for server side/database processing. And if that's true, there are a million topics on here where people recommend webhosts both free and low cost that offer PHP and MySQL database support. If you spend a little more, most webhosts these days make it very easy to install popular apps like phpBB forum, WordPress and others via web based management.

In a nutshell, part of your decision process is if you need an interctive/dynamic web site or not. And, of course, most people do - it's what makes the modern Internet what it is compared to its origins when static home pages ruled the day.

I do not suggest only Wordpress for a professional foundation oriented site, for the record. Too "personal" and non-professional, even if they make cool templates. Most users might not take a foundation too seriously, so you should register a .org and setup a complete site using iWeb or Rapidweaver, as I explained above.


jim

 

[notjustjay]

I feel like I'm a cook in a kitchen with some decent ingredients, but I just don't really have an idea of what I should cook.

Whenever I feel like this, I walk back out of the kitchen.

Seriously. If you don't have a particular project in mind, other than experimenting, you'll probably get bored pretty quick, or end up with a website that you update frequently at first, then starts to linger for weeks, then months, then years...

Been there, done that.

You could ask around to see if anyone needs web work done. Perhaps a friend with a small business, or a local non-profit organization can really use someone to build a website for them. This way you kill two birds with one stone, you get some real practical learning experience while helping someone else out.