Where do I start

Pol · 08-31-2007, 08:57 AM

Hi everyone.
I am living and working in Bulgaria, the reason for joining this forum was to see If I can get some help with web design. I have a webmaster in the UK that does my web site, but I think it would help if I understood more about the whole thing.
I can design (WYSWYG) a basic site, but I really want to know more about how to create a database and link it to a site. I was hoping to build a site like this myself as a learning experience.
If you look at my site you will see the sort of database (search facility) thing I am talking about.
It is impossible to find a book or go on a course out here, so I thought a forum would be an idea. I am not sure if am allowed to put my web site address here, so I will wait to see if somebody asks for it.
Paul

tobin · 08-31-2007, 10:22 AM

I looked at your site and think it wouldn't be too hard to learn to do something similar, but I have an understanding of developing web applications.

You're going to want to move beyond the WYSWYG stuff and get your hands dirty with html and eventually a programming language such as php. After that you'll want to learn how to work with a mysql DB.

I'm sure some of this is going to be confusing, but you're going to have to dive in somewhere...

http://www.php.net/tut.php
http://www.freewebmasterhelp.com/tutorials/phpmysql

t.

ps. I vote to have this thread moved to coding! (=

Pol · 09-02-2007, 01:39 AM

Hi Tobin,
Thanks for your reply. I know I need to get into writing code, that is where I really want to be in the end, I only want to learn so that I can do my own web site, at present I have a webmaster in the UK, he is really nice and helpful, but at the end of the day he is in business and with the best will in the world, he cant drop everything for me each time I have a brainwave.

Pol · 09-02-2007, 01:43 AM

A little while before I came to live and work in Bulgaria I signed up for a college course to learn web site design, because I knew I would need it. I went ahead and brought a copy of dream weaver with fireworks version 6, but the course did not have enough people to run. I tried to have a go at teaching myself because some spark told me ‘if I was ok with MS Publisher’, I would be ok, I wasn’t! And that is where I am right now.

AYYASH · 09-08-2007, 02:29 AM

I think you need to know wich platform you are planning to work with. There are two major platforms right now in addition to many others. The first one is Microsoft platform and the second one is Linux platform. The web development language that works under Microsoft windows called asp.net and PHP is the one that works under Linux platform. You might chose one of them to start with regarding to your current need and current hosting oprating system and database server. You might also search google to have more information to help you decide wich way you need to take.
After that, you can start doing little projects with Dreamweaver (for example) because it helps you and write the codes for you. During this process, you'll learn more about web development language basics such as variabls, condetions, functions, database connection, etc... that will help you when you move to hand coding level. I chosed dreamweaver because it supports most of the web development languages including asp.net and php.
You might also search google to have an idea about other web languages such as Cold Fusion, Java Server Pages, Perl, etc..

Good luck

Pol · 09-08-2007, 07:10 AM

Thanks Ayyash, that has given me a place to start.