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I have no clue at all [PLEASE HELP!]


newerthanyou

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So i wanted to create my own gaming website to share with the rest of the world, from information.. facts.. hacks.. news... tips&tricks, you name it, i will have it... well, at least i thought i would.

 

i purchased my domain and web hosting services and jumped right in, then noticed i had just jumped into some i did not want to jump into, the website control panel seems so complicated and it is all new to me, i have no clue how to even put my own custom design on the site.

 

i dont know how to allow account creation on my site, i dont know how to create a forum on my site, basically i am stuck with a domain and unlimited webhosting which i do not know how to set up.. need some help!! guys, thanks.

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Well, I'd suggest doing two things...

 

1. You're probably going to have to lower your expectations a bit. Web design is a pretty vast subject, and you aren't going to be able to pick it up overnight. Nothing saying that you can't learn, but you're sorta asking for a lot if you have zero experience.

 

2. I'd start by installing Wordpress (http://wordpress.org/). Wordpress is a free blogging/content management software that you can install on your hosting, and should allow you to do most of what you are hoping to do.

 

Installing Wordpress is something that you may be able to do yourself, depending on your experience, though I'm a bit doubtful in your particular case. Otherwise, you can possibly have your host install it for you (some hosts have scripts like Fantastico that will automatically install some software for you) or pay someone a small amount to get it set up initially. Then, you can find a free theme that you like (there are a lot of free or low cost themes available online) and install that within Wordpress to get you started. Wordpress also has a wide array of plugins (http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/) including forum plugins (this is just one example, there are others: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wpforum/)

 

Keep in mind that KillerSites does offer video courses on basic html (http://www.killersites.com/web-design/) and on working with/theming Wordpress (http://www.killersites.com/wordpress/wordpress-theme.php).

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Newerthanyou, I think we are kind of in the same position. I'm reading and surfing trying to learn more about web design. Maybe we can learn together and help each other out.

 

Let me explain my situation a little bit. I have designed what I think is a web page for myself in Photoshop Elements. I was using a tutorial from garysimon.net and when I got to the "image cutting part". I became totally lost. (heres the link) www.garysimon.net/webdesign_tutorial/3

 

If anybody can help me figure out a few things I would greatly appreciate it. One of the things I would like to do is design with the tools that I have on hand, without spending a fortune on new software.

 

Falkencreative (or anybody else) if you willing to give me a little help, I would appeciate it. Right now I have a page that I have put together in Photoshop Elements and have saved as a psd file. Where do I got from there I don't know.

 

I'm thinking about the killer web tutorial but am wondering how would it tie in to creating pages in photoshop.

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Ok all you do in Photoshop is create a mockup of what you want your site to look like. Then you have to slice up your mockup to get the usable parts that you want to display on your website, e.g. logo, header, background, navigation buttons etc. The colours and any boxes around areas can be displayed using CSS. (Note I would certainly not recommend using text within your images as per the garysimon tut, text should be in the HTML code, unless you are using some fancy font for your logo)

 

Your next step is to set up the HTML code and CSS to display your website, your different sliced images will usually be displayed as background images in the CSS for the main set up of your site. You do not need any fancy expensive software to do this part, but you absolutely need to learn how to code in HTML and CSS. Depending on the platform you are using, there are a lot of free text editors specifically for coding and you will also need to download several different browsers to test your site, e.g. Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Opera and versions 6, 7 and 8 of Internet Explorer, as each of IE's browsers behave a little differently. All of the browsers are also free downloads.

Edited by virtual
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@trent:

Well, there are a couple different places you can start... I'm not sure if you are going to be able find a tutorial that shows you how to do this within Photoshop Elements, but you should be able to pick up the basics (assuming that Photoshop elements have the same basic tools)

 

Here are a couple tutorials that might get you started (I'd suggest looking at CSS Tricks first, and then the rest of the articles after):

Chris Coyier from CSS-Tricks has a couple videos on designing a website in Photoshop, converting it to HTML/CSS and also to transferring that HTML/CSS into Wordpress. Take a look at videos #71, 72, 73 (most recent) or #12, 13 and 14 (a bit older, though the same concepts should apply.)

http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/

 

http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screencasts/the-ultimate-guide-to-creating-a-design-and-converting-it-to-html-and-css/

http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screencasts/how-to-convert-a-psd-to-xhtml/

 

A general post linking to a lot of different Photoshop design to HTML tutorials (I'm only talking about the upper section of the post, not the links to Design to HTML companies)

http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design-process/psd-to-html-resources/

 

As far as the GarySimon link you provided, you created those images probably using a combination of Photoshop's Crop and Slice tools, and then saved each image using "Save-For-Web" option under the File menu.

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Thank-you! Virtual and Mr. Falk. I really didn't expect to get an answer so soon if at all. I will try the information given for more clues, Sometime in the year 2010 I hope to be added to the ranks of web designer (novice). It's like a compulsion for me now!

 

One last question. Can I reassemble my webpage in notepad? Or do I need a specific software for. From what I've been reading. I don't - it's all about the code. I'd just like to be sure before I spend a few hours on doing something wrong.

 

p.s.

 

I think I have to agree with newerthanyou. A lot of us newbies think that registering a domain name and getting a web host is the hardest part!! LMAO - Welcome one and All .

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Can I reassemble my webpage in notepad? Or do I need a specific software for

 

Notepad will work as a text editor, b ut there are better ones available for free. Check out the Forum Topics for a Topic discussing the various Editors. I used ConText Editor when I was on Windows. Google it.

 

Once you have created a 'web page', you use your web browser to open it to see the results of your efforts.

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I think I have to agree with newerthanyou. A lot of us newbies think that registering a domain name and getting a web host is the hardest part!!

 

That is actually the easiest part, but they are also trying to sell you something else besides the hosting. And they are very good at marketing ....

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hello, hello! all of you guys are great - jlhaslip thanks for your information. I am reading and studying. I WILL NOT become a help vampire.

 

but I do think I have a problem. I have saved all of my layers for "web" in photoshop elements. but i believe my background layer may be saved wrong. I have a primarily black background with - like a red coloring across the top. When I preview it through the photoshop web viewer, I'm not getting the code numbers for any color. What I get is ##FFFFFFF. Should I have layered out those two colors separately? Is there any place that I can post what I have done so far so that it may be viewed by you guys for tips, help and suggestions.

 

I do have my domain name and such...and I guess I can post it there. If you guys are willing to take a look at it. t I am still a super newbie and dont know the correct way to proceed with such things as yet.

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I do have my domain name and such...and I guess I can post it there. If you guys are willing to take a look at it. t I am still a super newbie and dont know the correct way to proceed with such things as yet.

 

How about this... start a new topic within the "Photoshop" forum (just so you aren't accidentally hijacking "newerthanyou"s topic) and, if you can, post a link to the file you are working with. I can't guarantee I can fix the problem, but I'd be happy to take a look.

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Pipeten thx for the WordPress link. I'm still trying to digest some of the other information that I'm reading, but I've seen WordPress mentioned too many times to ignore that its a useful tool.

 

Falkencreative, I will do just what you recommended, but I would like to try a few things first to see if I can figure it out on my own.

 

Jlhaslip, I'm going to download Context editor and try to code my page with that.

 

Thx guys....

 

Oh wait....the video links that Falkencreative suggested. I've found extremely useful

 

http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/

 

http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screenca'>http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screenca ? l-and-css/

http://net.tutsplus.com/videos/screenca ? -to-xhtml/

 

I'm still mulling over #72.

 

Newerthanyou - I'm getting off your thread after this post- sorry if I temporarily hijacked it.

 

Guys, thx for all your help!

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Hi, i decided to install PHPBB on my site and set up a decent forum to begin with, while i practice and learn how to set up intro pages and home pages.

 

which is actually all i wanted to start with anyway, a decent forum where people could sign up and help build the community, i installed a nice looking style too so im happy with that at the moment, i have a friend which is going to work on this project with me, he has quite alot of experience and has helped make some of the greatest gaming sites out there.

Edited by newerthanyou
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