9 replies to this topic

[sciolus]

Hello,

I'm new here, and to programming as well. In college, I had a few introductory courses to things like visual basic and Dreamweaver/Flash/Fireworks.

Had I not come across those classes so late in my education, I may have switched majors from communications to computer science.

Alas, things went as they did and I finished my degree on the path I was.
Recently, I've been looking for a sort of hobby. I was struck for an idea for a Web site and decided it'd be the perfect thing with which to occupy myself.

Obviously HTML is one of the necessary components, but I was hoping someone might be so kind as to advise of any other languages I should take the time to learn to properly develop my idea.

Basically, without getting into too much detail, what I want to do is have a site that is essentially two pages. The first is for user input. Sort of like the front page of Google - not that I'm attempting to build a search engine here -- just the name of he site and the space here they can type in their input. Then the second page is the response.
I want to make it so the site randomly pulls one string based on what the user types. So if they type X, and I've written it so that X could be anything from responses 1 through 5, it'll display only one of those five at random. Then I want there to also be the option to post the given response to social media sites.

Let me just reiterate, I'm in no rush here. This is intended to be a hobby, and I understand that programming and Web design are complex things.

So, is HTML alone enough or will I need a supplement language as well? Also, is anyone aware of a cheaper alternative to Dreamweaver?

[gregwarner]

You're going to need some form of programming language, since your idea needs to make logic decisions. This could be implemented very easily and quickly with Javascript, which would be the simplest choice since you wouldn't have to install any interpreters or cgi programs on your server, since all the code would run in the user's browser.

[Alexander]

I personally find dreamweaver a software that writes poor HTML and PHP, it sometimes is just easier to write it on your own (especially as your project will relate mostly to the programming portion.)

Generally PHP would be the CGI language of choice, and social networking sites often have APIs you could use so that the user can enter their information and have the message posted to their account or whatnot for even greater ease.

It should take no more than a few pages of (PHP) lines to program your application.

[bbqroast]

PHP+Javascript can make a lovely website, especially if you have a good logical brain (eg you can sit in a room and lay out the fundamental logic for a program in your head).
Obviously you will want to know CSS.
PHP is SSI so you need to install mod php into Apache, I recommend XAMPP.

[zeroradius]

Alexander said:

I personally find dreamweaver a software that writes poor HTML and PHP.

keep in mind sciolus that Dreamweaver is MUCH more than a WYSIWYG editor. You don't have to have it write code for you. I don't want to get into the details at the moment as i only have 5 minutes of leisure time left before getting ready for work. Don't let anyone turn you off of it. For the record the WYSIWYG aspect of Dreamweaver does indeed suck.

[Root23]

I also recommend XAMPP if you're going to test things locally on your machine. It's very easy to install and get started.

I'll second everyone else HTML - CSS - JavaScript - PHP.

[haleysalvador]

There are so many designing modules available in the market like HTML, XHTML, PHP, JavaScript and so on. I am doing web designing with the use of HTML and JavaScript but now I want to know more designing softwares. If you found something else then please post the names over here.

[try]

sciolus said:

Hello,
.... is anyone aware of a cheaper alternative to Dreamweaver?

yes, there are plenty of opensource and freeware software.
- Php designer
- Eclipse Pdt
- aptana
- gphpedit

and more... lot you can find it on search engine
btw try this Zend Studio - the leading PHP IDE - Zend.com

[michalrick]

Although its depend on requirement.
I will suggest you to go for php, css, javascript and jquery

and for local xamp is best. Everything is free and you have no need to invest even a penny

[jamesxavier]

you actually need more that html! html is static, in order for your site to be dynamic, you need to use Php or the like since it allows users to interact with the site.:)